Cyberstalking

Have social networking sites made us more vulnerable to stalking? Probably, which is why the more popular sites such as Facebook are facing flak on the insufficiency of their privacy controls. While we may have barricaded our online lives with settings like 'for friends/contacts only' the more resourceful users need only patience and the right window (or contact) to view a particular person's profile--pictures and all. The concept of 'six degrees of separation' applies to our online lives, effectively converting it to 'six degrees of separation raised to infinity'. And once something gets on the internet, it's going to stay there forever.

Stalkers may range from the merely annoying ones, to those who crack your profile and use it for their own purposes. Cyberstalking is described as "A course of conduct (more than one incident) that uses technology to track, intimidate, harass, threaten or scare victims." In the US, persons violated through cyberstalking are advised to call a resource like the National Center for Victims of Crime. E-mails, texts, voice mails should be recorded for evidence.

The more interesting question however is: who among us is not guilty of cyberstalking AT ALL?

For tips on how to deal with cyberstalkers, visit this site.