CyberStalking
Some excellent resources for those of us who have been stalked, threatened, blackmailed, and otherwise harassed by those who would like to intimidate us until we stop writing:
An excellent post by Viviane, here.
Many resources and alternatives, both legal and extra-legal.
And a wonderful one by Figleaf, with some thoughts on The Girl's recent outing:
To my certain knowledge close to a dozen sex bloggers have gone dark in the last year because they were threatened by people who tracked them, stalked them, discovered their identities, and contacted them in an intimidating or even directly threatening manner. Some of these individuals have sent innocuous-seeming messages to sex-blogger's partners or employers or their children's schools as a way to indicate how much embarrassment they can cause.
Sometimes they've been classic stalkers operating with classic "I just want to meet you" crushes. Sometimes, more ominously, their intention is to blackmail the blogger into going dark! (I can only wonder how long till someone does it in order to get their own site promoted -- there are certainly a few *very* aggressive semi-commercial bloggers these days!)
Be sure to read the whole thing.
Naturally, such persons trade upon the blogger's fear of outing, and this is often although not always what keeps the blogger from contacting law enforcement. But for those of us who are willing and able to go to law enforcement or otherwise go public, remember: In the US, actions which are are not criminal offenses are very often still actionable as civil offenses.
The really nice thing about civil litigation, if you have a friend who is a lawyer and will work for you for free, is that your stalker is guaranteed to take a substantial financial hit, regardless of who ultimately wins the suit. Check the civil litigation for the state in which you live, regardless of where your stalker(s) live: In my own state, for example, damages for this behaviour go up to 25,000 dollars.
Our motto, as ever: don't let the bastards grind you down.
Cheers,O
An excellent post by Viviane, here.
Many resources and alternatives, both legal and extra-legal.
And a wonderful one by Figleaf, with some thoughts on The Girl's recent outing:
To my certain knowledge close to a dozen sex bloggers have gone dark in the last year because they were threatened by people who tracked them, stalked them, discovered their identities, and contacted them in an intimidating or even directly threatening manner. Some of these individuals have sent innocuous-seeming messages to sex-blogger's partners or employers or their children's schools as a way to indicate how much embarrassment they can cause.
Sometimes they've been classic stalkers operating with classic "I just want to meet you" crushes. Sometimes, more ominously, their intention is to blackmail the blogger into going dark! (I can only wonder how long till someone does it in order to get their own site promoted -- there are certainly a few *very* aggressive semi-commercial bloggers these days!)
Be sure to read the whole thing.
Naturally, such persons trade upon the blogger's fear of outing, and this is often although not always what keeps the blogger from contacting law enforcement. But for those of us who are willing and able to go to law enforcement or otherwise go public, remember: In the US, actions which are are not criminal offenses are very often still actionable as civil offenses.
The really nice thing about civil litigation, if you have a friend who is a lawyer and will work for you for free, is that your stalker is guaranteed to take a substantial financial hit, regardless of who ultimately wins the suit. Check the civil litigation for the state in which you live, regardless of where your stalker(s) live: In my own state, for example, damages for this behaviour go up to 25,000 dollars.
Our motto, as ever: don't let the bastards grind you down.
Cheers,O
posted by O at 11:59 AM
2 Spoke Out
