Cyber stalking: regulating harassment on the net?

• Main Authors: Murshamshul Kamariah, Musa, Nazli, Ismail@Nawang
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: K Law (General); QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science; T Technology (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/294/1/FH03-FLAIR-15-02996.pdf; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/294/
• Institution: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

The personal computer and the Internet provide new meaning to the word 'communication' and 'information'. Similar to other revolutionary technologies, the Internet, besides offering enormous potential for progression, has also been improperly used and abused. The borderless nature of Internet and its easy access to cyberspace has provided a low-cost but high-connectivity ways for criminals to reach victims. This resulted in a rise of crimes which make use of the Internet as a medium, such as fraudulent scams, child sexual exploitations, and a new concern cyber stalking. Cyber stalking has been labelled as the crime of the nineties due to its nature which utilises the latest technological telecommunications as a mean to perpetrate such act. Cyber stalking, similar to stalking involves threatening or harassing behaviours by one individual against another, with the exception that this particular act makes full use of the internet. Compared to offline stalking, cyber stalking has caused more intense stress and trauma on the victim. This paper is an introductory research and aims to identify the characteristics of cyber stalking, how it is committed and whether there exist any legislations in Malaysia that address this new breed of crime.