Spring Break
Cyberstalking increasing on university campuses
By: Aditi Dubey
Issue date: 6/1/07 Section: News
Originally published: 6/1/07 at 1:47 AM EST
Last update: 6/1/07 at 1:47 AM EST
Originally published: 6/1/07 at 1:47 AM EST
Last update: 6/1/07 at 1:47 AM EST
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Editor's Note: This is part three of a four part series on sexual violence.
Cyberstalking is an increasing trend across college campuses nationwide; however, it is not well defined or understood.
An August 1999 report by the United States Attorney General defined cyberstalking as a term for the use of the "Internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications devices to stalk another person." The U.S. Census Bureau Internet use report done in 2003 finds 54.7 percent of households to have Internet access.
To better understand this growing menace, The Triangle sat down with criminal justice professor and cyber crime expert Robert D'Ovidio.
"Cyberbullying, online harassment and computer stalking are synonymous to the idea of cyberstalking, being the repeated use of Internet and other related communication services or tools in a manner that threatens, annoys or alarms an individual or a group of individuals," D'Ovidio said.
According to D'Ovidio's research, 3.7 percent of college students indicated they were a victim of cyberstalking. Cyberstalking is similar to physical stalking in that majority of the cases involve stalking by former intimates. Just as physical stalking, most victims of cyberstalking are women and most stalkers are men.
Cyberstalkers are generally motivated by the desire to control the victim, according to the Attorney General's report.
"In an ex boyfriend-girlfriend situation after the break-up, the person who didn't institute the break-up then repeatedly starts sending messages to their former partner," D'Ovidio said. "If it's unwanted communication then, over time, it can amount to a criminal violation, especially if you've been requested to cease all communication; it would violate a harassment statute in the state of Pennsylvania."
Internet, cell phones and other technology has made stalking easier because physical stalking generally requires the perpetrator and the victim to be located in the same geographic area, where as cyberstalkers can be located across the street or across the country. Technology has lowered the risk to the offender because a physical confrontation is not needed to achieve the goals of the stalker.
Cyberstalking is an increasing trend across college campuses nationwide; however, it is not well defined or understood.
An August 1999 report by the United States Attorney General defined cyberstalking as a term for the use of the "Internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications devices to stalk another person." The U.S. Census Bureau Internet use report done in 2003 finds 54.7 percent of households to have Internet access.
To better understand this growing menace, The Triangle sat down with criminal justice professor and cyber crime expert Robert D'Ovidio.
"Cyberbullying, online harassment and computer stalking are synonymous to the idea of cyberstalking, being the repeated use of Internet and other related communication services or tools in a manner that threatens, annoys or alarms an individual or a group of individuals," D'Ovidio said.
According to D'Ovidio's research, 3.7 percent of college students indicated they were a victim of cyberstalking. Cyberstalking is similar to physical stalking in that majority of the cases involve stalking by former intimates. Just as physical stalking, most victims of cyberstalking are women and most stalkers are men.
Cyberstalkers are generally motivated by the desire to control the victim, according to the Attorney General's report.
"In an ex boyfriend-girlfriend situation after the break-up, the person who didn't institute the break-up then repeatedly starts sending messages to their former partner," D'Ovidio said. "If it's unwanted communication then, over time, it can amount to a criminal violation, especially if you've been requested to cease all communication; it would violate a harassment statute in the state of Pennsylvania."
Internet, cell phones and other technology has made stalking easier because physical stalking generally requires the perpetrator and the victim to be located in the same geographic area, where as cyberstalkers can be located across the street or across the country. Technology has lowered the risk to the offender because a physical confrontation is not needed to achieve the goals of the stalker.
