Are Online Threats Taken Seriously?

by Jackie Ibanez

Are online threats taken seriously? This question has been raised in the wake of fitness club shooting near Pittsburg.

George Sodini killed three women and himself after bringing in a gun to his health club. Before the shootings, Sodini outlined his plot and reasons for his rage against women on the internet.

Although many said they would dismiss threatening comments posted on the web, others said they would immediately contact authorities.

"I would call the police and let them know because I am very aware of what goes on around me," said Robbin Delgrande of West Stockbridge.

Sodini had a history of ranting about women and his failed love life online.

Post Your Answers Here

The NET Worth of a Sexual Predator

Excerpts:

Sexual predators defraud where ever and when ever they can. Like trolls prettied up as princes, they permeate every part of society and pick their targets from where ever they can access them: including the internet. They know no class or gender bounds; they instead pick anyone who falls for their fraudulent and cowardly manipulation. Their net casts over us all. Be careful, be warned, be vigilant of whom you share personal information with.

Partial attraction of internet forums is the anonymity and freedom to state your views without fear of being ostracized in real life. Predators know this and they will trick you into revealing far too much personal information about yourself. They hide behind the anonymity and create personas that match yours.

Even recently, a young person posing as a married Mom in her mid 20's chatted away merrily to us, offering advise and support. While she or he may have been a teenager just having some fun, the situation has highlighted a need for vigilance and protection.

While the worth of the internet is priceless to internet predators, think of the real cost of sexual abuse. In How Much Does Sexual Violence Cost? it is suggested that rape is the costliest crime for victims in the United States, with annual costs to victims estimated at $127 billion (this estimate does not include child sexual abuse). Further, they state, "the average cost of being a rape victim is estimated at $110,000. This compares with victim costs of $16,000 for robbery, and $36,000 for drunk driving."

Amazing and despicable. I am tired of women carrying the burden of cost - both emotionally and financially. It is time to stop ALL sexual violence, no matter where it occurs. Because we all use the internet to talk and share with each other, this is a good place for each of us to start.

However, the vigilance is down to all of us reporting suspicious and dubious activity. We have the power to stop internet predators. We have the power to protect all people from the endemic pus of sexual violence. We don't need to hide, we are doing nothing wrong. The predators who attempt to use the information against us need to change. We will not be manipulated into hiding. We will however, be motivated to report against those who dare to permeate our space.

As a collective and borderless internet community, we need to let the net predators know that their behavior will not be tolerated. We will watch, we will tell, we will act. Predatory behavior on the internet is no less damaging than predatory behavior in our neighborhood.

It is however, MORE intrusive, MORE achievable, and MORE sneaky.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Cyberstalking by Exes - It's Illegal

by Jann Blackstone-Ford & Sharyl Jupe

(Florida, U.S.A.) Question: I'm going through a divorce. Yesterday I found out my soon-to-be ex hacked my email account and changed all my passwords so he could read my private business. Then he changed them back, thinking I wouldn't know — but they send an alert and my email comes through my phone, so I knew what he was doing. He thinks I had an affair because he still can't believe I would leave him just because he's a jerk, so he's looking for some justification I was fooling around. I know you are going to say it's bad ex-etiquette, but what can I do about it?

Answer: It's not only bad ex-etiquette, but it also could be regarded as cyberstalking, and that's illegal. Hacking an ex's email is not new, but unless the victim feels he or she is danger, rarely does that person press charges. It really depends if this is an obsessed ex and your life is in danger or merely someone feeling particularly desperate one day and making bad choices. Hopefully, from your history with this guy, you know which it is. If it's an act of desperation, talking to him will probably do the trick, but make your boundaries clear.

After a breakup, people often continue to sleep together for various reasons and this sends mixed messages — especially if one of the parties wants to stay together. If you are doing this, or anything else like it, you may be contributing to the confusion. Make sure you're not doing anything that will keep your ex hanging on. That said, if your ex has acted irrationally in the past and you are frightened, consider going to the police. The police take cyberstalking very seriously and many have departments devoted specifically to problems with Internet and social-media interaction.

Unfortunately, it's common practice to share passwords — even PIN numbers — with your partner, but this can present a problem after a breakup. It gives them easy access to your personal life and even your money, so best practice is to change all passwords and PIN numbers as soon as you realize the breakup is final. You may even want to change the email accounts linked to your Facebook or other social-media accounts, so there is no way he can hack into your private business.

It goes without saying that your ex is breaking just about every rule of good ex-etiquette, but that doesn't mean that you have to break the rules when dealing with him. Being honest (Ex-Etiquette Rule No. 8) is always a good one to rely on, as well as rules No. 5 and 6, don't be spiteful and don't hold grudges. Finally, one rule your ex definitely forgot, Rule No. 9, is "respect each other's turf." Respect is critical to any successful relationship — even when breaking up.

original article found here

NOTE: CONTRARY TO WHAT THESE AUTHORS SAY - MANY POLICE DEPARTMENTS DO NOT, UNFORTUNATELY, TAKE CYBERSTALKING SERIOUSLY. - EOPC

Protecting Yourself Against Cyberstalking.

By JOSH LANDIS

Another alleged stalking incident has led to another death.

Nimzay Aponte knew her alleged killer, but she didn't know who he was. When Raymond Dennis met her online and cyber-stalked her, he said his name was "Mike."

Police said that Internet encounter ended with Aponte's death.

"Once we start talking to someone online we tend to forget they're strangers. We really don't know who they are. That cute 30-year-old guy may not be 30, may not be cute, and may not be a guy," said Parry Aftab of wiredsafety.org

Aftab said it isn't just people looking for relationships who are at risk.

"More adults are cyber-stalked and harassed than kids are cyber-bullied. They just don't talk about it as often," Aftab said.

Real estate marketer Amy Taylor said she was harassed by someone who might have found her number on the Internet.

"Somebody pretty recently was calling me from a blocked number. I reported that to the local police department here so they had that information on file just in case something should happen to me," Taylor said.

If you're one of millions of Americans who visit sites like Facebook or LinkedIn and Twitter, you're sharing more information about yourself than you realize. And it wouldn't take long for a determined stalker to track you down.

"This is a phenomenon that's with us to stay," NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

"The Internet is a great place, but it is a vast billboard and don't put anything out there that you wouldn't put on a billboard on Route 80," Aftab added.

If you do become a victim of cyber-stalking, three steps: stop responding to the sender's messages, block their e-mail address and tell your boss or the police. (Take this article to the police with you if you think they won't believe you, demand they make a report and don't leave until you get a copy of the report.)

Authorities say more than a million women and nearly 400,000 men are stalked each year -- many of them online.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE