Cyberstalking: A very Critical Issue
Hi guys
As you all know Cyberstalking has now become so much more common than physical harassment that it is an evident crime in the eyes of the law. According to latest reports, there are so many people finding themselves stalked/chased online by complete strangers.
A unique study conducted to look at the effect and extent of cyber stalking – taking into account social networking sites, email and mobile phones – has revealed the profile of victims to be radically different from those who are pursued in the real world. Victims surveyed by Researchers, at a university, reported that their perpetrators were more likely to be a total stranger or a casual acquaintance than a former partner.
A lot of other findings included that near about 20- 30% of cyberstalking victims are usually men while 70-80% of victims are women. Past studies have identified women to be at a higher risk in the real world, too.
Most of the victims in question here surveyed were aged 19 to 39, although the age bracket also ranged from 13 to 75, with especially teenagers reporting social networking sites to be the main platform where they were most likely targeted.
“There have been constant threats to kill the victim. They give a weird impression that they know exactly where their victims reside and can get hold of them physically. There is a lot of damage to the victims reputation, people being compromised by rumours or false allegations. I spoke to my mentor when I was in Scotland as he was followed through some crazy chat rooms and the web. Someone claimed to have met him through a popular dating site. He had been very sad due to these false allegations over past several years. He could never really found out who the harraser was or what the intention was like.”
Another victim ( who is my friend) was bombarded with vivid images/videos of violent rape where the girls face was covered.
The stalkers real intentions are never clear as to what they are trying to get out of this, other than causing extreme misery and suffering, she explained.
Also the harassment pattern is different between male and female, she said.
The use of the internet, social networking sites to damage reputations were poorly understood by the local police and not properly defined in the books of law. It is often a challenge to get information from internet service providers.
I strongly recommend people and police should “catch up with on-going technology” which means adequate information to the former and specific training to the latter.
Focussing on the current need, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. has launched an Individual Cyber safe Insurance Policy which provides us with a similar security against cybercrimes such as phishing, cyber stalking, email spoofing, cyber extortion among others.
You can directly buy your cyber safety here: https://general.bajajallianz.com/Insurance/cybersafe/initCSData.do?src=CBM_03105&utm_source=
