Net stalking victims cry out for help

FBI calls online predation 'tremendous growth industry,' as Senate panel hears story of a young woman killed by an online stalker.

By Reuters March 28, 2000 1:06 PM PT

By all accounts, Amy Boyer was model young woman. An honors student at college, she was active in her New Hampshire community, held down two jobs, was close to her family and had a throng of friends. One day, a young loner who subsisted on frozen pizza and soda and who rarely interacted even with his own mother drove up to her car as she was leaving work, called out her name and pumped six hollow-point bullets into her head.

He had never met Amy, who was 20 when she died, but for two years he had furtively shadowed her over the Internet, obtaining her Social Security number, her work schedule, learning her routine.

The killer had even spun out his fantasies about her gory death on Web sites he had created in her name, but either nobody noticed or nobody bothered to do anything about it.

Senate wrestling with solutions On Tuesday, her family was among the witnesses before a U.S. Senate panel asking for help in protecting children and young adults from online predators who stalk, harass, kidnap or even kill.

The Senate is expected to soon take up an overall Internet Security Act, and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who chairs the Senate subcommittee on Children and Families, said he would offer an amendment to make it illegal to sell someone's Social Security number without their consent.

'Today's kids may be technically savvy but they are still children -- they may understand computers but they are years away from understanding the harsh realities of the adult world.' -- Sen. Chris Dodd

Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on Gregg's panel, immediately asked to co-sponsor it, making it a bipartisan initiative.

While few dispute the Internet's vast research and communication resources are a huge boon to children and teens, cases like Amy Boyer's have also underscored the dangers.

"Today's kids may be technically savvy but they are still children," Dodd said. "They may understand computers, but they are years away from understanding the harsh realities of the adult world."

As Diana Strickland, lured from her Alabama home by a savvy Pennsylvania man in his 40s who reached out to her in a chat room and subjected her to four days of sexual terror before her rescue, put it: "I was 15, you know, air-headed. ... You need a high maturity level."

In the past few years, Congress has funded a growing number of programs aimed at the Internet threat, and two FBI agents told the panel about the growing reach of such programs as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which receives tips on its CyberTipLine Web site or at 800-843-5678.

Stalkers -- a growth industry But the problem appears to be spreading.

"Unfortunately, we're in a tremendous growth industry," said William Hagmaier, head of the Child Abduction Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center at the FBI.

Illustrating Hagmaier's point, Gregg pointed to an investigator sitting quietly in a corner with a laptop. In the first 30 minutes of the hearing, he had identified 18 participants in a chat room as suspicious, potential predators.

Tim Remsburg, Amy Boyer's stepfather, urged Congress to come up with a system to monitor Web sites, through an Internet company or another entity, perhaps using a filtering system that would flag threatening words or telltale phrases.

Both Gregg and Dodd expressed interest in seeing whether such a plan is technically feasible, although they noted it would have to balance free-expression rights with security concerns.

Parental action urged Rather than wait for federal or industry action, experts advised parents to monitor their children's Internet use and to teach children to be extremely cautious about giving out any identifying information.

Some also suggested parents not put their children's names, or their school names, into "search engines'' to make sure they don't show up in any unwanted places -- like Amy Boyer's death pages.

-- (y@x.x), May 05, 2000

Answers

I personally feel there are a lot of deranged people on the net, and in this forum in particular and the old, I've seen quite a few disturbing personalities. But what's more disturbing is the much greater amount of decent people I've seen giving out personal info in these forums and trusting others blindly. It's easy to be lulled and let our guards down by the false sense of security we might get from behind our screens. We don't have the visual clues that alert us at a person's possible mental disturbances. People we might avoid instinctively in real life.

I posted this link before on Manny's racist thread, and I'll repost it here:

Cybe rstalked? Use Common Sense by Katie Dean

This site gives good advice, as well as resources for help.

-- (y@x.x), May 05, 2000.

...experts advised parents to monitor their children's Internet use and to teach children to be extremely cautious about giving out any identifying information.

The key is the parents. It is the parents responsibility, not government, to insure that the children are safe.

It is unfortunate that the parents failed in this regard. Of course, Amy was a legal adult at the time of her death.

It seems typical that folks would run to government for protection when they should really be doing it for themselves and their children.

-- another right being given up (the_right@to.protect.ownselves), May 05, 2000.

"It seems typical that folks would run to government for protection when they should really be doing it for themselves and their children."

I completely agree with you on that. People in general should be taking more responsibility for their own safety anytime, anywhere.

But when people aren't aware of potential dangers, I believe it is the responsibility of those that are aware to spread the word. I also believe the government should be more pro-active in general awareness and less reactive, i.e., with making new laws. It's like doctors who keep treating the desease and don't teach the prevention of such desease.

-- (y@x.x), May 05, 2000.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr (pic), near Monterey, California

Some also suggested parents not put their children's names, or their school names, into "search engines'' to make sure they don't show up in any unwanted places -- like Amy Boyer's death pages.

This sentence doesn't make sense to me.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), May 10, 2000.