LiveCamNetwork Blocks Chat Room Stalker

Baltimore police had to place a resident under warning for harassment and obstructing the operation of an online business after a LiveCamNetwork webmaster filed multiple complaints.

“Even after a series of calls to the police there and at the guy’s ISP, I couldn’t get a reaction,” says Jen, the LiveCamNetwork webmaster. “I had to bring a lawyer in and contact the Baltimore Computer Crimes department.”

The situation began when a user, nicknamed RichRaven, asked a chat hostess for a personal meeting, which she declined.

RichRaven then started harassing chat hostesses but was essentially harmless, LiveCamNetwork says.

“The poor loser really wanted attention, and he couldn’t get that final bit, which was seeing the girl live, in the flesh,” says Mark Prince, president of 2much.net, operators of LiveCamNetwork.

2much sites have since beefed up security with increased user screening and email validation security, among other things.

While LiveCamNetwork has not heard from RichRaven since the police knocked at his door, Prince is still not confident that the measures will deter him. The cyber-stalker has been able to hide behind a dozen IP addresses and used different computers, which allowed him to return to the site repeatedly under various pseudonyms.

“He’s out there; he could do this at anyone else’s site,” Price says. “Those are the people that need filters on their computers, permanently.”