There are a lot of strange and mentally unbalanced people in the world, and unfortunately, the Internet can bring them a lot closer if you are not careful. So, I've pulled the information on this site temporarily until I can "sanitize" some of it.

One thing that I found out through experience is that anything on the Internet about you is available to a sufficiently persistent psycho. Even material provided to large, legitimate companies (e.g., ISP, instant messaging, utilities) can be accessed or provided -- not legally or legitimately, but remember that companies are populated by people. People do other people favors, and not every system or database administrator is a boy or girl scout. The world is an interconnected web, and sooner or later if a person is fanatical enough then he or she will find a means of getting the information they desire.

Don't take this the wrong way. I think the Internet has terrific potential as a way of spreading information. So, I'm not advocating any type of Ludite response, but you should provide information knowing that it could be used in a way that you don't want.

There are some places to look for help in these matters:

First, recognize that continued intrusions into another's life are a felony. A couple of important points are that the intruder does not have to knowingly want to produce the fear, etc. so there is no need in the legal realm to prove intent. Also, it does not matter what the nature of the relationship is between the intruder and the person being violated. See this excellent material.

Second, recognize who you are dealing with in a stalker. It is often not the seedy character portrayed in popular film and culture. It is generally someone of the opposite sex. The intruder frequently falls into one of two categories. He or she feels betrayed or somehow offended, or he or she feels a romantic attraction toward the person they are threatening (the intruder does not have to intend that the victim feel threatened). See this non-profit's view of stalking..

One site describes the stalker in these terms. "While this kind of stalker may or may not have psychological disorders, all clearly have personality disorders. One forensic psychologist has attempted to identify some of the common personality traits and behavioral characteristics among this category of stalkers. Stalkers in this class are characterized as individuals who are:

Socially maladjusted and inept;
Emotionally immature;
Often subject to feelings of powerlessness;
Unable to succeed in relationships by socially-acceptable means;
Jealous, bordering on paranoid; and
Extremely insecure about themselves and suffering from low self-esteem.

The self-esteem of simple obsession stalkers is often closely tied to their relationship with their partner. In many cases, such stalkers bolster their own self-esteem by dominating and intimidating their mates. Exercising power over another gives them some sense of power in a world where they otherwise feel powerless. In extreme cases, such personalities attempt to control every aspect of their partner's life. This behavior pat-tern was vividly depicted in the major motion picture entitled Sleeping with the Enemy, where the antagonist turns to intimidation and violence as the means to control every aspect of his victim/wife's life.

Since the victim literally becomes the stalker's primary source of self-esteem, their greatest fear becomes the loss of this person. Their own self-worth is so closely tied to the victim that when they are deprived of that person, they may feel that their own life is without worth."