Cyber harassment and stalking crimes affecting women.

By Abigail Clarke: Contributing Content Blogger

They say cyberharassment crimes affect men and women equally. Maybe this may have some truth to it, but I can’t help but disagree. When cyber stalking shakes out and the statistics are organised, I believe women suffer at the hands of male perpetrators far more. There was an article in the Japanese Times spelling out a case involving a 33-year-old woman living in the city of Zushi. She had repeatedly asked police for protection from her ex-boyfriend who had been stalking her online and making threats. Her pleas fell on deaf ears as police unbelievably even managed to leak information about her private whereabouts. What kind of rubbish is that to hand a victim? The ex-boyfriend lost his lid, tracked her down and stabbed her to death. Swing and a miss on police protection then.

Another case involved a man cyberharassing a young Japanese woman whose family pleaded with police to have him detained. The family was told nothing could be done unless an actual act of violence took place. Conveniently idiotic. The man broke into the girl’s home intending to confront her but not finding her there he turned on the family instead and killed them all. In this day and age it is not unusual for stalking activity to escalate online to the extent that the first physical confrontation is fatal. The outdated practice of police waiting for a physical acting out to occur before they themselves move to act is a crime in and of itself as far as my opinion reaches but irresponsible at least.

Nearly all victims stalked online in Japan are women and 93.2 percent of police officers are men. As a male policeman, if you haven’t experienced the mental and physical suffering that being stalked causes to women, it may be difficult to take it seriously. I have heard it's very common in Japan that police responses to cyberstalking reports are generally unenthusiastic and slow in following up. Fairness first, this isn't exclusively a Japanese police problem, the very same problem occurs worldwide. My point is cyberstalking is a problem – women are targeted more than men – and police forces whose ranks are mostly male, seem to have a somewhat casual dismissive response when it comes to women reporting their cyberstalkers. We should be paying attention to what is going on in Canada. They are on the verge there of passing legislation allowing police to identify and root out online stalkers, creating huge risk for stalkers in being found out. We need more up-to-date laws for police agencies everywhere so that they can be held to a standard of acting quickly and effectively to prevent the next victim of cyberstalking. Finally, police agencies need to acknowledge that women fall victim to cyberstalking much more frequently and that their concerns are valid. If police don't quit bugging out of the problem they'll be dealing with more murders alright.

Fighting Cyber Crime

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

It is always inspiring to see attempts at forging new and meaningful laws to fight against cyber-crimes. The lines are typically drawn in the sand between those wanting to crack down on cyber criminals holding them accountable while making them stop their destructive activity on the internet and those complaining that privacy rights of citizens will be surrendered. Canada is in the midst of such a debate now. Some lawmakers are attempting to pass a bill that makes cyber criminals accountable for their actions by allowing law enforcement to identify and pursue them.  It has unfortunately spurred the expected backlash among groups of citizens and journalism institutions.

The backlashers are concerned about their government gaining too much control if the law is enacted because it would allow law enforcement the right to track and record information on any individual they deem suspect.  Journalists worry they might be targeted if they happen to cross the line with sensitive topics, placing constraints on their ability to do accurate and proper reporting. Those in favor of the bill say that cyber criminals must be hit hard, and where it counts. Keeping the existing status quo will do nothing but encourage the growing problem.  It is feared that if laws are not created to curb internet harassment, the already damaging activity will continue to spiral out of control.

If bills like the one in Canada are voted down, it sends the message loud and clear to those perpetrating their cyber hate, to continue doing it.  It implies everyone has the right to hurt others as they deem fit, even if it causes loss of life.  In this case, the media’s interests happen to greatly benefit cyber criminals. They are using their medium to drum up an exaggerated public perception that the law would be a step toward unwarranted privacy invasion by the government. 

As the new congressional cycle is about to begin, we should be praying and supporting those in favor of this bill.  Cyber criminals need something to be scared of.