A day after a Des Plaines, Illinois man became the first convicted under that state's new cyberstalking law, a new study showing cyberstalking is rising in the United States was released.
"We didn't find much good news," said Parry Aftab, executive director of Wired Safety, which conducted the study. "Identity theft is increasing. And because more people are cyberdating, they become victims of cyberstalking when things don't work out."
The study says women remain the most likely cyberstalking targets and are becoming an increasing number of cyberstalkers themselves. Other cyberstalking targets, the study says, include members of certain ethnic groups, like those from the Middle East. And, Aftab said, cyberstalking only too often moves to real time, and with tragic consequences.
More states than the sixteen who had such laws on the books in 1998 have criminalized cyberstalking since. On April 16, Porfirios Liapis was convicted under Illinois's cyberstalking law for sending threatening e-mails to his former best friend, who had had two affairs with Liapis's then-wife. He could face three years behind bars on each of two separate felony counts when he is sentenced in May.
But even more cyberstalking laws go only so far when measured against things like the Recording Industry Association of America's litigation against Verizon Online, Aftab said. She called it "an outrageous and dangerous ruling" meaning "anyone can obtain personal information about any Internet user by simply filling out a one-page form and submitting it to a court clerk."
She said she fears there is "absolutely nothing you can do to protect yourself, even if you are a police officer doing undercover work against sexual predators," if that ruling holds up on appeal. "The future safety and privacy of all Americans engaged in online communications now rests with Verizon winning this case on appeal. We hope the (Bush) Administration and Congress are paying close attention to this case and understand the very important implications."
