Cyberstalking

I came upon this article and it reminded me of several victims throughout the years who have been stalked and murdered, others raoed and others vicioously mutilated among toher things.Things like this worry me. I write a public blog. I have a Facebook and myspace. A myspace which is public to enough extent and a facebook which if people know how to look for me will find me otherwise I remain hidden as my full name is quite common.

It's interesting how the laws have yet to be modernized to approach and deal with things like this. This girl is being stalked because her ex boyfriend and his new wife are plain assholes and want to make her miserable. God knows for what reasons but they have nothing better to do than to put her information out there and put her life at risk. If something is to happen to her, as there is evidence that they were the cause of her life being put at risk online, they should be held culpable but since are laws barely cover these internet crimes, its easy for them to get away with this.

Cyberstalking? What is it?

Cyberstalking or "cyber-victimizing" as I'd like to call it, is being harassed through online methods. Cyber victimizing is my word for a larger range of things that include stalking, harassing, assault (verbal and leading to physical), etc. Anything that sets up someone to be victimized by a method other than their own should be considered cyber-victimizing.

I had an issue that had escalated while I was in HS. Basically someone who I THOUGHT was a friend or associate decided to maliciously insult me under one of my pictures. Besides being embarassed, feeling disrespected and verbally assaulted, I felt as though this guy was a threat. It didn't help that I had to see him daily since we went to school together but there was nothing I could do about it legally. The most I could do was get him in a very HS-ish kind of way (Best prank ever!) and I did. I felt better. The school administration knew what was up but couldn't do anything about it except reprimand him for his actions. Otherwise, they couldn't do anything because it had taken place online and not on school grounds. What a mess.

Anyway. Things like this makes a need for internet crime laws to be placed into action. This girl is in a position where she is best moving away to another city and taking a better position of safety on her life. It doesn't help that her identity is out there and considering the people putting her life in danger know where she is and how to be found, she is definitely in a kind of danger in which the gov't cant really help. YET.

I bet that law enforcement will take real action when her body is found dead, raped, mutilated or God knows what else. What do you guys think of things like this? Have any of you been in this kind of position?