Cyberstalkers: Who's watching you?

Cyberstalking is the latest trend in personal harassment. It's similar to regular stalking, where someone gives you unwanted attention by following you, sending unwanted letters, and making you feel vulnerable, even in the safety of your own home. With cyberstalking, the person does all of this via the Internet, remaining anonymous and making you feel unsafe at the office, in your home- in fact, anywhere you sit down to log on.

What is online stalking?
One of the trickiest problems is defining exactly what constitutesinternet stalking. Somebody might sign you up to an unwanted mailing list so your inbox fills up with junk mail every morning, but that's not stalking.

Hang around in a chat room with a female screen name and you will probably find that somebody will make some kind of sexual advance towards you. But that's not stalking. You can ignore the message and choose not to go into that chat room again. Cyberstalking is when somebody pursues you online obsessively and ignores all attempts to stop the harassment.

Cyberstalking can take the form of relentless emails of a threatening or sexually explicit nature, or it could take place in one of the thousands of live chat areas on the internet. A stalker is unlikely to make threatening or obscene suggestions to you in a public chat room, but they could lure you into a one-to-one chat for a private conversation.

Instant Messaging services, such as those used by AOL or Compuserve, can also be used for harassment. These services alert others as soon as you go online and they're private, which makes them open to abuse by unscrupulous net users. Or somebody could forge your online identity, posting messages under your name or sending offensive emails to your boss.

Enter certain chat rooms with a female name and within 15 minutes you'll probably have been asked your age, where you live, what you'rewearing ... But isn't this just innocent online flirtation, you might ask?

Yes, 99.9 per cent of the time that's all it is, and if you don't respond to the advances you'll be left alone. On the rare occasions these online flirtations can take a nasty turn, you could find it hard to shake off unwanted advances. It's then that we move into the realms of cyber-stalking. It's easy to remain anonymous on the internet and unscrupulous people can take advantage, making your online life a misery.

Revenge of the nerds
It's not just in chat rooms that this kind of harassment can happen.Cyberstalkers are often those who want revenge: spurned lovers or someone who feels they've been unfairly treated at work. Curtis Sliwa and Colin Gabriel Hatcher, of the Guardian Angels street patrol fame in the US, set up the CyberAngels site at www.cyberangels.org to help rid the internet of online harassment.

Sliwa and Gabriel cite hate vendettas as a common cause of onlineharassment. "Stalkers and harassers often persuade themselves that you have committed a great wrong and that they are in the position of avenger, punishing you for your crimes," they say.

But are we making a mountain out of a molehill? The US government doesn't seem to think so. Vice-president Al Gore commissioned a study in March to investigate electronic harassment, stating that cyberstalking "can be as frightening and real as being followed and watched in your neighbourhood or in your house". Some 17 US states now have specific cyberstalking laws. Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury News estimates that 40,000 people are using the net to stalk 300,000 victims across America.

Online and over here
Here in the UK, it's rare for cyberstalking to hit the headlines, but it does happen. In May this year, Britain's first internet stalker was arrested. Nigel James Harris allegedly pestered his ex-girlfriend with email messages when she ended their relationship.

In the UK, stalkers can face immediate arrest and a jail sentence under the Protection from Harassment Act. While the Act does not mention Internet stalking as a separate issue, it is used as a catch-all legislation to provide protection from those who cause fear and misery by harassing others.

The Internet industry is, understandably enough, eager to play the issue down. Nicholas Lansman, the secretary general of the Internet Service Providers Association, told us that they have received no complaints about cyberstalking, although he went on to add that "out of the hundreds of millions of emails sent out there are bound to be some unwanted messages".

AOL has hundreds of chat rooms, yet a spokesperson told us that they have never had a harassment problem that they haven't been able to sort out themselves. Detective Chief Inspector Keith Ackerman, the head of the Chief Police Officers Association, recently stated that they had "very little information on Internet stalking, but as more and more people use chat facilities, the more it will become a potential problem".

Be safe on the Net
There are some simple precautions you can take to make sure that youronline life is hassle-free.

• Never give out your personal details to somebody you meet online. This includes your home address, work address and phone number.

• If you regularly frequent online chat areas and want to avoidunnecessary attention, choose a genderless screen name. In general, beware of flirting online unless you're prepared for the consequences.

• Don't arrange to meet anybody you've met online alone. If you decide you really want to meet somebody you've met over the net in real life, arrange to get together in a public place and bring a friend along with you.

• Some Internet service providers ask you for information in order to set up Personal Profiles for their members. Don't include personal details that might help a stalker track you down or information that a stalker could use to get close to you and gain your trust.

• Remember that it's easy for people to pretend to be something they're not on the Internet. When you meet a new person online, be careful - don't give too much away. If you're unsure about somebody's behaviour in a chat area, for example, ask other other members of that chat group if they can vouch for the honesty of that person.