The act of threatening, harassing, or annoying someone through multiple email messages, as through the Internet, especially with the
intent of placing the recipient in fear that an illegal act or an injury will be inflicted on the recipient or a member of the recipient's
family or household
* Do not share personal information in public spaces anywhere online, nor give it to strangers, including in e-mail or chat rooms.
Do not use your real name or nickname as your screen name or user ID. Pick a name that is gender- and age-neutral. And do not post
personal information as part of any user profiles.
* Be extremely cautious about meeting online acquaintances in person.
If you choose to meet, do so in a public place and take along a friend.
* Make sure that your ISP and Internet Relay Chat
(IRC) network have an acceptable use policy that prohibits cyberstalking. And if your network fails to respond to your complaints,
consider switching to a provider that is more responsive to user complaints.
* If a situation online becomes hostile,
log off or surf elsewhere. If a situation places you in fear, contact a local law enforcement agency.
* You may want to consider blocking or filtering messages from the harasser. Many e-mail programs such as Eudora and Microsoft
Outlook have a filter feature, and software can be easily obtained that will automatically delete e-mails from a particular e-mail
address or that contain offensive words. Chat room contact can be blocked as well. Although formats differ, a common chat room command
to block someone would be to type: /ignore <person's screen name> (without the brackets). However, in some circumstances (such
as threats of violence), it may be more appropriate to save the information and contact law enforcement authorities.
*
If harassment continues after you have asked the person to stop, contact the harasser's Internet Service Provider (ISP). Most ISP's
have clear policies prohibiting the use of their services to abuse another person. Often, an ISP can try to stop the conduct by direct
contact with the stalker or by closing their account. If you receive abusive e-mails, identify the domain (after the "@" sign) and
contact that ISP. Most ISP's have an e-mail address such as
abuse@(domain name) or
postmaster@(domain name) that can be used for complaints.
If the ISP has a website, visit it for information on how to file a complaint.
