Fortunately, there are other means to keep unwanted parties at a virtual distance. AOL has a feature called buddy lists, which let members see if their pals are online at a given moment. If so, they can dispatch an instant message. But members can block users from adding their names to the buddy lists or receiving instant missives. People who have been stalked online should save copies of the objectionable correspondence and show it to the service provider.
Harassment is in the eye of the beholder, of course.
Prodigy, for one, has a strict two-strikes policy for kicking members off of its service. Unfortunately, the nature of cyberspace means an online attack can emerge from anywhere. But if people practice common sense and report trouble immediately, they should be able to maintain a reasonable shield of privacy while still getting all the benefits they want out of the Internet. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.