Over the last few years governments, law enforcement agencies, and the media have noted increases of online harassment. Although there has been a great deal of research into 'offline stalking', at this moment in time there has been no formal research that attempts to classify cyberstalkers. This study aimed to identify a classification of cyberstalkers by interviewing victims. Twenty-four participants were interviewed and their responses logged on a 76-item Cyberstalking Incident Checklist. A typology of cyberstalkers was developed. Contents Introduction Methodology Results Discussion

This article discusses the emergence of cyberstalking as a means of victimising individuals and minority groups. However, rather than focusing on the activities of far-right groups, we discuss how technology can encourage individuals to harass others. The central argument made is that technology both enables and invites participation in criminal or antisocial behaviour from individuals who would not normally take part in such activities. One way in which this can be explained is by suggesting that some of the social and technological characteristics of the Internet act together in order to lower inhibitions and establish new norms. For instance, the anonymity offered by the Internet enables people to participate in activities such as encouraging violence against others with little fear of retaliation. In addition, by allowing a cyberstalker to harm another person at a distance, the victim is effectively depersonalised. In this way it can be argued that some of those who sympathise with the goals of far-right organisations may be reluctant to act in the offline world but more willing to act in the online world.

There are a small number of well-known cases of cyberstalking. In general, however, these cases have been poorly documented and have not been subjected to detailed analysis. Furthermore, almost every reported case concerns events that have taken place in the United States, and there appear to be few, if any, fully documented cases that describe incidents in other technologically sophisticated societies, such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand.This paper sets out to achieve a number of related objectives. First, the paper attempts to present the first detailed academic case study of cyberstalking. Second, since the case described is of UK origin, it is hoped that attention will be drawn to the obvious, but often overlooked, fact that cyberstalking is a truly international problem, a problem that affects all developed societies and crosses international boundaries. Third, the paper represents an initial attempt to argue that cyberstalking should be seen as a phenomenon that is distinct from 'conventional' stalking. Finally, it is hoped that the discussion section of the paper will stimulate further analysis, debate and research.Before examining the case study itself, a brief description of how data was collected and verified may be of value. A number of informal interviews were held with the final victim described by the case study. These interviews were used to obtain basic information, such as the victim's age, and also helped to clarify any points that arose as work progressed. It was also possible to make contact with the other victims described in the text (via e-mail) in order to verify facts and gain more detail about the activities of the stalker. As described in the case itself, the spouse of the final victim was able to record a great deal of data on the activities of the stalker, and this data was made available to the authors. Since much of the data was recorded automatically via specialised software, it was extremely detailed. As an example, it was possible to examine the conversations between the victim and the stalker in great depth since they had been recorded in their entirety. It should be noted that the availability of such comprehensive data is

The Internet poses a number of threats to the safety of young people. Using numerous examples, this article discusses a wide range of such threats, including: cyberstalking; the ‘grooming’ of potential victims of sexual abuse; a new ‘wish list’ scene (where teenagers encourage contact with potential abusers); the creation and distribution of child pornography; and the emergence of services that create child pornography to order. It is suggested that the last has provided individuals with the ability to inflict sexual abuse on young people from a distance, an act the authors have termed virtual sex tourism. The final section of the article suggests that paedophiles and pornographers have been quick to adopt new technology as a means of concealing their activities. The article concludes by warning of the danger of overestimating or underestimating the threats described.

The advent of the internet has led to the new phenomenon of 'cyberstalking'. This paper examines the extent of this problem. It is argued that all of the estimates commonly cited are flawed because they rely on inaccurate or outdated information or are based on a number of unproven assumptions. Although some estimates suggest that there may be as many as 10 million victims in the United States and Canada alone, available evidence supports a far smaller estimate. It is concluded that additional research is needed to arrive at more accurate and reliable estimates. Numerous estimates attempt to describe the prevalence of 'stalking' within the US and other countries. Whilst some of these estimates have gained acceptance through publication in official government reports, many can be criticised for being little more than guesses. This article examines many of the estimates commonly cited by government departments, internet safety organisations, the media and individuals. All of these estimates are flawed in one way or another, usually because they are based upon unproven assumptions. The most common assumption being that offline stalking is directly comparable to cyberstalking. This will be discussed later but first, the terms are defined. Meloy & Gothard (1995) defined stalking as 'an abnormal or long term pattern of threat or harassment directed toward a specific individual'. Westrup (1998) described it as 'one or more of a constellation of behaviours that (a) are directly repeatedly towards a specific individual (the target), (b) are experienced by the target as unwelcome and intrusive, and (c) are reported to trigger fear or concern in the target.' Cyberstalking is defined as: 'A group of behaviours in which the individual, group of individuals or organisation, uses information and communications technology to harass one or more individuals. Such behaviours may include, but are not limited to, the transmission of threats and false accusations, identity theft, data theft, damage to data or equipment, computer monitoring, the solicitation of minors for sexual purposes and confrontation. Harassment is defined as a course of action that a reasonable person, in possession of the same information, would think causes another reasonable person to suffer emotional distress.' (Bocij & McFarlane, 2002a).