"Vengeance will be mine...,"
declared a defiant message on MySpace.com. "I should have killed you all when I
had a gun and some drugs." This
violent monologue, one of several postings on the writer's site, threatened
his ex-wife, who had fled the state to escape his abuse. In postings on other sites, he demanded
photos of his family and warned that if he didn't get to see the kids, "it
isn't going to be real good, because I'm gonna see them whether you let me or
not."[1]
The increasing use of MySpace to
threaten and stalk victims raises many important questions. Do social networking sites enable
stalking? What recourse do
victims have when these sites are used to stalk? And what tools
can help block the use of these sites to stalk?
What Are
Social Networking Sites?
Social networking
sites such as MySpace and Facebook are virtual communities where people with
mutual interests meet on-line to share information and build
relationships. Site visitors can
chat, debate, network, and socialize.
On many sites, members may post details about themselves-photos;
educational backgrounds; favorite books, movies, and music; and relationship
status. Others sites promote
business, activism, networking, counseling, socializing, or many types of
recreational interests. Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and Xanga
have attracted millions of members, particularly among teenagers and young
adults.
How Do They
Work?
On many social networking sites, anyone with a computer
and Internet access can become a member. Some sites require only an e-mail
address, and many sites have no system to verify the validity of information
that registrants provide. A few sites, including MySpace and Friendster, have
minimum age requirements (14 and 16, respectively) although these sites have
no reliable method to verify a user's age. Once a member, anyone can post
personal information, images, music, or other data on their Web pages,
depending on the site's features.
On many sites, members select a circle of "friends" who can post
messages on their profiles, add comments, or access pages not visible to other
users. Unless the site allows members to control access to specific
information (and members actually exercise those options), everything posted
on a profile may be visible to all site visitors. Most sites require members to agree to
terms of proper conduct, but enforcement of such terms is sporadic and often
depends on members to report violations.[2]
Links to
Stalking
The attractions of social
networking-access to an ever-widening world of "friends"-can lead users to
overlook the pitfalls of these sites. Young people, in particular, may tend to
view such sites as "part of their own little world,"3 not a
public bulletin board with millions of other visitors. They may not recognize that posting
personal information may lead to contacts from sexual predators, identity
theft, fraud, or stalking-or that anyone could post a bogus profile to
disparage, misrepresent, harass, threaten, or embarrass them.[3]
Cases
Several recent cases suggest how
stalkers and predators are beginning to use social networking sites. In the months before the Virginia Tech
massacre, the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, allegedly used Facebook to locate and
stalk female classmates.[4] In July 2007,
authorities inLorager, Louisiana, arrested a 17-year old for
stalking and cyberstalking another teenage boy. The alleged stalker's MySpace page
featured a video of the accused pistol-whipping another boy posing as the
victim.[5]
In 2006, a University of
Kansas student received
death threats from someone who found her class schedule on-line. He posted photos from the victim's
MySpace account on his own site, along with insults about her appearance and
her major.[6] Also last year, National Public Radio's
Veronica Miller discovered "Becky," a MySpace "cyber twin" who had copied a
photo of Miller from Facebook and published it-along with photos of Miller's
family-on the imposter's site.
Although Miller's impersonator did not threaten or stalk her (and
MySpace promptly removed "Becky's" site), the incident shows the potential of
such sites for stalking or harassment.[7]
Features to Watch
Several social networking site
features may increase users' vulnerability to stalkers and other
predators. For example, new
MySpace members are asked to supply a name or nickname and information about
their marital status, sexual orientation, hometown, school, religion,
education, interests (e.g., music, movies, television, books, and heroes),
children, or income.
Although most of these questions are optional, users may automatically
answer them because they are using the site to meet other people. On many sites, all these answers go
"public," remaining open to anyone who uses the site. Stalkers may use such information to
gain access to site members.
Many social networking sites
(e.g., Stalkerati) also have search tools that can simultaneously pull
personal information about the same person from a number of different sites,
including MySpace, Friendster, Flickr and
Google. A recently shut-down site
called fbstalker.com tracked changes in the profiles of users' friends while
saving copies of each page to compare to subsequently updated files.5 Other sites, such as Profilesnoop and
Link View, allow visitors to trace a user's Internet Protocol (IP) address
(and even physical location on Google Maps) with many social networking sites,
including Facebook.[8]
Stalkers can also
use social networking sites to introduce spyware into the computers of their
victims. Spyware infection rates
are increasing, an anti-spyware company spokesman told Business Week, in part because "people
are creating multiple profiles, and the links on their sites will take you to
sites that will download adware and spyware."[9]
Stalkers can exploit this vulnerability on their victims' profile pages. Once downloaded, spyware can help
stalkers gather information about all their victims' computer activity,
including e-mails, chats, instant messages, keystrokes, passwords, and Web
sites visited.
Legal
Recourse
Stalkers who use social
networking sites as part of a pattern of stalking may be subject to criminal
charges. For example, someone who
repeatedly follows and tracks a victim in her car, as well as posts a lewd
photo of the victim on a social networking site, can be charged with the crime
of stalking. Also in many states,
cyberstalking statutes enable prosecutors to charge those who use technology
to stalk and harass their victims.
Other states have general stalking laws that define ‘pattern of
conduct' broadly enough to cover the use of technology to stalk. Most of these laws are relatively new,
however, and few cases involving social networking sites have yet been
prosecuted.
Victims also have options in
civil or family courts. They can
seek protective orders against stalkers, who can be ordered not to contact the
victim, including not using any form of electronic communications to stalk the
victim. Victims may also be able to file a civil tort case against their
stalker, seeking damages for the impact of stalking on their lives. Also, under certain conditions,
victims can sue social networking sites for failure to remove offensive or
defamatory material regarding the victim from the site.
New Laws
Lawmakers are starting to
propose measures to govern the use of social networking sites. In April 2007,
for example, the California legislature introduced a bill to prevent
individuals from using social networking sites to incite harassment or abuse
against an individual. Harassment
would include posting digital images or messages on Web sites to cause fear,
harassment, or harm to an individual.[10]
Prevention: The Best Defense
The best defense against social
networking site stalking is to use the sites with extreme caution. Wise users carefully consider what
they post (see "Think Before You Post).
Last names, school names, favorite hangouts, phone numbers, and
addresses make it easy for stalkers to locate victims. Photos with identifiers (like school
names or locations) also increase a victim's vulnerability. Posted information is permanently
public. "You can't take it back," warn experts Larry Magid and Anne Collier,
about information posted on-line.
"Deleted" information can be recovered, for example, from Google's
cache of deleted and changed Web pages and from Internet Archive (archive.org), which offers access to
deleted postings.[11]
Users can also boost security by
limiting on-line "friends" to people they actually know and by activating all
available privacy settings. Since
June 2006, MySpace has allowed all users to keep their profiles private-open
only to those designated as "friends."
MySpace also offers other privacy options: to control how others may
add their names to friends lists, to approve friends' comments before
hosting, to hide the feature that
shows when they are on-line, or to prevent e-mailing photos. To activate these features, members
must change their settings and choose the privacy options they prefer. Although stalkers can find ways around
these protections, members who use them are less vulnerable than those who do
not.[12]
Networking Safely
The social networking revolution
presents complex dilemmas. The convenience and appeal of these sites are
undeniable, and stalking cases that involve social networking are still quite
rare. Yet as stalkers diversify
their tactics, they are likely to exploit any available technology. For
stalking victims as well as the public, safe social networking will require
awareness and vigilance.
As the Stalking Resource Center
continues to track this issue, we welcome insights from the field about these
sites, related cases, and new features to keep them safe. We will periodically report our
findings at www.ncvc.org/src. For more information, please visit the
SRC Web site or call 202-467-8700.
[1] As told to staff by a stalking
survivor.
[2] Massachusetts Attorney General, "Consumer
Advisory: AG Reilly Warns Parents about the Potential Dangers of Children
Using Social Networking Sites Such and MySpace and Xanga," August 29, 2006, www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=986&id=1710
(accessed February 26, 2007).
[3] Justin Pope, "Colleges Warn about Networking
Sites," the Associated Press, August 2, 2006 (accessed March 4,
2007).
[4] Adam Geller, "VA Gunman Had 2 Past Stalking
Cases," Associated Press, April 18, 2007, www.newsday.com
(accessed July 24, 2007).
[5] Florida
Parishes Bureau, "Loranger Teen Booked in Threats to Harm Other Teen,
Cyberstalking," Capital City Press, July 12, 2007.
[6] KUJH-TV News, "Facebook Used to Aid Stalkers,
May 4, 2006, www.tv.ku.edu/newsd (accessed
March 5,
2007).
[8] Andy Meyers, "On-line Stalking Nothing New," The Brandeis Hoot, September 8, 2006,
www.thehoot.net (accessed March 5, 2007).
[10] Jaikuman Vijayan, "California Eyes
Stronger Cyberstalking Laws, ComputerWorld Government, 04/25/07.
www.computerworld.com (accessed July 24,
2007).
[11] Larry Magid and Elaine Collier, Myspace Unraveled: A Parent's Guide to
Teen Social Networking, Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2007, pp. 122-3.