Cyberstalking, computer crime

What do you call ‘unwanted attention by individuals (and sometimes groups of people) to others’? Stalking, says Wikipedia. Stalking behaviours are related to harassment and intimidation, it adds. “The word ‘stalking’ is used, with some differing meanings, in psychology and psychiatry and also in some legal jurisdictions as a term for a criminal offence.”

Matthew Lippman discusses ‘stalking’ in one of the chapters included in ‘Contemporary Criminal Law: Concepts, cases, and controversies,’ second edition (www.sagepublications.com). He cites the Illinois statute for a simple definition of the crime – that a person commits stalking when he or she ‘on at least two separate occasions’ follows another person or places the person under surveillance or any combination of these two acts.

“This must be combined with the transmittal of a threat of immediate or future bodily harm or the creation of a reasonable apprehension that a family member will be placed in immediate or future bodily harm.” Worryingly, what is a recent entrant into the statute books is the crime of cyberstalking, in which the threat is transmitted through an electronic device.

Cyberstalking is on the increase, reports www.northcountrygazette.org, in a story dated March 7. It cites the 2009 cyberstalking statistics compiled by the Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA), a voluntary online safety organisation. Findings show that the initial harassment begins via email first.

“Second was IM, message boards, Facebook and web sites. In 2008 it was email, message boards, IM, then Myspace, which shows how Facebook has not only become more popular, but a popular place to harass. It is also interesting that texting, Craigslist, online dating and online games saw a big bump.”

Lippman’s book has a chapter on ‘crimes against property,’ where he discusses computer crime, too. The author notes that the courts have experienced difficulty applying the traditional law of larceny to individuals who gain access to intangible property without authorisation.

“The primary property offences committed in cyberspace include unauthorised computer access to programs and databases and unlawfully obtaining personal information through deceit and trickery. Can you take and carry away access to a computer program?”

At the time of writing this, hot business news is that data on 15,000 Swiss account holders of HSBC have been stolen! The bank has informed that a former employee stole the information in late 2006 and early 2007; and the bank has contacted the affected customers and apologised for the breach of their privacy. “The information has in some cases been offered to foreign governments seeking to track down nationals who have avoided paying their taxes by hiding money in Swiss accounts,” concludes the AP story.

Handy reference.