When Cyberbullying Becomes Cyberstalking

Cyberbullying stories are popping up in the news more and more. An incredibly diverse range of people have fallen victim to the intimiation and life destroying intrusion.

Unfortunately I was one of those targetted.

In an attempt to find some form of a positive outcome of this horrific situation, I wanted to share my research and a small insight to my experience.

What is cyberbullying, stalking  and online harassment?

The definition of online harassment varies according to who is involved. Generally, when the victim and the perpetrtor are both children, the harassment is termed cyberbullying as detailed by Stop Cyberbullying. Whilst the actions are the same, once both parties are adult, the term, according to Wikipedia, changes to cyberstalking or cyberharassment.

Wikipedia defines cyberstalking as “the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization. It may include false accusations, monitoring, making threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sex, or gathering information in order to harass. Cyberstalking is different from spatial or offline stalking in that it occurs through the use of electronic communications technology such as the internet. However, it sometimes leads to it, or is accompanied by it. A cyberstalker may be an online stranger or a person whom the target knows.

“Cyberstalking may include false accusations, monitoring, making threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sex, or gathering information in order to harass. A repeated pattern of such actions and harassment against a target by an adult constitutes cyberstalking”.

Methods Used

Wired Safety put together a powerpoint presentation about a study in to cyberstalking and its findings. They identified the methods used in cyberstalking as:

• ¨     E-mail and instant messaging direct threats
• ¨     Identity theft
• ¨     Building websites targeting the victim
• ¨     Posting false profiles
• ¨     Hacking
• ¨     Posting fake sex ads
• ¨     Pasting the victim’s image onto a pornographic image or posting real sexual images of the victim online
• ¨     Provoking attacks against the victim by others
• ¨     Posing as the victim and attacking others
• ¨     Contacting victim’s family or employer
• ¨     Posting in a newsgroup or on a bulletin board, online
• ¨     Following the victim from site to site

My experience

After much research online, I’ve learnt that my particular experience is most likely defined as Corporate Cyberstalking. Wikipedia’s definition of which is: “when a company harasses an individual online, or an individual or group of individuals harasses an organization. Motives for corporate cyberstalking are ideological, or include a desire for financial gain or revenge”.

Paul Bocij – an expert in the field, goes in to much greater detail. His comprehensive work in this particular field has lead to the table below; a proposed typology of corporate cyberstalking.

Table 1: A proposed typology of corporate cyberstalking incidents

Stalker/Victim	Category Name	Description
Individual/Organisation	Vengeful	The individual wishes to exact some form of revenge against the organisation e.g. cyber-smearing.
Individual /Organisation	Individual Gain	The individual is seeking some form of benefit e.g. financial gain obtained via stock fraud.
Individual/Organisation	Ideological	The individual acts in support of beliefs e.g. cyberterrorism and hacktivism.
Organisation/Individual	Unwitting	The organisation is unaware of the actions of an employee and is an unknowing accomplice.
Organisation/Individual	For Profit	The organisation seeks to realise some form of (business) benefit by its actions, e.g. silencing critics using SLAPP. The victim is normally an individual.
Organisation/Individual	Competitive	The organisation seeks to improve its competitive position. The victim is another organisation.

Table copyright of Paul Bocij http://pear.accc.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1002/923

Mr Bocij explains; “The coloured part of the table represents categories of corporate cyberstalking where an organisation becomes a victim. Category names have been used as a simple way of identifying and describing a given category. These names also help to make clear the differences between categories”.

Mr Bocij goes on to detail each scenario with an actual case.

What laws exist?

Laws change from country to country. My knowledge is based around English laws, so this is what I refer to. As explained by the law firm Pinsent Masons in their article on Defamation; “Any disparaging statement made by one person about another, which is communicated or ‘published,’ may well be a defamatory statement and can give rise to an action for either libel or slander in English law”.

Cyberstalking is a criminal offense in the United Kingdom under the Malicious Communications Act  of 1998.

What needs to change?

Whatever term you chose to use; cyberstalking, cyberbullying, electronic/online harassment, it NEEDS TO STOP NOW. The fact that it happens through a particular media rather than face-to-face does not change the affect it has on an individual, nor should the laws be any different.

What should I do?

If you believe you have fallen victim to Cyberstalking of any description, the advice remains the same. As suggested by The Guardian; “gather evidence including times and means of stalking. Save any texts, emails, Facebook messages, screenshots. You should then assist police AND report to the network provider/ISP/Facebook. The service providers may not be able or willing to help, but you must log the complaint”.