by Michael Finley
Copyright © 1996 by Michael Finley

Fancy graphics, for instance, allow you to hide behind the image of yourself you create. A one-person business can easily put out materials as slick as a huge corporation. An online pencil-chewer can assure the world that he is Fabio's clone. And those of us with evil agendas can launch sneak attacks at will, then vanish into a thicket of forged and misleading e-mail headers.

Michael Banks makes this point upfront in his book Web Psychos, Stalkers & Pranksters: How to Protect Yourself in Cyberspace, (The Coriolis Group, $24.99):

"The Internet itself bears no responsibility for behavior online. This is because by its very nature it encourages antisocial activities. How? Why? Because it is so easy for someone with a little knowledge to be anonymous to most Internet users. Anonymity all too often brings out the worst in people."

Indeed, Banks said, the temptation to wack out entirely is irresistible to that subset of people who are subject to sociopathic promptings, and whose needle on the social skills gauge has dipped seriously into the red zone.

If you shy away from computer books because they are usually about Java scripts or Windows shortcuts, you will like Banks' book. It looks at the whole gamut of people problems that occur in the online world, from hackers undermining your service provider to con-men (and presumably con-women) working grifter schemes by mail, to companies and governmental organizations learning way more about you than you volunteer, and than you would ever want them to know.

At the bottom of all these problems are two factors, the anonymity of the sender and the mental fragility of the receiver. Unlike their counterparts in the physical world, where crooks chisel vulnerable parties out of their life savings, most Internet con-games are after $10 or $100. To go after larger sums requires research, which is too individualized a process for most e-mail scams. Also, people go to the cops when they lose $10,000. When they lose $10, we write it off as continuing education.

The book is full of handy tips on how to report spammers, how to keep your address off the bad guys' lists, and how to keep your account secure and your password unguessed.

But there is not near enough in the book about the truly lurid topic of psychos and stalkers. Unfortunately, the book glides right over this juicy topic. There are no creepy anecdotes of unbalanced loners pitching unbalanced woo in the wee, wee hours. A good net psycho is like the old man of the sea in the Arabian Knights tales, who perched on Sindbad's shoulders and refused to get off him.

I am not talking about violent criminals here or sex offenders, but about the class that falls just short of that -- obnoxious people who keep coming back at you, picking fights, perhaps fawning, trying to worm their way into your life. A stalker is someone who, when you tell him you are grateful for their input, but you really aren't interested in a long-term relationship, he doesn't go away. Something about you sticks in his craw, and sparks an obsession. This call won't end till they pry the receiver from his cold, crisp hands.

Their concerns vary, but the intensity level never does: How can you possibly be for the Panama Canal Treaty? Perhaps you saw my monograph on yeti summer scat on AOL? What is it about my poetry you don't like? Could I come meet you when I get out?

They might have been normal human beings, affable and civil, until the moment they log on. Thereafter they are trolls, and it's life under the bridge. A troll can send you a dozen pieces of badgering mail a day, and not think it excessive. Occasionally, a troll goes one step further and starts to gather data about you from your website or other places. You don't like it when these people know your children's names and ages.

Ultimately, this is one of those lurid topics that you would rather hear horror stories about than learn practical tips about. Banks doesn't offer many tips. The only general rules I have pieced together are:

don't get excited,

don't try to win the argument, and

never, never escalate the war of wills. The last thing you want is for your cyberstalker to think of you as someone special.

A noble part of me knows that the trolls of the I-way are just lonely people, no different than you or me, and that they are just reaching out for -- a friend.

But another part knows they are the digital equivalent of the living dead, and the only thing you can extend to them that will have a positive impact is a stake to the heart.

Michael Finley is co-author with Harvey Robbins of Why Change Doesn't Work.Visit Michael Finley at his home page, or e-mail him at mfinley@mfinley.com

Stimulate the economy, give a poet a dollar.