People cyberstalk people to harrass them, or out of fascination, or for revenge. Cyberstalking vs Online sexual harrassment: Online sexual harass is making graphucal remarks and stalking is following a persn everywhere. Common cyberstalking characteristics include the classic 'stalking' behavior — tracking someone's location and monitoring their online and real-world activities. Cyberstalkers have been known to fit GPS devices to their victims' cars, use geolocation spyware on their phones, and obsessively track their victims' whereabouts through social media. To protect yourself against... Show more People cyberstalk people to harrass them, or out of fascination, or for revenge. Cyberstalking vs Online sexual harrassment: Online sexual harass is making graphucal remarks and stalking is following a persn everywhere. Common cyberstalking characteristics include the classic 'stalking' behavior — tracking someone's location and monitoring their online and real-world activities. Cyberstalkers have been known to fit GPS devices to their victims' cars, use geolocation spyware on their phones, and obsessively track their victims' whereabouts through social media. To protect yourself against cyberstalking, you should: Google yourself and find out just what information a potential cyberstalker could find online. Review and change passwords for all online accounts. Enable strict privacy settings on social media platforms. Disable any publicly available itineraries or calendars. Limit online sharing with individuals outside your close friends or family. Use a gender-neutral screen name or pseudonym for your social media accounts — not your real name Leave optional fields in social media profiles, like your date of birth, blank. Be wary of public Wi-Fi, which can be hacked easily. If you need to log on in Starbucks or hotels, ideally use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on your communications. Related: What is catfishing? Catfishing is a form of fraud or abuse where someone creates a fake online identity to target a particular victim. Catfishers may lure their victims into providing intimate photos or videos, then blackmail them, or may develop a relationship and then ask for money for a sudden emergency. Catfishers can be very convincing, but you can discover their scam in several ways. If all their online photos are selfies or studio shots, with no other friends, no family, and no context, that's a big clue. Do a Google reverse image search against the online photo on a dating site. You may find the person has multiple online profiles with the same photo but different names. Ask if you can do a video call on Skype. Guess what? Catfishers will usually make their excuses - and you won't hear from them again. What to do if you're being cyberstalked: If you're being stalked online don't wait and hope the problem will go away — act immediately. Make it clear to the cyberstalker that you don't want to be contacted. Put it in writing, and warn them that if they continue, you'll go to the police. Don't engage with them at all once you have issued this warning. And if they continue, go to the police. Many police departments have a special cyberstalking team, but they're not going to quibble about a cyberstalking definition. If you've been threatened or you're being harassed and intimidated, then they'll deal with it—whether it's on Facebook, email or through spyware on your phone. If you think someone is tracking you through spyware, don't use your own computer or phone to get help - borrow a family or friend's phone. Get your computer and phone checked over by a professional for spyware or other signs of compromised accounts. Change all your passwords. In the case of social media stalking, use your privacy settings to block the person, and then report the abuse to the network. You can easily find out how to report cyberstalking in most social networks' help and support pages. If you have been sent abusive or threatening emails, you probably know the stalker's ISP - the bit after the @ in their email address. Contact abuse@domainname or postmaster@domainname. Most ISPs take cyberstalking very seriously. If they're using Gmail, there's a reporting mechanism you can use at https://support.google.com/mail/contact/abuse. You can filter abusive emails to a separate folder so that you don't have to read them. If you think the cyberstalker might harass you in the workplace, tell your employer. Save copies of any communications involved, including your own, police reports, and emails from the networks. Back up the evidence on a USB stick or external drive. Cyberstalking laws Cyberstalking is subject to general laws on harassment, such as the Violence Against Women Act 1994 in the US, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in the UK. California created the first state-level law specifically addressing cyberstalking as an offense in 1999, and other states have followed suit. In India, Section 354D of IPC defines stalking as a punishable offense. Show less
People cyberstalk people to harrass them, or out of fascination, or for revenge.
Cyberstalking vs Online sexual harrassment: Online sexual harass is making graphucal remarks and stalking is following a persn everywhere.
Common cyberstalking characteristics include the classic 'stalking' behavior — tracking someone's location and monitoring their online and real-world activities. Cyberstalkers have been known to fit GPS devices to their victims' cars, use geolocation spyware on their phones, and obsessively track their victims' whereabouts through social media.
To protect yourself against cyberstalking, you should: Google yourself and find out just what information a potential cyberstalker could find online. Review and change passwords for all online accounts. Enable strict privacy settings on social media platforms. Disable any publicly available itineraries or calendars. Limit online sharing with individuals outside your close friends or family. Use a gender-neutral screen name or pseudonym for your social media accounts — not your real name Leave optional fields in social media profiles, like your date of birth, blank. Be wary of public Wi-Fi, which can be hacked easily. If you need to log on in Starbucks or hotels, ideally use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on your communications.
Related: What is catfishing? Catfishing is a form of fraud or abuse where someone creates a fake online identity to target a particular victim. Catfishers may lure their victims into providing intimate photos or videos, then blackmail them, or may develop a relationship and then ask for money for a sudden emergency.
Catfishers can be very convincing, but you can discover their scam in several ways. If all their online photos are selfies or studio shots, with no other friends, no family, and no context, that's a big clue. Do a Google reverse image search against the online photo on a dating site. You may find the person has multiple online profiles with the same photo but different names. Ask if you can do a video call on Skype. Guess what? Catfishers will usually make their excuses - and you won't hear from them again.
What to do if you're being cyberstalked: If you're being stalked online don't wait and hope the problem will go away — act immediately. Make it clear to the cyberstalker that you don't want to be contacted. Put it in writing, and warn them that if they continue, you'll go to the police. Don't engage with them at all once you have issued this warning. And if they continue, go to the police. Many police departments have a special cyberstalking team, but they're not going to quibble about a cyberstalking definition. If you've been threatened or you're being harassed and intimidated, then they'll deal with it—whether it's on Facebook, email or through spyware on your phone. If you think someone is tracking you through spyware, don't use your own computer or phone to get help - borrow a family or friend's phone. Get your computer and phone checked over by a professional for spyware or other signs of compromised accounts. Change all your passwords. In the case of social media stalking, use your privacy settings to block the person, and then report the abuse to the network. You can easily find out how to report cyberstalking in most social networks' help and support pages. If you have been sent abusive or threatening emails, you probably know the stalker's ISP - the bit after the @ in their email address. Contact abuse@domainname or postmaster@domainname. Most ISPs take cyberstalking very seriously. If they're using Gmail, there's a reporting mechanism you can use at https://support.google.com/mail/contact/abuse. You can filter abusive emails to a separate folder so that you don't have to read them. If you think the cyberstalker might harass you in the workplace, tell your employer. Save copies of any communications involved, including your own, police reports, and emails from the networks. Back up the evidence on a USB stick or external drive.
Cyberstalking laws Cyberstalking is subject to general laws on harassment, such as the Violence Against Women Act 1994 in the US, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in the UK. California created the first state-level law specifically addressing cyberstalking as an offense in 1999, and other states have followed suit. In India, Section 354D of IPC defines stalking as a punishable offense.
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