Internet stalking, "online impersonation," and the law

Snip from a story about some of the more serious forms of ad hominem online harassment, by Tom Zeller in today's New York Times:

In about half the cases, victim and perpetrator appear to be strangers. For the rest, it can be deeply, disturbingly personal.

Earlier this month, a Suffolk County police officer, Michael Valentine, was indicted on 197 counts of stalking, unauthorized use of a computer and other charges after hacking into the Yahoo e-mail account of a woman he had briefly dated and posing as her in online communications.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office also charges that Mr. Valentine, of Lake Grove, accessed the woman's personal profile on the dating site Match.com, sending electronic "winks" and other communications to 70 different men on the site. At least two showed up at the woman's home for dates.

Link to "Sinister Web Entraps Victims of Cyberstalkers." (Thanks, Mike Outmesguine)