Stalking Moves Onto the Web

by Terry Costlow

Angela monitored an Internet chat room as a hobby. But she learned quickly that the many benefits of the Web come with a dark side, when she began receiving hundreds of threatening messages from an Internet acquaintance. One such message included a particularly chilling threat: "I will kill you Ang."

Angela was the victim of "cyberstalking," a crime that is growing rapidly, as strangers, acquaintances, angry suitors and even friends attempt to gain revenge by sending anonymous e-mail messages. Although cyberstalkers rarely confront their victims in person, they often threaten physical attacks. And while a few cyberstalkers have gone on to assault and even murder their targets, most stop when their Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the police confront them and break their veil of anonymity. Nevertheless, the psychological impact can be extremely distressing. Angela’s father bought her a gun, and she continues to carry pepper spray, even though police contact stopped all messages from her stalker.

State Laws Are Addressing Cyberstalking

In the past three years, many states have responded aggressively to cyberstalking, passing laws against Internet harassment. Currently, 43 states have Internet harassment laws in place. Another three have legislation pending. Spokesmen for anti-stalking agencies note that the number of prosecutions is on the rise, as both Internet use and awareness of the crime grows.

Several non-profit agencies are also providing aid. They use technically skilled volunteers to help track stalkers and stop harassment. They say that finding cyberstalkers is usually fairly simple. "With few exceptions, one can tell the IP address of the computer that the stalker was using by looking at the e-mail headers," said Doug Muth, a software engineer who heads the technology group at WHOA.org, a victim’s aid organization.

Public Sites Sometimes Hesitate to Cooperate

The trail, however, sometimes leads to public libraries, universities or other public sites that provide anonymity, Muth noted. He said that the attitudes of leaders and decisionmakers at these sites are a big factor in the ease or difficulty of finding stalkers. "Dealing with stalkers requires technical, social and administrative measures," Muth said. While some of the public-facility executives are helpful, others are reluctant to open their sites to ongoing investigation, saying that monitoring system use is time-consuming and raises privacy concerns.

Stalkers often move from site to site, and they’re often adept at finding victims who change e-mail addresses. They watch chat rooms or discussion groups frequented by their victims (often the places they meet their victims), looking for similar responses from a new address. They sometimes get new addresses from their victim’s friends, who don’t know the anonymous stalker, but respond innocently when they are asked what happened to the victim. Some victims eventually become so intimidated that they stop communicating online all together. Most victims agree that letting fear prevent them from using the Web to communicate is, at the very least, demoralizing.

Savvy Stalkers Are Harder to Track Down

The real challenge for stalking victims and for those who are fighting the battle against cyberstalking comes when cyberstalkers put a bit more effort into hiding their identity. Some use techniques employed by spammers and other cyber criminals.

"Savvy stalkers use IP spoofing and re-mailers and exploit SMTP servers that have relaying enabled, much the same as spam senders use," said "Gambler," who works with WiredPatrol.org, a group that asks its volunteers to remain anonymous. When computer-savvy stalkers hide their identities, the search becomes more involved, he said. In these cases, trackers often have to work closely with technical experts at chat rooms, ISPs and other locations.

Fortunately, "stalkers are usually only after attention and rarely good techies," said "Sidewinder," a computer science student who also volunteers at WiredPatrol.org.

Once an agency determines there’s a reason to take action and find a stalker, their first step typically is to go to the stalker’s ISP. If the stalker doesn’t stop then, calling for help from law enforcement generally follows. When law enforcement agencies contact stalkers, they often drive home the point that this form of stalking is not accepted and will not be tolerated. For now, at least, it’s enough to stop most stalkers. But for how long, no one knows.

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Terry Costlow has written about the electronics industry for more than 20 years, covering a wide range of technologies and topics.