Online social sites play an increasing part in our daily lives and the likes of Facebook are constantly changing the online environment in a positive way. However, some users experience issues that can cause ‘distress’ and users face such problems as hacking.Here are two stories from Australia which demonstrate the effect of cyber staking and the ‘distress’ it can cause to minors. The first part highlights the fear that a Mother has for her children being staked online by a potential paedophile. Not a massive news story in itself, however, when you read both stories, it puts ‘online scares’ into perspective.
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PART ONE - 'A Mother's worst nightmare'
A Sydney mother-of-three, her daughter and daughter's friends have been subjected to a two-week ordeal at the hands of a Facebook stalker and they have been unable to get the social networking company to intervene.
The mother, who wished to remain anonymous due to a police investigation, said she, her 12-year old daughter and her daughter's friend had been stalked, harassed and sent pornographic images.
"Our daughters are so scared," the mother said.
The abuse began last month when someone hacked into the daughter's Facebook profile. Since then, the stalker has used the account to try to lure the adolescent's friends to divulge information about her.
The person has had online chats with people and knows where the family live, the mother said. The stalker has also used the 12-year-old's account to post vulgar and threatening messages on the mother's profile.
"f----ng give me your daughters they love me and i love them, you know you cant keep me away from them forever! i am going to be with them they are the mother of my children (sic)," reads one message posted by the hacked account on her profile.
"i will find ur girls (sic)," reads another.
While out at a work conference, the mother said she received a call from her daughter who was being looked after by a babysitter.
"My daughter rings me in tears, saying: 'He knows what street I live in mum, friends told me,'" the mother said.
She said this was because the stalker was talking to her friends.
"She was in tears, saying: 'I’m scared, they say he’s going to get me and stuff,'" the mother recalls her daughter telling her.
Having heard this, she raced home. Ever since then, she has not been able to leave her daughter alone.
The mother said she found out about the matter after her daughter was asked by school friends about things said on the site that seemed odd.
"We tried reporting [the account] on Facebook," she said.
"We got all her friends to report it on Facebook. Facebook won't reply. They don't want to contact us. They don't want to know about it, basically. You cannot ring Facebook."
Initially neither the mother nor the daughter could see what was occurring as the stalker was using Facebook's chat function to carry out their fact-finding mission using the daughter's account.
Facebook's chat function, by default, does not save a transcript of what has been written for users to check when they next log in.
The mother said that she did not know how the stalker gained access to her daughter's account.
Facebook does not have an Australian office, but a Sydney public relations firm that works for it directed this website to its usage policy, which states that users should be 13 years or older.
In a statement, it said: "Facebook co-operates with Australian law-enforcement agencies to help ensure that Facebook remains a safe place for our users to connect with friends and family.
"We have a dedicated resource for the Australian [Attorney-General's Deparment] and AFP [Australian Federal Police] to contact, as well as a 24-hour hotline to enable them to reach the company directly for help in cases of emergency, as well as for assistance in investigations and prosecutions," it said.
"Nothing is more important to Facebook than the safety of the people who use our site. On Facebook there are a variety of measures people can use to protect themselves from unwanted contact and we strongly encourage their use."
After trying and failing to shut down the profile, the mother contacted police.
She said they told her they could shut down the account, but two hours later informed her that would not be possible.
"They said Facebook won't co-operate with the police," she said.
NSW Police declined to comment on a continuing investigation, other than to say that they had "commenced inquiries".
They urged young people to be extra vigilant when using social networking sites.
Facebook has been criticised in the past for failing to address the privacy and safety concerns held by its 500 million users.
This website revealed last week that Facebook management failed to reveal the activity of an international child pornography syndicate operating on the site and ignored admissions by one of the ring's Australian members.
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PART TWO - 'Facebook stalker a 12-year-old girl'
A mother's fear that her 12-year-old daughter was being stalked by a paedophile on Facebook sparked an in-depth, almost month-long investigation involving the Australian Federal Police.
But police have been left dumbfounded by the discovery that the person who harassed and sent pornographic images to the girl via the site was another 12-year-old girl.
Earlier this month this website reported that a Sydney mother of three, her daughter and daughter’s friends had been subjected to a two-week ordeal at the hands of a Facebook stalker, but had been unable to get the social networking company to act.
The mother reported the matter to police.
The case was dropped this week by police after finding the stalker was another girl.
