CYBER STALKING

 In general, stalking entails pestering or threatening another individual. Cyberstalking is an online version of physical stalking that involves the use of information technology. Cyberstalking is the use of the internet, e-mail, and chat rooms to track down another person.

Cyber stalking is when a person, a group of individuals, or an organisation is stalked or harassed via the Internet or other electronic methods. Issuing false charges or declarations of fact (as in defamation), monitoring, making threats, identity theft, data or equipment damage, soliciting minors for sex, or obtaining information that might be used to harass are all examples of harassment.

Stalking is a continuous process, consisting of a series of actions, each of which may be entirely legal in itself. The definition of Cyberstalking is not universally accepted as it varies from place to place. 

Although cyberstalking does not entail any physical contact, it has gained popularity with offenders due to various benefits such as ease of communication, access to personal information, and anonymity. In the case of cyberstalking, the offender has the advantage of being able to harass the victim from anywhere in the world by posting derogatory comments or posting comments on common discussion boards, or by posting the victims mobile number and email address on certain social media sites, causing other users to send messages or phone calls to the victim in error.

The internet has a broad reach, and the way we communicate online, as well as personal data and other information, is easily accessed by criminals via the internet medium, making individuals exposed to crimes like cyberstalking. Today, the internet has become a vital aspect of everyone& life, whether personal or professional. Because of the availability of communication in to the environment, criminals or those seeking vengeance might use this medium to vilify the victim by threatening and harassing them through nasty emails. Because internet stalking does not include actual contact, it may be seen as being less harmful than physical stalking. This isn’t always the case. Stalkers might take advantage of the ease of contact and increasing access to personal information as the Internet becomes a more fundamental part of our personal and professional life.

While a stalker may be hesitant or unable to contact a victim in person or over the phone, he or she may have no qualms about harassing or threatening a victim through internet correspondence. Physical stalking, internet harassment, and threats might be the start of something more serious, such as physical assault.

In comparison to males, stalking has become more of an issue for women and children. When it comes to the actual world, women are intimidated, vandalised, and attacked, but the same things happen online.

Obscenity is compounded by threats and harassment. Men, of course, fall prey to the same predators, but females have a reduced risk. Adult predators and paedophiles cause the same damage to children. The victim is usually someone who isn’t as careful as they should be when it comes to online services and applications. In most cases, the stalker is a neurotic with low self-esteem. The characteristics, however, fluctuate from one stalker to the next. Some harass in order to exact vengeance, while others do it for their own amusement. While some do it just for the purpose of causing havoc.

There are three types of cyberstalking:

1. stalking via e-mail, in which the offender sends the victim an e-mail directly threatening or harassing her. In today’s society, it is the most prevalent type of stalking. The most prevalent is sending the victim to hate mail, vulgar, pornographic content, and threatening letters.

2. Internet stalking — this is a global kind of cyberstalking. In this case, the attacker does not enter the victims personal space but instead harasses her publicly through worldwide media. The criminal threatens the victim by posting the victim’s phone number and email address on porn sites, as well as modified photographs of the victim in cyberspace.

Through the internet, information technology has made it easier to create and distribute pornographic materials; for example, the material can be transmitted all over the world in seconds, and geographical restrictions that previously prevented foreign publications from entering local territories have vanished.

3. Computer-based stalking - In this case, the perpetrator is a technocrat who can take control of the victims computer as soon as it starts up. In this case, the stalker obtains access to and control of the victims computer address. To get access to the target’s computer, this type of cyberstalking necessitates a high level of technical expertise, and the victim’s only alternative is to unplug the computer and abandon the current internet address. The term stalking is not new to the world; it has been used in physical space for millennia. Former acquaintances, coworkers, or someone who tries to impose his will on the victim are instances of stalkers in the physical world.

However, with the introduction of online, the stalker’s reach has expanded; he may now threaten and harass the victim from anywhere in the globe. It is no longer required to reveal his name; most stalkers are depressed lovers, ex-boyfriends, or coworkers who have not been able to satisfy their desire and wish to annoy the victim.

The majority of stalkers are men, while the majority of victims are women. The most prevalent reasons for online stalking are love rejection or one-sided love, harassment, and retribution.

The cyber stalker uses the following tactics to track out the victim: -

1. If the stalker is a friend of the victim, he can easily gather all of the victims information; if he is a stranger, he gathers all of the victims information via the internet from various social networking sites, collecting everything from the victims date of birth, place of residence, place of work, phone numbers, email addresses, and places of visits.

2. The stalker may post all of the information on any website linked to sex services or dating services, and use filthy and vulgar language to entice others to call the victim on his phone numbers for sexual services as if the victim put the information himself.

3. People from all around the world would contact the victims; at home or via cell phone numbers, requesting sexual services.

4. Some may send the victim an e-mail with sexual content attached, and these emails are occasionally placed on pornographic websites.

In the present world, social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Google Plus, Instagram, and others are becoming a means for cyberstalking.

• Diksha Sareen