Cyberstalking

Stalking is defined as an obsessional search for intimacy in which a person engages in a long-term pattern of threat and harassment directed toward the targeted individual. Pursuit patterns by stalkers are multiple and vary, with new methods that evolve as technological innovation in communication develops. Cyberstalking involves the repetition of unwanted contact that could be of a sexual, violent, or threatening nature by using electronic telecommunication devices (e.g., emails, cameras, text messages), the Internet, computer programs, and the Global Positioning System (GPS). As with other criminal conduct that requires persistent involvement, cyberstalking is the evolution of antisocial behavior into a pattern of acts that escalates from less serious to ever more serious actions. It is this escalation that represents the basis for concern, aggravated ...