Online Abusers Get Served
Multiple countries are stiffening cyberstalking laws and sending online abusers to prison
Brenda Leyland was found in a hotel room in Leicester, England, on October 4, 2015, two days after a report aired about abusive tweets that she had directed at the parents of a missing child.
She had been door stepped by a Sky News reporter five days before her suicide. The reporter gave her a dossier containing 400 of her abusive tweets, which had been passed to Scotland Yard.
The suburban mother told the reporter she was ‘entitled’ to abuse the parents with anonymous stalking tweets, but days later killed herself, rather than face humiliation for being exposed as an internet troll, according to her family.
In Florida, Fred Guttenberg - the father of a Parkland shooting victim - contacted the FBI after receiving disturbing emails from an online abuser, accusing him of molesting his deceased daughter and essentially terrorizing the Guttenberg family. The FBI tracked the abusive emails to a man in Fresno, James Catalano, 61, and arrested and jailed him for cyberstalking. While reading the complaint, I felt such sorrow - the abuser was clearly deranged and radicalized. The language directed at Fred was the ugliest I have ever read in my life. It continued to escalate until his arrest.
When I started to receive death threats and psychotic messages designed to terrorize me in my inbox in recent days, I reached out to Fred who told me to call the FBI. I now have an agent assigned to my case. I was able to turn over documentation to the agent’s team on not just on my case, but on the harassment campaign I and others have endured for the last few years. The abusers were so proud of their work, they couldn’t resist signaling who they were. So now the FBI knows too.
Each time I receive another ugly threat, it gets forwarded to the agent in charge of my case. The fact that I received multiple death threats after Mike Flynn’s brother tweeted for my arrest is of interest to federal agents, I am sure.
Below, is an example of a fake email address created to cause psychic trauma:
The point is, for years we just took online abuse as the price of doing good work. Not any more. Now, we have a framework - we have laws against cyberstalking. And current examples of abusers getting convicted.
Here is what our Federal law looks like:
‘Federal Cyber Stalking Crime’
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A(2)(B) a person commits the felony of Stalking under U.S. Federal Law when they use the mail, any type of electronic communication or computer service, or telephone and act with the intent to kill, harass, intimidate, injure, or place another person under surveillance in order to:
Place them in a state of reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury. This includes harm to the person, an immediate family member, a pet, service animal, emotional support animal, a horse of that person, or their spouse/intimate partner.
Per § 115 of the U.S. Code, an immediate family member includes a spouse, parent, brother or sister, or any person living in that person’s household that is related to him by blood or marriage.
Cause, attempts to cause, or could reasonably be expected to cause substantial emotional distress to a person, an immediate family member of that person, or their spouse/intimate partner.
In addition, breaking California cyberstalking laws - the state where I live - results in hefty fines and jail time.
‘Digital Services Act’
In the EU, the Digital Services Act is confronting misogyny head on, introducing new legislation to force social media platforms to clean up their act. The DSA is ambitious and is aiming to go after misogynists, child abusers, consumer fraud, disinformation and to protect free and fair elections.
‘Online Safety Bill’
In the UK, an online safety bill intends to criminalize deep fake pornography and images taken without consent. The legislation also puts the onus on Big Tech to protect minors from adult content.
‘Suicide Trolls’
Japanese wrestler and reality TV star Hana Kimura took her own life at 22, after being relentlessly trolled online. On May 23, 2020, she posted self-harm images on social media accounts and shared the hate mail she had received. Although Japanese police arrested two of her abusers for cyberbullying, the punishment was deemed too light and in 2022, Japan’s parliament beefed up its cyber crimes law to include prison sentences for online insults.
‘Years of Online Harassment’
Canadian reporter Jody Vance spent years trying to handle an online abuser on her own - blocking his email address. Each time, he would create a new email address, often with lewd references (exactly what I am experiencing right now).
The messages were lewd and violent and misgonynistic, and much like Fred Guttenberg’s stalker - the messages were filled with far-right conspiracies and in Vance’s case, images of Nazi death camps.
After her son was also referenced, she took action and pursued her assailant, who was just convicted. He pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and received 12 months probation and an order to stay away from Vance.
“What I want for change is swift and meaningful action for others,” said Vance on her show, Vance and Steele. “I want deterrence. I want our system to grow up.”
Although many believe the Crown botched the case and that her serial stalker deserved prison time, her case has sparked the beginning of a ‘national conversation’ about cyberstalking.
Canada’s Governor-General, Mary Simon, just spoke publicly about the misogynistic vitriol she has been subject to online. She said it had escalated to the point where she had to turn off the comments on all her social media accounts (sound familiar?).
I am grateful for the example Vance has set. She is pursuing civil charges next.
I am also grateful for the action I have taken. In addition to sharing my case with federal agents, I have shared my case with a non-profit anti-hate group that exposes and takes action against online abusers.
I am also grateful that the supervising agent in my case is a woman. As I wrote in my report about the women intelligence agents who took down one of the worst traitors in American history, sometimes they just don’t see us coming.
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