Online Dating Violence Against Women

Words: 1299
Pages: 6

Although no amount of legal updating is going to solve the problem of gender-based harassment online, when stalkers, harassers or online bullies can safely engage in online activity, under the assumption that they’ll never be caught, it might be time to revisit all of our laws, policies and practices that should protect women as virtual reality becomes our actual reality. U.S. Department of Justice statistics suggest that 850,00 American adults, who are mostly women, are targets of cyber-stalking each year. In addition, 40 percent of women have experienced dating violence delivered to them electronically. When women’s private data, information or photographs are invaded with sexual harassment, sensitive aspects of their identity could inevitably be exposed and that should be against the law. Online stalking, at its most basic legal definition, is a repeated course of conduct aimed at a person, to cause emotional distress and fear of physical harm. Online stalking can include threats of violence, spreading lies asserted as facts, posting …show more content…
This allows the harassers to avoid punishment. US-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs) require a court order for information about stalkers to be served in the country of their headquarters. Since this can be costly and time-consuming, the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK has noted that such requests can mean delays of up to three months, compared to a real-world stalker who can be arrested within hours. In addition, ISPs often delete e-mail data after 30 days, even insisting on notifying their customers (the perpetrators) that the police are investigating, giving them time to delete crucial evidence. These technical dodges provide software that allows them to send untraceable e-mails from concealed addresses, which investigators are unable to