Assignment 3- Cyberstalking

When it comes to Facebook and Social Relationships you do not really think of cyberstalking, but it has become a growing problem. First of all what is cyberstalking? Cyberstalking is the use of technology to stalk a person(s). One can use the internet, e-mail, or any other telecommunication technologies to stalk and is thought of as a mental assault. This type of assault is illegal and when I looked at the National Conference of State Legislatures, it stated that there is three types of cyber crime; Cyberstalking, Cyberharassment, and Cyberbullying. The difference between these is that cyberstalking is  thought of as a threat to the persons well-being and if found guilty of committing this act, the states that recognize the cyberstalking laws, has the right to prosecute the individual as a misdemeanor or a felon. Cyberharassment does not involve a creditable threat, and cyberbullying is the use of technology of minors in a school setting to harass a fellow student.

I found a clip of Eliot Chang’s Stand up that relates to Cyberstalking on Facebook- Two minutes in the video is when it talks about cyberstalking.

· Prevention

• · If the stalker is using Facebook- You can change your privacy settings so that it restricts access to people who are not your friends.

• · You can even create a public/professional profile for future employers to look at and have a private profile for your friends. That is what this gentlemen as done http://www.cloudave.com/831/facebook-cyber-stalking/, he also mentions that you can create an alert through Google, so that when anyone searchers your name it will notify you.

Recent Stalking Cases

• · On December 2^nd,, 2010 in the state of Florida a case was established stating that an individual was posing to be an affiliate with a sorority and using Facebook and other technologies to stalk and harass freshmen girls.

• · The stalker would befriend these girls by offering them a potential spot in the sorority, and would have long conversations (hours and a time). But would later ask them to send inappropriate pictures.

• This is the link to the news coverage http://www.mediaite.com/tv/dan-abrams-discusses-disturbing-sorority-cyber-stalker-case-on-today/

• · For more News on Facebook and Social Relationships see Andre’s blog.

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