Published in News

Mobile phone is tool of choice for stalkers

by on04 March 2009

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“I am in your flat”


Stalkers are
turning to mobile phones as their weapon of choice to harass their victims.

A study of stalking by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics has  confirmed that stalking by texting has become a pervasive problem.

To make matters worse victims are often charged by their mobile phone companies for receiving the messages. The report said that  23 percent of stalking or harassment victims reported in 2006 that the stalker had used some form of cyberstalking, such as mobile phone texting or e-mail, to harass them.

It is starting to look like the courts are coming down on such behaviour. Recently in New York's Kings County Court, a defendant was accused of sending six threatening text messages to a woman during a 17-hour period tried to get aggravated harassment charges thrown out by arguing that text messages were not as serious as phone calls or letters.

The Court told him to go forth and multiply as the technology brings with it ever greater potential for abuse.
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