Re: Bach Aristocrat Bb Flugelhorn

"Protect Yourself from Internet Harassment and Stalking

by Larry Stevenson, aka Prince_Serendip, CastleCops Staff Writer
Oct 17, 2004

Stalking and harassment are crimes that many people may be familiar
with in real-life, but these problems can also occur on the Internet.
Cyberstalking and online harassment is an electronic extension of the
physical forms of stalking. Many crimes on the Internet include fraud,
embezzlement, harassment, identity theft, and stalking.

Much information is available about you online, and an enterprising
criminal can find out a lot about you and use this information to his/
her advantage. A criminal could use basic information about you, and
then engage in "social engineering"--contacting your friends, co-
workers, relatives, etc.--to learn even more.

Stalking can be described as an issue of control: their control of
you. The solution is to take back control. Sometimes victims of
cyberstalking do not take the problem seriously until it escalates to
real-life stalking. Online harassment can get to the point where your
harasser bombards you with messages of hate or obscenity, tracing your
home phone number and physical address, thus bringing cyberstalking
into real-life. Today, there are an increasing number of cases where
the stalking of a person begins through the Internet, then escalates
into physical stalking and harassment.

Three areas exist where an online user is vulnerable and are primarily
where the user interacts with others.The first area is with live
messages and Internet relay chat lines. Here is where you can talk
live and it is one of the most common places where victims of
cyberstalking are first targeted. Avoid entering private information
in your profiles in messengers. The second most common place is
message boards or Usenet (news groups), where Internet users post
messages, another favorite place for cyberstalkers to approach their
victims. Third, is the e-mail box. E-mail harassment usually continues
from initial contact in the live chat or news groups situations.

Cyberstalking can take many forms. Unsolicited e-mails including
hatred, obscenity, or threats, are some of the most common forms. With
news groups, the cyberstalker can create postings about you or start
evil rumors which spread through their bulletin boards. More
complicated forms of harassment include mailbombs, sending the victim
viruses, trojans and spywares or electronic junk mail (spamming). (Of
course you can receive these without being stalked as well.)

Checklist to Protect Yourself from Harassment and Stalkers

1. Don't respond to flamings (scolding and verbal abuse online). If
someone makes threats in a chat room or on a message board, notify the
Moderator, Forums Administrator or Webmaster immediately.

2. Create genderless nicknames.

3. Create nonsense passwords and change them often. Use an encryption
program, if you need to store them.

4. No flirting online, unless you are prepared for the consequences,
both expected and unknown. The more obvious you are, the more likely
you could arouse unwanted attentions from unwanted people.

5. Save offending e-mails or messages and report them to your Internet
Service Provider, Forums Administrator, Webmaster, or local Police
Department, as the case may be.

6. If there is any indication that a stalker might have your offline
information - name, address, phone number -- call the Police
immediately.

7. If a stalker threatens physical violence, call the Police
immediately.

8. Avoid confronting the stalker/harasser as this only arouses more
anger or emotional attacks.

9. Never give out any personal information about yourself or anyone
else in any public forum.

10. Leave an online situation that has become hostile. Log off or surf
elsewhere.

One of the most important recommendations is to use common sense.
Users are advised to realize they should assume that all their online
communications are public, unless proven otherwise. Users need to be
aware that the 'delete' command does not mean the information
disappears, it can be easily accessed by others. In addition, the more
the user knows about the equipment and softwares they are using on the
Internet, the less likely they are to fall prey to online harassment
and stalkers.

Best regards and always take care of your security! "


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Clear Proof of Harassment and Libelous Malice
    ... > who are victims of stalking on the internet. ... >> against me to MANY, MANY forums where I have NEVER, EVER participated. ... >> stalking and harassment and libel of me going on JUST BECAUSE OF THE ...
    (sci.psychology.psychotherapy)
  • Re: Bach Aristocrat Bb Flugelhorn
    ... Stalking and harassment are crimes that many people may be familiar ... but these problems can also occur on the Internet. ... Cyberstalking and online harassment is an electronic extension of the ...
    (rec.music.makers.trumpet)
  • Re: Netiquette
    ... Bloomington, IN and Riverview, FL posted all over the internet? ... *your* stalking and harassment isn't enough). ...
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  • Re: "Human" defined by Junk (non-Coding) DNA
    ... and that's *all* you have to worry about, while some weirdo is stalking ... women around the internet. ... if he does it online, ... Like the weirdo preacher that got busted with his "metal ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: vlbc again-the ghetto-ization of Bruce-dom
    ... and all the threats had ... abuse on her website, the harassment has increased. ... posting all my private data online everywhere -- social-security ... popular blog, Feministe, recently had some photographs of her uploaded ...
    (rec.music.artists.springsteen)