Usenet should be a forum where people can go to communicate their thoughts, feelings, concerns, opinions, etc. In some cases things get out of hand. Usenet Abuse comes in many different forms. It can include spamming, rogue cancels, cancelation of other people's posts, censorship, cross posting, forgeries, cyber stalking, and harassment.

This page contains links on information related to usenet abuse, privacy, and freedom of speech issues. I don't have a solution to the problem(s), and can only suggest that if you find yourself being stalked or harassed online to NOT give the person(s) a reason to continue. If their actions do not stop, or they cross into your personal life (outside of Usenet/Email), then seek help from the law enforcement.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments please feel free to email me at: usenet at hornschuch dot net.

Links on Cyberstalking, Threats & Harassment, and Flame Wars:

• 20/20: Stalking in Cyberspace A must read! I've personally been waiting for nearly three months for this story to run. My personal thanks to 20/20 to finally airing it.
• 1999 Cyberstalking Laws <== a must if you are searching for laws!
• Cyberstalking: A New Challenge for Law Enforcement and Industry
• Stalking, Cyberspace
• Cyberstalking and Email Threats
• The Woodside Literary Pages
• CyberStalked: Our Family's Story by Cynthia Armistead
• Flame Wars, what to do and what not to do

Note: On Thursday, January 13th, 20/20, on ABC, aired a show on a man who used the Internet to stalk and access his victim's information. You can read 20/20's web page concerning this story by clicking here.

Resources:

• Usenet Net Abuse Newsgroups
• Abuse.net
• Fight Spam on the Internet
• FAQ: Current Usenet spam thresholds and guidelines
• Wired Patrol - Your one-stop, wired or wireless solution for anything that you need help with online.
• The Net Abuse FAQ
• EFFweb - The Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Electronic Privacy Info Center

Articles:

• Spammers do more than spam
• Usenet Abuse: Can the Net Be Saved From Itself?
• Cyberspace & The First Amendment

Future plans for this page:

• create page on 'How to read email/post headers'
• create page on Remailers. Who to contact, email addresses to use for blocking, how to filter, links to how they run, etc. Make a point to mention that remailers are not the problem. Make a point to mention that it is very important to be polite to the operators and to not demand action. Explain why operators cannot trace, etc.. give an example on how a remailer works.
• create page listing links to state codes on harassment and stalking, plus federal codes. I have a link that provides this to a point, but it is not complete.
• possibly a FAQ on what to do if you have found yourself to be a victim.

If you know of more links that can be helpful, please email me at nimue at teleport dot com and I'll add them.