Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor

Imagine you sit down at your computer and check your Facebook messages. “Fred,” your new friend, wants to know if you can chat.You log onto AIM,and talk about everything from politics to which foods you like. You think you’ve made a new friend but you know nothing about “Fred.”Although most college students have been warned about Internet safety for years, cyberstalking remains a significant danger to users of social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Cyberstalking, which is a predator’s relentless pursuit of a victim online, can quickly become a serious situation if the stalker knows the victim’s offline location.The dangers of cyberstalking have received more attention since San Diego State freshman Donna Jou disappeared after being contacted online by convicted sex offender John Steven Burgess. Communication professor Brian Spitzberg, who conducts research about cyberstalking, said after summarizing a broad range of studies, he found that as many as 25 percent of people have been stalked online and in real space.Spitzberg said that although there is not a lot of evidence that stalking has actually increased in recent years with new technology, it has made it easier. “Various types of technology have extended the ways in which people are able to access information in order to stalk others,” Spitzberg said. Information, such as where a person lives, what they look like, what places they like to visit and how to contact them is often available to the public.”It surprises me that people are so willing to put that kind of information out there,” Spitzberg said. “I think students have only allowed themselves to see the positive aspects of the technology.”He said some of the negative aspects include the possibility of a cyberstalker disabling a user’s computer, misrepresenting them to others, stealing their identity, exposing them truthfully or with libel to millions and eliminating their privacy – all without ever meeting face-to-face.However, many students aren’t concerned about the potential threat of online stalking when they use social networking sites. Undeclared freshman Lillian Casillas said she is not at all concerned about being contacted online by people she doesn’t know. When strangers contact her she says she just ignores them. Casillas also sets her profiles to private so only friends and family can view them.Public relations junior Courtney Nejedly said even though she feels Facebook is a more secure site, she continues to use her MySpace account.”MySpace, especially, is a site that I am way more wary of, because I feel like the protection is not as up-to-date as the protection provided by Facebook,” Nejedly said.She said that even though she is concerned about the level of protection that MySpace provides to users, she still enjoys using her account.”I use it to contact my friends and look at pictures,” Nejedly said, “but I’m never on it long enough for someone to repeatedly contact me.”WiredSafety.org, a Web site dedicated to online safety, lists some characteristics that predators look for when searching for their next online victim, including emotional instability and weakness. People who are new or unfamiliar with the Internet or a specific social site are more likely to be victims of cyberstalking. About 83 percent of victims are women, according to the Web site.Spitzberg said people often pursue others online because they don’t want to meet in real space and they may be afraid of face-to-face contact. “We really don’t have a great profile of the average cyberstalker, because most of the people who exclusively stalk online want to remain anonymous,” Spitzberg said. Students can take safety measures to reduce their risk of becoming online or offline victims of stalking, such as setting their profile to private and only allowing friends and family to see photos, blogs and other personal information. Spitzberg said smaller studies suggest that as much as 30 to 50 percent of online stalking behavior has turned into an offline incident. However, there have been no documented cases of cyberstalking becoming a dangerous or deadly incident without the victim first agreeing to meet face-to-face with their stalker.