“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.