wiredsafety.org is the world's largest online safety and help group

So you're being stalked or harassed online, now what?

The fact is that both men and women have the same rights online as offline, and NO ONE has a right to harass, threaten and distress you.

On many networks and with many service providers, harassment of another user is a violation of their Acceptable Use Policy and abusers can have their accounts terminated.

And in certain circumstances, once harassment becomes a systematic and malicious campaign of threats against you, then the harasser may be breaking the law and there are a number of steps you CAN take to deal with it, both through the criminal and civil courts.

You don't have to be a victim, you can contact our for help. Remember, if you get the sense that the person may try to stalk you offline...call your local police immediately!

Getting people and law enforcement to take online stalking seriously is often difficult. Thank goodness in recent years the attention the press has given to this new age phenomenon has helped to improve that situation.

Many times when you report online stalking to the authorities your told, "Well stop using the Internet" or just "turn off your computer". If you were receiving obscene telephone calls would they tell you to stop using your telephone? Of course not. Many people make their living with the Internet and to be told to just stop using it is unacceptable.

Unfortunately many law enforcement departments do not have the training or the funding to train their officers in Internet crime. This does not mean that they can not act on your behalf. With assistance often the offensive e-mails and logs can be traced to the persons Internet Service Provider. With this accomplished the police can get a subpoena to require the ISP to release the offending persons identifying information and press charges of harassment or stalking depending on the situation and jurisdiction.

WiredPatrol is committed to assisting law enforcement in any way we can in dealing with this all too common problem. We provide training to law enforcement as well as assistance in tracing when needed.

When your gut tells you that something is wrong listen to it and react. Ask for help. Don't keep the stalking and harassment a secret from your friends or employer. Often people are embarrassed as they may have had a previous relationship with the stalker or feel they somehow contributed to it in a flame war. Your silence gives the stalker power. Break that silence tell people and you will get the help you need.

First tell the police then reach out to us at WiredPatrol. We are always here to help, whether that involves law enforcement or a shoulder to cry on.

Criminal Cyberstalking appears to have caught professional Law Enforcement unprepared. The technology is so new and State and Federal funding for Internet resources is so sparse among the law enforcement community, that many times cyberstalking targets will find themselves trying to explain what is happening to them, in vain, to technologically unprepared Police Officers.(We have special online classes just for law enforcement, to help them tackle the enormous new challenges they face in cyber law enforcement.)

The nature of the Internet also makes it difficult for governments to draft effective online anti-stalking legislation. There are multiple problems facing legislators, including issues of legal jurisdiction in a communications medium that is truly international, problems gathering and authenticating online evidence and the thorny problem (particularly in the USA) of free speech rights, and how to draft statutes that deter and punish harassment without curtailing constitutional rights. These problems are not helped by the fact that much legislation is drafted by legislators who do not themselves use the Internet and its technology.

One other reason why cyberstalking targets still get so little help from law enforcement or the civil courts is that cyberstalking as a crime is not yet taken seriously. Even real life stalking laws are very new: In the USA for example there were no laws against real life stalking until 1990, when California passed the first one. In a country where even targets of real life stalking are still told by the Police: "We are sorry, but we can't do anything unless you get physically attacked," small wonder that the "virtual crime" of cyberstalking gets even less respect.