South Australian victims group demand change of law to stop smartphone stalkers

VICTIMS groups are demanding that outdated laws be changed to stop stalkers using smartphones and other technology to track and harass their victims.

GROWING THREAT: Bonnie Stewart, who works to raise awareness of stalking victims, says laws must change. Picture: Nick Clayton

VICTIMS groups are demanding that outdated laws be changed to stop stalkers using smartphones and other technology to track and harass their victims.

Victims of stalking, including those who have experienced domestic violence, have reported being tracked using the GPS on their smartphones, having their phones and computers hacked and some even having tracking devices attached to their cars or other property.

One case involved a former partner attaching a GPS tracking device, bought in South Australia, to a woman's car while she was at work to allow him to follow her.

Another woman found her estranged partner had been hacking into her phone using Bluetooth and accessing her files, emails and social media, and using the GPS in her phone to track her movements.

TELL US: How should laws be changed to stop phone stalking?

Others have experienced repeated harassment and abuse via email, social media and degrading websites.

It is believed some people have even taken surveillance courses with private investigation companies to learn advanced stalking techniques.

Attorney-General John Rau admitted there were "real issues" with prosecuting cyber crime and said he had raised the issue at a national level as part of a cybercrime working group.

Under current legislation, a person stalks another if, on at least two separate occasions, the person follows the other, loiters outside their home or other places they frequent.

Stalking can also extend to offensive material being mailed or left where it may be found,

or keeping the other person under surveillance

Commissioner for Victims' Rights Michael O'Connell called for state and federal laws to be amended to allow police to be tougher on cyber stalking and harassment, including social media such as Facebook, and prosecute people for repeated acts of harassment, even if they are not threatening.

He also called for police to put more resources into investigating cyber crimes, including those that might not be considered serious under the current system.

"At the end of the day, it depends on how much it will cost to police this piece of law across multi jurisdictions and I would argue that stalking through cyber means needs to become a greater priority because it is an increasingly new way of perpetrating violence against people," Mr O'Connell said.

"A clear and unequivocal message should be sent to harassers that your behaviour is wrong and will not be tolerated.

"For many people who are stalked, the difficulty is proving who the stalker is because they become a faceless person when it gets into cyber space.

"The difficulty of policing laws particular to a jurisdiction is that often the perpetrator is in another place, sometimes overseas and there are some jurisdictions in Australia where there aren't provisions to deal with harassment."

The Advertiser requested figures and comments on stalking crime from SA Police, but none were supplied.

However, new statistics from the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria show 56 per cent of domestic violence perpetrators have used mobile technology to find victims and 63 per cent of victims felt they were being watched. GPS was used in 29 per cent of cases. Workers in the field and victims were surveyed.

Victim Support Service manager David Kerr said prosecuting new cyber stalking techniques was "very difficult" because police were "hamstrung" by outdated laws.

"In terms of controlling this, I think it's a major issue for governments, state and nationally, and they need to get some protocols in place and enable the relevant authority to be able to respond very quickly to these sorts of events," he said.

"My view is that the police are probably trying hard to keep up with these developments in technology and are probably hamstrung by laws that are designed for the last century."

Mr Kerr said stalking was becoming more "electronically sophisticated".

"If you're not careful about how you set up your mobile phone, a person can track you and it's designed to do this," he said.

"Another version is having a GPS tracking device stuck on a vehicle and we are getting clients reporting that sort of intrusion as well.

"They leave their car parked at work and the guy knows where she works and puts a tracker on her vehicle so he knows where she is all the time."

With Love & Lipstick founder Bonnie Stewart, whose non-profit organisation raises awareness for female victims of domestic violence, said the state's laws needed to reflect changes in technology.

"It's way too easy to contact people now online and ... technology has advanced and it needs to be reflected in our laws," Ms Stewart said.

"We are behind in our justice system and it's really starting to show in today's modern world.

"To escape the daunting trauma, the victim quite often has to sacrifice having their own cyber social life because of this offender."

Ms Stewart, who received an Advertiser, Sunday Mail and Messenger Pride Of Australia award last month, said police also needed more powers to intervene early in all forms of stalking.

"Those early stages are really important and there needs to be a system in place so they can intervene at the early stages," she said.

"It puts it back on the victim to keep a record and live in fear every day and they shouldn't have to live in fear of their life up until the stage where police are able to help."

Uni SA Graduate Research Coordinator Elspeth McInnes, whose expertise is in gender-based violence and family law, said reviewing laws around stalking and technology would be "a productive step".

"Certainly the capacity to stalk has spread across more platforms," Dr McInnes said.

"As I understand it, you can now track people and their whereabouts by identifying what phone towers they're using and where they've been and things like hacking email accounts with Bluetooth.

"There is no harm in reviewing whether the current laws are adequate to deal with emerging technologies and the challenges they present, especially when we know that intimate partner violence is one of the main contributors to women's ill health and early death."

Mr Rau said the State Government had "limited jurisdiction" in cyberstalking cases because it fell mostly within Commonwealth telecommunications law.

"All states are grappling with issues relating to technology and new forms of crime and I have raised this at a national level," Mr Rau said.

"The Attorney-General's Department is a member of a national cybercrime working group that works on various aspects of cybercrime at a national level, such as reporting issues.

"It is true to say that the technology is changing rapidly and the State Government will continue to work with police to ensure they have the legislative tools they need to combat emerging forms of criminal behaviour."