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http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/NEWS/702240397/1050&template=currents

"Cyberstalkers lurk where caution lags
Put online safety first, advise victims, authorities"

By Brittany Butcher,
Staff Writer

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Lynse Williford's trouble started with a conversation she had online. It ended with the frightened 21-year-old calling the police.

E-mails, text and instant messages, and chat room visits can turn from pleasant to pernicious quickly when someone refuses to take "no" for an answer. And with outlets such as the Web site MySpace and devices like global positioning systems, stalkers have new tools to seek out their prey.

When they use them, it's called cyberstalking, a crime that's gaining the attention of law enforcement officers as the number of reports slowly increases.

They haven't recorded a lot of cases yet, but local authorities expect to see a rise in the use of technology and computers to stalk victims, said Wilmington police Detective Bobby Benton.

"Computer crime is a type of crime that's only going to increase in the future," said State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Hans Miller. "The Internet's a good thing because it really facilitates commerce and instant communication. But it's like any other tool: It can be used for good, but it can also be abused."

Though law enforcement officers work to protect citizens from cyberstalking, prevention is the name of the game, Miller said. He advised having an e-mail address that is shared only with family and close friends, and using other e-mail addresses when joining chat rooms or using social Web sites like MySpace and Facebook."