- High-Tech Stalkers
- "How I Stalked My Girlfriend"
- The Victim's Side
- Identity Assumption
- The Wild, Wild Web
- Sticks and Stones
- The "Stalker" E-Card
- Cyber Stalking and the Law
- Cyber Stalking Facts
- Lethality Assessment Tools
- If You Think You Are Being Cyber Stalked
- Teen/Tech Stalking
- Online GamesThe New Stalker's Ground
- Online Gaming and Malware
- Would You Say It to My Face?
- National School Board Survey
- Women as Perpetrators
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
"How I Stalked My Girlfriend"
In his February 1, 2006 blog, "How I Stalked My Girlfriend," appearing in The Guardian (London), columnist Ben Goldacre writes about how easy it was to set up GPS tracking on his girlfriend's cell phone. He did so with her permission, of course, but even so, he was astounded at how quick and easy it was to do:
- I unplugged her phone and took it upstairs to register it on a website I had been told about.... I ticked the website's terms and conditions without reading them, put in my debit card details, and bought 25 GPS Credits for £5.
- Almost immediately, my girlfriend's phone vibrated with a new text message. "Ben Goldacre has requested to add you to their Buddy List! To accept, simply reply to this message with 'LOCATE.'" I sent the requested reply. The phone vibrated again. A second text arrived: "WARNING: [this service] allows other people to know where you are. For your own safety make sure that you know who is locating you." I deleted both these text messages.
- On the website, I see the familiar number in my list of "GPS devices" and I click "locate." A map appears of the area in which we live, with a person-shaped blob in the middle, roughly 100 yards from our home. The phone doesn't go off at all. There is no trace of what I'm doing on her phone. I can't quite believe my eyes: I knew that the police could do this, and telecommunications companies, but not any old random person with five minutes access to someone else's phone. I can't find anything in her mobile that could possibly let her know that I'm checking her location. As devious systems go, it's foolproof. I set up the website to track her at regular intervals, take a snapshot of her whereabouts automatically, every half hour, and plot her path on the map, so that I can view it at my leisure. It felt, I have to say, exceedingly wrong." (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/feb/01/news.g2)
Computer Key Stroke Stalking
When Annette ended her relationship with her partner, Deborah, she immediately changed her email address, advising only those she most closely trusted of what her new address was. But Deborah seemed to always be able to find out what Annette's new address was. Annette switched from Yahoo! to Google Mail thinking it would make a difference, but it did not. Annette knew her closest friends and family would not divulge her new address, yet within a day or two, she would receive another email from Deborah.
Unbeknownst to Annette, prior to the end of their relationship, Deborah had installed a keylogging program, one of dozens available on the Internet, on Annette's computer (see Figure 1.4). This keystroke-logging program, many types of which are available for free, was not only recording every keystroke Annette made, but was also recording the passwords to every account Annette had. Annette frequently checked her bank balance and paid her bills online. When Annette continued to reject Deborah's efforts to renew their relationship, Annette discovered that her credit cards had been used for unauthorized online purchases.
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(Courtesy of SolidOak.com)
Figure 1.4 The SnoopStick is a computer thumb drive (USB drive) that, within 60 seconds, launches a secret program that allows someone to view everything typed on the target computer from any other computer in the world.
The keystroke-logging program is not easily detected, and it can monitor websites visited, online chatting, instant messaging programs, and email messages, both incoming and outgoing. It is marketed as a parental control tool and has the ability to block access to websites or restrict access to the target computer during certain hours. It is readily available from www.snoopstick.com for $60.