Technology & Cyber stalking
Tracking cyber-stalkers requires that the law enforcement operate in the same virtual environment in which the criminals operate. Since websites are places, the webmasters, designers and administrators that manage the place should be given a role by the law enforcement officers helping them to track their activities (Basu & Jones, 2007). The enforcers of the law will then use the various forensics tolls that will allow them to discover the stalkers behavior patterns, trail the computers used them and use forensic data that is potentially relevant and which the stalkers may have discarded. The uncovering of stalkers behavior patterns requires the officer to be with the victim so that they can observe the sessions of the stalker. The agent can also be replaced by a television camera with a closed-circuit and even a recorder which can monitor the stalker’s sessions and then determine their patterns. Trailing the computer used by the stalker can be done using a monitor system that can allow the law enforcers to obtain host data and even the important network data (Burmester, Henry & Kermes, 2005). Such data include the data on victim’s PC and the screener buffer contents including the outgoing or incoming network packets while at the same time ensuring exclusion of machine-generate overhead. Thirdly, the storage of the collected data is necessary which will allow the law enforcers to relate any evidence collected to the cyber-stalker activities in a forensic lab. This data is important since it can be used as evidence in the court (Burmester, Henry & Kermes, 2005).
Tracking the behavior of cyber-stalkers is not an easy task for the law enforcement due to a variety of reasons. First, the patterns of behavior related to cyber-stalking are unpredictable, varied and complex which makes it quite difficult to investigate, examine and even prevent. This is because of anonymity challenge where the cyberstalker can conceal their identity through the use of different providers of internet service and adoption of various screen names. Stalkers with more experience can remailers that are anonymous and which makes it impossible to recognize the true identity of the e-mail-source. Since they know that the victim cannot identify them, they can continue with their pursuits without being uncovered by the victim or even the law enforcement officer (Reyns, 2010). Secondly, a problem arises when the law enforcers attempt to identify the criminal since this brings about serious issues relating to privacy and eventually lead to political backlash. The protection of internet users privacy means that efforts by the law enforcers are curtailed, which provide an opportunity for the cyber criminal to exploit while at the same time, avoiding being held accountable for their actions (Reyns, 2010).
Serious penalties can apply to cyberstalking including related collateral consequences that goes beyond jail term. The penalties may involve statutes like Online Minor Solicitation for the stalking that involves children and teenagers, and in case they are of sexual nature, the stalker may be required to have a sex offender registration after serving jail term (DeMatteo, 2017). However, these laws may not adequately penalize the cyberstalker since there has been not update so that the laws can be in line with the realities of Internet. The cyberstalking criminals may engage in various activities that have not yet been criminalized in the law such as sharing of personal information as harassment and the criminal may go scot-free.
References
Reyns, B. W. (2010). A situational crime prevention approach to cyberstalking victimization: Preventive tactics for Internet users and online place managers. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 12(2), 99-118.
Burmester, M., Henry, P., & Kermes, L. S. (2005). Tracking cyberstalkers: a cryptographic approach. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 35(3), 2.
Basu, S., & Jones, R. (2007). Regulating cyberstalking. Journal of Information Law & Technology, 22.
DeMatteo, D., DeMatteo, D., Wagage, S., Wagage, S., Fairfax-Columbo, J., & Fairfax-Columbo, J. (2017). Cyberstalking: are we on the same (web) page? A comparison of statutes, case law, and public perception. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 9(2), 83-94.
