Support for Cyberstalking Victims

Victims of cyberstalking can purchase software to block or ignore unwanted electronic communication.    Complaint procedures are difficult to locate and are vague.  This results in an inadequate follow-up.  Victims of cyberstalking can consult many victim advocacy groups such as Working to Halt Online Abuse or CyberAngels, for assistance, support, and advice on what to do when cyberstalked (Petrocelli, 2005).  McFarlane and Bocij (2003) stated that CyberAngels is the best-known internet safety agency and one of the largest victim advocacy groups on the Internet (Pittaro, 2007). 

                Originally, Cyberangels primarily dealt with helping women who were being harassed on Internet Relay Chat (IRQ).  Currently, the focus of Cyberangels is on the Internet as a whole.  Cyberangels is focused on Internet issues such as pedophilia, child pornography, privacy and online crime.  They have international divisions and support multiple languages (Schimelpfening, 2008), and cooperate closely with both the FBI and Interpol.  Their mission is divided into three areas: to prevent through education, to assist victims by helping to trace and identify perpetrators of online crime, and to monitor legal issues on the Internet that affect the public.  Cyberangels has been featured in leading magazines, such as Reader’s Digest, TV Guide, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, The Sunday Times Magazine, Ladies Home Journal and Good Morning America (Schimelpfening, 2008).  Their website is located at cyberangels.org (Schimelpfening, 2008).  

                        (Picture taken from haltabuse.org/ homepage)

                      (Picture taken from cyberangels.org homepage)

References

McFarlane, L., & Bocij, P. (2003). Cyber stalking: defining the invasion of cyberspace. Forensic Update, 1(72), 18-22.

Petrocelli, J. (2005). Cyber stalking. Law & Order, 53(12), 56-58.

Pittaro, M. (2007). Cyber stalking: an analysis of online harassment and intimidation. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 1(2), 180-197. 

Schimelpfening, N. (2008). Who are the cyberangels? http://depression.about.com/cs/chat/a/cyberangels.htm