Skip to Content

Get the perfect Travel Gadget for the jetsetter on your list!
Holidash Blog
AOL Tech

Posts with tag stalker

Can the Web Really Sustain All the Celebrity-Stalking Sites Out There?

Can Celebrity Stalking Sites Survive?
The Internet seems to be overrun with three types of sites: porn, technology, and celebrity gossip pages. The question on many minds -- according to an article in Forbes -- is how long can the Internet sustain an ecosystem where there are enough celebrity gossip pages for every star to have at least three or four dedicated exclusively to them.

According to Internet tracker Hitwise, the number of celeb-stalking Web sites has doubled in the last three years to at least 1,202, though we suspect that the number is actually much higher. Sites such as Yahoo! omg!, People.com, PerezHilton, and TMZ are clearly at the top of the heap, but whether the smaller sites can turn a profit or keep operating in the shadow of the big dogs of gossips sites remains to be seen.

Many gossip sites are one man (or woman) operations set up as a hobby. According to the article, these smaller sites will likely never draw the attention of a significant quantity of people, but they'll keep operating because there is little to lose. The smaller commercial operations and startups run by little known blogging networks (or fading stars) are likely to collapse when the stalkerazzi bubble bursts. [From: Forbes]

Man Drives 40 Hours to Stalk 15 Year-Old Girl He Met Online in Halo

Religious Nut Stalks and Threatens 15 Year Old Halo Companion
We joke about how gaming, especially online first person shooters (in this case 'Halo'), are the domain of basement dwelling uber-dorks and sociopaths. Sadly every once in a while someone has to go and do something that gives the entire online gaming community a bad name.

The emotionally unbalanced loon in question this time is Joshua Stetar. Stetar, 20, was arrested last week in Spokane, Washington, for stalking and harassing a 15 year-old girl and her 6 year-old sister he met online playing 'Halo'. Stetar drove 40 hours, nonstop, across country from his home in Granville, New York, to sit outside the young girls' house and threatened, via text message, to rape her and her sister.

Terrifyingly enough, this was not the first encounter with Stetar that clearly crossed the line. Stetar sent flowers to the jailbait gamer several times over a one-year period and flooded her cell phone with hundreds of text messages. Stetar even flew to Spokane in October to stake out her house.

Apparently Stetar, whose MySpace page is packed to the brim with Bible quotes and homophobic rants, missed the lesson in Sunday school where they explained that stalking, harassing, and raping little girls would not be considered the right thing to do.

The other question here, however, is how Stetar acquired the girl's address and cell phone number. We have to guess she gave that info to him before she knew he was a little less-than stable, but this all proves one thing: Watch who your kids are gaming with online.

From the Times Union

Related links:

Stalker Alert -- 53 Percent of Adults Google Others

The Internet has Turned Us Into a Bunch of Stalkers

The Internet has turned us all into a bunch of stalkers. Don't believe us? Then check out this poll from the Pew Internet research center. The same report that found that most American's hadn't Googled themselves reveals, by contrast, that a majority has Googled a friend or family member.

Why Google someone else? Well, many (36 percent) said that they searched for a friend they had lost touch with. Another good chunk (19 percent) were out looking for information on professional contacts, such as coworkers and competitors, with 11 percent specifically using Google as a tool to help weed out applicants for jobs.

Shockingly, though, only nine percent of adults have searched online for information about someone they were dating or a significant other. We would have thought it would have been a lot higher, but apparently it's okay to hop in the sack with any John or Sally, regardless of their Google-search-results profile.

Still, a full seven percent of fully embrace stalkerdom and return on a regular basis -- defined as more than "once or twice" -- to see if the information available online about the target of their creepy obsession has changed.

So, if you're regularly looking up information about anyone on Google, it might be time to take a good long look in the mirror and ask if you've crossed the line from curious to creepy. And yes, do this even if you're Googling yourself every few days, you self-centered jerk.

Check out the full report here (warning: PDF).

From ValleyWag


Related links:

    Switched Video

     



    Featured Galleries

    AOL Tech Network


    Latest Reviews from CNET.com

    CNET provides the latest tech news, unbiased reviews, videos, podcasts, software, and downloads, making tech products easy to find, understand and use.

    Top Product Reviews

    AOL News

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: