Media Man

Stalkers

Media Man Australia has been stalked a number of times over the years. Perpetrators were brought to justice.

Stalking (from Middle English stalk: from Old English bestealcian; akin to Old English stelan to steal) is a legal term for repeated harassment or other forms of invasion of a person's privacy in a manner that causes fear to its target. Statutes vary between jurisdiction but may include such acts as:

repeated physical following;
unwanted contact (by letter or other means of communication);
observing a person's actions closely for an extended period of time; or
contacting family members, friends, or associates of a target inappropriately
cyberstalking
According to the US's National Center for Victims of Crime, one out of every 12 women will be stalked during her lifetime. One out of every 45 men will be stalked during his lifetime. Over one million women and nearly 380,000 men are stalked annually.

Psychology and behaviors
Stalking exists on a continuum of severity. The stalking may be subtle enough that the victim may not even be aware that it is happening, or the perpetrator may have no malicious intent. They may even have a sincere belief that the victim would like them, or have a desire to help the victim.[1] Contrary to other crimes that usually consist of a single act, stalking consists of a series of actions, which in themselves can be legal, such as calling on the phone, sending gifts, or sending emails. Most cases of stalking do not ever escalate to extreme levels of violence or harassment.

The stalker will often derogate the victim which reduces them to an object. This allows the stalker to feel angry at them without experiencing empathy, or feel they are entitled to behave as they please toward the victim. Viewing the victim as "lesser," "weak" or otherwise seriously flawed can support delusions that the victim needs to be rescued, or punished, by the stalker. They may slander or defame the character of the victim which helps to isolate them and give the stalker more control, or a feeling of power.

Stalkers may use manipulative behavior such as bringing legal action against the victim, or threatening to commit suicide in order to coerce the victim to intervene - all methods of forcing the victim to have contact with the stalker.

Stalkers may use threats and violence to frighten the victim. They may engage in vandalism and property damage (usually to the victim's car or domicile). They may use physical attacks that leave abrasions and bruises which are mostly meant to frighten. Less common are physical attacks that leave serious physical injuries, or sexual assaults.

Gender Studies in Stalking Pathology
Most stalkers are male, but women can also be stalkers. The demographic characteristics of the male and female stalkers do not differ, although more male stalkers report a history of criminal offenses and more report substance abuse. The psychiatric status of male and female stalkers do not otherwise differ. The duration of the time invested in stalking and the frequency of associated violence were equivalent between male and female stalkers. Women are more likely to target someone they have known such as a professional contact, and are more likely to target other females. Men, on the other hand, do not usually target other men. Women are also much less likely to target a stranger.

In "A Study of Women Who Stalk", by Purcell, Pathé and Mullen, the authors concluded that the two major psychiatric variables that differentiate female from male stalkers is motivation for stalking and choice of victim. Female stalkers seek intimacy with the victim, who usually is someone already known. The victim is most often chosen from those who assume a professional role of helper. This could be a doctor or nurse, a therapist or counselor. Context was found to differ, but the conclusion was the intrusiveness and harmfulness did not. In other words, female stalkers are potentially as dangerous as any male stalker.

Types of stalkers
Psychologists tend to group stalkers into two categories: psychotic and nonpsychotic. Many stalkers have pre-existing psychotic disorders such as delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophrenia. Most stalkers are nonpsychotic and exhibit disorders such as major depression, adjustment disorder, or substance dependence, as well as a variety of Axis II personality disorders, such as antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, narcissistic, or paranoia. The nonpsychotic stalkers' pursuit of victims can be influenced by various psychological factors, including anger and hostility, projection of blame, obsession, dependency, minimization and denial, and jealousy.

In "A Study of Stalkers," Mullen et al (2000) identify six types of stalkers:

Rejected stalkers: pursue their victims in order to reverse, correct, or avenge a rejection (e.g. divorce, separation, termination).
Resentful stalkers: pursue a vendetta because of a sense of grievance against the victims - motivated mainly by the desire to frighten and distress the victim.
Intimacy seekers: The intimacy seeker seeks to establish an intimate, loving relationship with their victim. To them, the victim is a long sought-after soul mate, and they were meant to be together.
Eroto-manic stalker: This stalker believes that the victim is in love with them. The erotomaniac reinterprets what their victim says and does to support the delusion, and is convinced that the imagined romance will eventually become a permanent union. They often target a celebrity or a person of a higher social status (though it is important to note, not all celebrity stalkers are erotomaniacs).
Incompetent suitor: despite poor social/courting skills, possess a sense of entitlement to an intimate relationship with those who have attracted their amorous interest.
Predatory stalker: spy on the victim in to prepare and plan an attack - usually sexual – on the victim.
Many stalkers fit categories with paranoia disorders. Intimacy-seeking stalkers often have delusional disorders that are secondary to preexisting psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. With rejected stalkers, the continual clinging to a relationship of an inadequate or dependent person couples with the entitlement of the narcissistic personality, and the persistent jealousy of the paranoid personality. In contrast, resentful stalkers demonstrate an almost “pure culture of persecution,” with delusional disorders of the paranoid type, paranoid personalities, and paranoid schizophrenia.

Gang/Political Terrorist Stalking
"Terrorism is terrorism, no matter what the motive."

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller

Gang/terrorist stalking is a form of specialized covert criminal harassment in which groups aimed at accomplishing a political/religious/social agenda persistently harass an individual victim or entity in attacks of coordinated violence. Typically deployed by extremist and hate groups, organized stalkers repeatedly carry out calculated, planned attacks upon a non-military target utilizing guerrilla type warfare tactics and paramilitary strategies. Methods of criminal harassment include unauthorized, constant surveillance, psychological harassment including threats of violence, and may culminate in physical assaults and even murder. Unlawful intrusions are relentlessly perpetrated in an attempt to do harm, infringe upon civil liberties, deprive the target of human rights, and destroy the life of the victim. Many terrorist stalkers rely heavily upon forced stress, threats of violence, and cruel, inhuman treatment to terrorize the victim in an attempt to circumvent laws which focus primarily on physical injury to the victim. However, findings in a March 2007 report published in one of Journal of American Medical Association Archives show that distress and suffering related to "psychological manipulations do not appear to be substantially different from physical torture." (Credit: Wikipedia).

Stalker Profiles

Resources

Working To Hault Online Abuse

Net Crimes

Secrets, Lies & Chat by Vena McGrath

Australian High Tech Crime Centre

Australian Federal Police

Persons Of Interest

Private Investigators

Articles

The net effect - (The Sydney Morning Herald - ICON)

Secrets, Lies & Chat, by Greg Tingle

Cyberstalking is more real than you think, by Greg Tingle

Publicist attacked by poison pen - B&T

News

March 2007 - Media Man Australia director, Greg Tingle, spoke at The National Speakers Associates of Australia function on media and publicity, and also discussed some dangers of the internet including stalkers, cyber squatting and cyber stalking. On this point, please note that the official website for Media Man Australia director, Greg Tingle, is the website you are now on, www.mediaman.com.au

Should you seen any other websites that look to be hoax websites, referring to Media Man Australia or it's director, Greg Tingle, please notify legal@mediaman.com.au

Media Man Australia has promoted authors and books related to stalking including Secrets, Lies and Chat (Vena McGrath) and Net Crimes (Jayne Hitchcock).