Cyber-stalking

About a month ago, a friend of mine decided to delete all her online social-networking accounts. (friendster, facebook, multiply, etc.) The reason: she was obsessed with stalking her ex-boyfriend. She had to choose between her real-life sanity and her web identity. I'm glad she chose the former.

This situation exhibits a looming ICT problem: cyber-stalking. What prevents one from stalking another on the net? Practically nothing.

For sites like facebook, a love-struck girl could stare at her crush's pictures the whole day, and he won't even know about it. A boy could use his sister's multiply account to gain information on her cute barkada. A mother could simply log onto the internet and do an instant background check on her daughter's suitor.

People's lives have become such an open book that one need not be a hacker or a genius or a private investigator to gather information on people anymore. All you need is a laptop and a connection and you've got all you need: pictures, family info., academic info., interests, vital statistics and even personal history and beliefs (through past blog posts).

Of course for stalkers, this isn't such a big deal. But for the stalked, this could mean intrusion into private lives.

We all know cyber-stalking exists. People don't just seem to care much. In the end, our apathy could prove costly. I guess such is the risk we all take.