by Kevin Cole

Created on: January 30, 2009

The explosion of social media in the 21st century has provided vast interconnectedness and often endless opportunities for communication. This media revolution is bringing positive changes in many quarters, but there's also a dark side to all these new tools. One of these negatives includes the familiar offline crime known as "stalking," which has gone digital and is now known as "cyberstalking."

In defining cyberstalking we must first distinguish between colloquial usage and its legal definition. In common parlance, "cyberstalking" simply refers to the action of harassing another individual online, whether via profile sites (such as MySpace or Facebook) or instant messaging tools (such as AOL IM or IRC). There is, of course, a spectrum: on the low end we might include possibly-innocuous acts like sending an unsolicited message to a stranger. More seriously, cyberstalking might mean tracking an individual for weeks or months, harassing them by every means possible.

This is where the legal definition of cyberstalking is helpful. Laws vary by country, though in the United States there is currently no federal law defining and prohibiting cyberstalking. Most states, however, do have codes that address online or virtual stalking. Many are subsumed under other areas, such as Indiana's laws on "Offenses Relating to Communications." Illinois, however, specifically addresses "cyberstalking." They, like most legal definitions on the subject, require a variety of conditions in order for an act to be technically called cyberstalking. Generally these stipulations include things like repetition (Illinois simply requires two instances), malicious intent, acting against the victim's will, and is causing (or can potentially cause) significant emotional or physical harm.

According to these definitions, then, a curious perusal of your ex-girlfriend's blog is not really cyberstalking. We might find it creepy if you're browsing a stranger's wedding photos on Facebook, but again it's not exactly cyberstalking. Perhaps the most famous recent case of online harassment is the case of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl from Missouri. In 2007 she became a tragic example of cyberstalking of the worst kind. Over a period of weeks Megan was repeatedly and maliciously tormented via MySpace by, unbeknownst to Megan, the mother of one of her classmates. The online threats and insults eventually became too overwhelming and Megan hung herself in her bedroom.

Since this example involves children, the instance is sometimes referred to as "cyberbullying," not cyberstalking. Yet the law presently makes no distinction and difference is only the ages of the participants - not the nature or character of the harassment. In either case, the Meier example highlights many of the significant features characteristic of cyberstalking: obsessive harassment, desire for torment or revenge, and the potential for a profoundly negative impact on the victims. The case has renewed public interest in cyberstalking and forced continued dialogue about the definition and meaning of cyberstalking and what, if anything, should be added or clarified in our existing laws.

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