Cyber Harassment

Stalking and bullying take many forms," says Jim Batelli, Mawah, New Jersey, chief of police. "It can involve ex-boyfriends and girlfriends, domestic partners, spouses, business/work relationships, students versus teachers, and even neighbors and relatives. Because of the Internet's anonymity and relatively low cost, Internet crimes cross all demographic and socioeconomic lines. It is difficult to create an offender profile, because the reasons behind the act vary so greatly. That is what makes these difficult crimes to investigate."

Cyber stalking
The generally accepted definition of cyber stalking is, according to a National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) document, "threatening behavior or unwanted advances directed at another using the Internet and other forms of online and computer communications." Cyber stalking is not unlike "offline" stalking. "The motive is usually control," says Jay Fisher, director of the Cyber Crimes Unit at CyberAngels.org. "This has not changed over time. Online stalking is like offline stalking - a way for a criminal to insert himself forcefully into a victim's life." The NCVC takes a broader approach, defining stalking as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear."

Cyber stalking takes a number of different forms, as it does offline. The NCVC notes the following forms of cyber stalking, which can take place in chatrooms, message boards, discussion forums and e-mail:

• Threatening, obscene and/or unsolicited e-mail, text messages or other electronic communication.
• Spamming. Offenders sometimes sign their victims up at Web sites that will "spam" them with pornographic or marketing material.
• Live chat harassment or "flaming" (online verbal abuse).
• Improper messages left on message boards or guestbooks.
• Sending malicious code. Viruses, spyware and hacking programs can be used either to crash a victim's computer or to spy on the victim.
• Tracing another person's computer and Internet activity; identity theft. "The hacking is a method to control and aggravate the victim," Fisher says. "It also allows a perp to gain more knowledge of his/her victim."

The NCVC warns that cyber stalking can escalate into offline stalking, including the behavior most people associate with stalking: abusive and/or excessive phone calls, vandalism, threatening or obscene mail, trespassing and physical assault.

Cyber bullying
Cyber bullying differs from cyber stalking in demographics. Instead of adults targeting other adults or children, cyber bullying involves minors targeting other minors. Typically, it occurs among teens who know each other from school, church or the neighborhood. Although cyber bullying inspires the same physical and emotional reactions in its victims as stalking, it's much more subtly nuanced. For instance, victims can become bullies and shift back again.

StopCyberBullying.org, a Web site which, like WiredSafety.org, is run by WiredKids Inc., details cyber bullying and the many different forms and media it takes.

Direct cyber bullying includes all of cyber stalking's modes, and then some:

• Instant or text messaging harassment. Bullies use these tools the same way they'd use e-mail - to threaten or say hurtful things.
• Password stealing. With the victim's password, a bully can impersonate the victim, change profile information to include personal or inflammatory language, or use the password to hack the victim's account.
• Blogs and Web sites. Blogs are free online diaries. They can stand alone or be linked to a Web site. In both cases, a bully might post disparaging information about a victim, or start a blog or site impersonating the victim.
• Digital pictures. Teens may use their phones to take pictures of other teens in the locker room or shower, then e-mail the pictures to friends or even post them online.
• Internet polling. Bullies participate in insulting or degrading polls about a classmate's physical characteristics or sexual experience.

Another form, cyber bullying by proxy, is more troublesome than direct cyber bullying, because bullies involve people who don't know what they are getting into. In most cases, cyber bullying by proxy makes it look as if the victim has started trouble, most often when a bully impersonates the victim. The victim's friends may become angry and shun him; the victim's parents may punish him; or a bully may even notify the ISP that the victim is a bully, so the ISP takes action against the victim.

One of the most dangerous forms of cyber bullying by proxy involves the bully either pretending to be the victim, or posting the victim's personal information, in chatrooms and bulletin boards that pedophiles or hate groups frequent. Advertising the victim for sex, or portraying the victim as a racist, can put the victim in significant physical danger.

Who are the bullies?
StopCyberBullying.org identifies four main types of bullies. These bullies are not like "traditional" playground bullies. Moreover, no one group or "type" is more at risk than another to become either a bully or a victim.

1. "Vengeful angels" typically cyber bully teens who have been bullying them or their friends.
2. "Revenge of the nerds" cyber bullies are similar to vengeful angels, though they bully more to have power over others with whom they normally have no power. Unlike vengeful angels, they need others to know what they're up to.
3. "Mean girls" get together in a group to cyber bully, often for entertainment. Attention feeds their egos (and thus their behavior).
4. "Inadvertent" cyber bullies either don't know they are doing wrong when they respond to an upsetting message or intend to be "playful" and don't understand that others could take it seriously.

Parry Aftab, an attorney who works pro bono for WiredSafety.org, says it's a mistake to believe that words can't hurt in these cases. "Cyber bullying has strong potential to go offline," she stresses.

Technology
StopCyberBullying.org notes that only imagination and access limit cyber bullying methods. Fisher adds, "As technology has evolved, so have ways to harass people. No one is truly anonymous online. Thus, a harasser can utilize more tools to make a person's life miserable - down to actually seeing a face [via Web cam] to associate with an e-mail address." As he sees it, one main problem is that although many people can turn off such technology, they often choose not to. "Careless users may keep equipment up and running. A good hacker/stalker can take advantage of a person's mistakes."

"It is difficult to forecast future trends because the technology is constantly changing," says Batelli. "One of the things we are becoming concerned about is the predator's ability to disguise the offensive e-mail's source by using multiple e-mail addresses or by hacking into another server to send the message. Wireless home networks can play into this. Unfortunately, the Internet itself provides solutions on how predators can circumvent law enforcement."

He adds, "Police need to be diligent, proactive and innovative. This type of crime is not going away. It is only going to become more complex. Law enforcement [agencies] must stay abreast of the constantly changing technology by continuing to train [their] officers."