@**meep** wrote:
@donnashuggy wrote:
That happens a lot here doesn't it?
It does happen.
This is an informative read imo
Technology Stalking
Excerpt from ‘STALKING Prevent Protect Progress: A training program for service providers’.
Technology stalking is the use of information and communications technology to stalk a person or group of persons. The behaviour includes the transmission of threats, identity theft, false accusation, monitoring, soliciting minors for sexual purposes, and the gathering of information for harassment purposes. Technology stalking can be perpetrated by use of the internet, mobile phones, cameras and other recording devices, faxes, spyware and global positioning system (GPS) devices.
The use of technology is not what makes a person vulnerable to becoming a stalking victim. Research indicates the majority of individuals who are stalked are stalked by someone they know, and usually this person is a current or former intimate partner. Most often, an individual is not targeted via the technology, but technology is used by the stalker as part of the pattern of intimidation and harassment. Technology merely facilitates behaviours that stalkers have always engaged in.
Aspects of Technology Stalking
Gathering information for offline stalking
The Internet has brought a world of information to our fingertips. With a few typed worlds and a click of the mouse we can find virtually anything we want to. As amazing as this technology is and the positive effect it has on our society, this also comes at a price as our privacy dwindles. Technology stalking can sometimes be the starting point for further offline stalking once a victim has been targeted. The information found online such as your address, phone number, club membership, place of employment, favourite park, etc. can be used against you at the hands of a technology stalker.
Threats
Threats of violence, retribution, public humiliation, etc. are a common part of traditional stalking. This is relatively dangerous for the stalker as well, because threatening phone calls in some circumstances can be traced, letters can be fingerprinted and face-to-face threats can be witnessed or recorded. Technology stalkers can threaten with far more impunity than traditional stalkers, due to the anonymous nature of the Internet and difficulty for law enforcement to find it and track down technology stalkers.
Impersonation
If a technology stalker has access to the victim’s accounts and passwords, they can easily impersonate them on message forums, emails, blogs, etc. They may also use this access to monitor the victim, for example, whom are they communicating with via email? What is their schedule? Where are they meeting friends? They may then follow or survey the victim with this information. If they do not have access to the victim’s accounts, they may create accounts that can confuse their friends and family and trick them into thinking they are communicating with the victim. For example, if someone has the username “Indiana123,” a technology stalker would create the account “lndiana123,” (Using a lower case “L” in place of the uppercase “i”) which, at a quick first glance, would appear to be the same as the victim’s username. Using this, the stalker could impersonate their victim.
Flaming
Flaming is known as posting defamatory or derogatory statements about someone in a public online place. Technology stalkers use this to defame the victim in a public forum. Once comments or pictures have been posted online, it can be almost impossible to have them removed, or prevent them from being spread all over the world.
Additionally, there are multiple websites devoted to embarrassing people. A person can post embarrassing stories, pictures, movies, etc. and these sites will propagate them across the internet ensuring a wide audience.
Identity theft
With access to the details some people frequently post online, it is possible for a technology stalker to gather enough information to steal the identity of an individual. This can include small things like opening new online accounts in the victim’s name all the way to accessing bank accounts, obtaining copies of birth certificates, ordering credit cards, etc.
Encouraging others to harass the victim
The anonymous nature of the internet will often bring out the dark side of human nature. There are entire websites dedicated to assisting people in exacting “revenge” and other stalking type activities. These can include a group organising a mail bombing campaign, several people working together to track down a person’s details, or even groups working to watch the movements of a victim.
It is also possible to enlist strangers to assist with little or no prompting. Just try posting a phone number on a popular forum and ask people to call it at all hours and you will find the phone won’t stop ringing for some time.
Another common method used is that the stalker posts the victim’s phone number, email address or physical address along with an illicit “adult” classified message online. The victim will then receive countless phone calls, emails or even, potentially, visitors to their home, from complete strangers that are unknowingly participating in the stalking.
Harassing friends of the victim
Many technology stalkers will use various means to contact the friends and/or family of their intended victim. This happens especially when the victim is not responding to the stalker’s actions. The stalker can use any of the same measures to harass the victim’s associates as they would use to harass the victim. They do this with the hopes that it will incite a response from the victim.
Spyware/Viruses
Viruses and spyware can be very dangerous. Both tend to target the same thing: the victim’s private details, their photos, important documents, and in some cases, even their computer system. Spyware is form of malicious software designed to penetrate a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. It can be installed remotely or by direct access to a computer and is extremely difficult to detect. The functions of spyware extend well beyond the monitoring of a person’s computer. It tracks everything one does on their computer. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information such as internet sites visited and passwords used. It can also interfere with user control of the computer such as installing additional software and redirecting web browser activity. It may also change computer settings resulting in slow connection speeds and different home pages. The information gathered by spyware programs is sent away, either to the technology stalker directly, or someone else that may use the information illegally. Viruses, on the other hand, are designed to destroy the information, preventing the victim from using it themselves.
Tools of a Technology Stalker
The prevention of technology stalking is focused on the offender, and what steps can be implemented to reduce risk to the victim. Detailed below are the common tools used by individuals online that can also be abused by stalkers. Also outlined are steps that can be taken to reduce risk to the victim of a technology stalker. These steps are similar to having a home security system. They are not fail-safe, but they make you a much harder target for a technology stalker, making it more attractive to find someone else. However, of course, a determined stalker will not look elsewhere.
http://www.stalkingresources.org.au/technology-stalking/
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