He assumed several identities and started firing off embarrassing e-mails about her around the firm. He took secret documents and, posing as other company employees, made veiled threats to release the secrets to the public. Meanwhile, he continued to try to get a rise out of the clerk. Friedberg now operates a private computer crimes consulting business called Stroz Associates. Armed with that single e-mail, Friedberg went to the suspect's new employer and got the firm's cooperation.
Computer logs there provided plenty of evidence, and the suspect has now been indicted.
There's the California woman whose home address was published in Usenet groups by an ex-boyfriend, along with a message indicating she fantasized about being raped. Six volunteers arrived within days. And there's Amy Boyer, murdered by a stalker who tracked her using an online database. But cyberstalking doesn't have to come in such fanatical flavors, and it doesn't happen only in the far corners of the Internet, on bulletin boards or in chat rooms. Stalking is going mainstream, some say.