WHY DO CYBERPATHS PREY ON OTHERS?

(This is merely an attempt to answer the question "WHY did they do this?" This explanation is speculative & by no means final or complete. - EOPC)

excerpted from: "Why Do People Abuse?"


Understanding Abuse
People have difficulty understanding the motives of people who are involved in abuse. Why people choose to abuse other people is a common question.

Abuse situations must be lived in and experienced before their internal logic makes any sense. However, we can try to do our best to understand.

Why Do Cyberpaths Abuse?
The first question, "Why do people abuse other people?" has multiple answers. Some people internalized a particular relationship dynamic, namely the complementary roles of "abuser" and "victim". They are familiar with and fully understand the terror of being the helpless victim from their own childhood experience. The opposite of being a victim is not simply opting out of abuse; it is instead, to be abusive. Given the choice between being the out-of-control victim, or the in-control abuser, some of these people grow up to prefer the role of the abuser.

As they become adults, they simply turn this relationship dynamic around and start acting out the "abuser" side of the relationship dynamic. By choosing to be the aggressor and abuser, they may get their first sense of taking control over their own destiny and not being at the mercy of others. And the anonymity and disinhibition the internet provides feeds that.

Besides, online - others are only objects, not real people.


Still other people who abuse end up abusing because they have an empathy deficit, either because of some sort of brain damage, or because their innate empathic abilities never developed properly.

Such abusers cannot or will not relate to other people as people, choosing instead to treat them as objects. In effect, they confuse people for things. They treat people as though they were there solely for their convenience and do not otherwise have an independent, important life. Far too easy to do online!

Abusers who treat people in this manner are very likely psychologically ill, incurably so. They may have an antisocial, sociopathic or narcissistic personality disorder, and they may have anger or impulse control issues and addition (internet, sex, love & drama) issues on top of that!

Such cyberpaths may abuse via the net because of the benefits they receive from doing so, for instance, sexual or financial gratification, or the simple allure of power over other people's lives.

original article here

THE CYBERPATH

Exploitation is easier to accomplish on-line. The level of exploitation is all over the place. Clearly the most dangerous are the Cyberpaths. These sociopaths, psychopaths -- unwholesome, psychologically scattered individuals -- can exploit you in truly damaging ways.



Despite common belief, a cyberpath is not always very easily identified, especially since you cannot see the person "in person." The more clever, the more intelligent the cyberpath is, the more you will not become aware of what you are dealing with, until it is too late.



What he (the psychopath) gets he spoils and wastes...



A psychopath, in this instance, the cyberpath (a sociopath with internet access), is merely looking for a way to fill in his time with empty exploits. They are highly narcissistic, and the internet provides fodder for them. I have known various cyberpaths, and they move from victim to victim, seeking people to feed their endless need for narcissism. When you've found them out, or they tire of you, they move on to the next victim, or target for narcissistic supply.



Dominance and power are recurring themes in the social relations of psychopaths.





Dominance, power, and having followers are very important to the cyberpath's need for total adulation and control. Cyberpaths absolutely bask in adulation, many using pity, in a most conniving way, to get the attention that they need. Sometimes the way a cyberpath asserts his control is done subtly. Typical of their underlying Destructive Narcissistic Pattern.



This psychopath often plays jokes and tricks on others to humiliate them or to assert dominance.

Sadly, many are mistaken about the typical cyberpath. A cyberpath is not always looking for money or sex, quite often, he or she is merely interested in taking you along for a ride. I also do not believe that psychopaths/cyberpaths always know that they are hurting you. A psychopath behaves the same way with everyone. Most of them take pleasure merely in playing the rouse, and not much else. A psychopath has no interest in your inner emotional state because they themselves have no empathy. They merely enjoy "pulling one over" on people.



And to put rest to another common myth, very few psychopaths are stalkers, because they have no true emotional connections to anybody. They simply move on to another person who piques their interests. A psychopath cannot truly love and therefore cannot become obsessed with another individual. They are too egocentric, narcissistic, and lack emotional connection to any other human being.







The central theme of the Don Juan's (the psychopaths's) seductions is not even the sexual enjoyment, but playing the trick... While he gives no real love, though he is quite capable of inspiring love of sometimes fanatical degree in others...



Again, this quote from Gordon Bank's work, "Don Juan as Psychopath," reveals that the cyberpath is mostly interested in playing tricks with his prey, almost in a playful way. To the cyberpath, such things are not really big deal, while for the victim, however, it becomes a rather big issue indeed.



Many of the victims of cyberpaths enter therapy as a result of this. Many victims believe themselves to be flawed after an experience with a cyberpath. Some of them are harassed by the family and friends of the cyberpath, which makes matters worse.



He is motivated primarily by the need to dominate and humiliate either the person he is 'taking' or, very often someone connected to a person with whom he is involved.





Cyberpaths relish in another's humiliation, which may appear to us as a certain, perverse quality. They take pleasure in what we find obscene, because they are not like other people, they have no true connection to anybody, and are incapable of feeling real love. Messing with another person's emotions and life is merely a way to pass the time, pulling one over on you is fun and enjoyable.



Most of the crimes psychopaths commit, tend to be "crimes of the heart" and/or "casual cruelty", they are cruel, manipulative people who leave a trail of broken hearts and often broken lives behind them.



Again, most cyberpaths are common internet liars and predators. Do not be fooled by someone who tells you that there is such a thing as a "harmless liar." A liar is never harmless. A person who lies should never be trusted, and once you find out they've lied to you even once, it's time to break it off.



Once having drained what they can from one source, they turn to others to exploit, bleed, and then cast aside; their pleasure in the misfortune of others is unquenchable. People are used as a means to an end; they are to be subordinated and demeaned ...the pleasure they gain from their ruse often flags once the rewards of deceit have been achieved.



Before long, their true unreliability may be revealed as they "stop working at" their deception or as their need grows to let others know how clever and cunning they have been



A cyberpath may keep you hooked for as long as they need your narcissistic supply. Once you start getting "wise" to them, however, or once he or she begins to tire of you and find that your narcissistic supply is becoming inadequate, you will soon find out, through some subtle manuevers, that your absolutely "perfect" future mate is nothing but a charade.



Some of these con men also relish in playing more expansive games. Once you have fallen in love with him and accepted a marriage proposal, it is not uncommon for this type to sudddenly send an email explaining that he is dying of an incurable disease or that he is an FBI agent and has to move to another country, therefore ending all contact with you.



I have heard of this happening to many women. Those who have met a cyberpath in real life seldom come out unscathed, either physically, mentally, and/or emotionally. Don't forget to add financially as well.





SOURCE

Victims & Abusers: Both Use Technology

By Shannon Proudfoot

Technology has moved to the front lines in the fight against domestic violence.

Advocacy organizations are using increasingly sophisticated high-tech solutions in their efforts to keep victims safe, even as they struggle to keep pace with abusers using technology to control and threaten their victims.

"Worldwide, it's an epidemic," says Alexis A. Moore, an abuse survivor and founder of the California-based victim advocacy group Survivors in Action.

"Perpetrators are changing their information and their manoeuvres. Their road map changes by the hour, where our training and education and awareness programs happen on a yearly basis, if that. Laws take years to develop."

GPS devices on vehicles or cellphones can be used to track a victim's movement without their knowledge and abusers can hack into their victim's online accounts to track e-mails or instant-messages, says Cynthia Fraser, a technology safety specialist with the Washington-based National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV).

Advocates first started hearing about high-tech abuse a decade ago, she says, but it's becoming a bigger problem because the technology is so widely and cheaply available. Even abusers who are not tech-savvy can learn how to stalk their partner with the help of the Internet, Fraser says.

The consequences of leaving a digital trail can be deadly. Fraser recalls one case where an abused woman wrote an e-mail about her plans to leave but didn't empty her computer trash bin after deleting the message. Her abuser found the message and killed her.

Fraser works with Safety Net, a project that focuses on technology and domestic abuse, and she's conducted training in Canada with law enforcement, Crown attorneys and shelter workers. Like other advocates, she's careful about how much detail she provides on this type of abuse and efforts to counter it because she doesn't want to "educate abusers."

"Technology has just added another layer to the complexities of women's safety," says Erin Lee-Todd, executive director of Lanark County Interval House, a shelter near Ottawa. "We just have to move with the times."

In Canada, most shelter websites prominently display warnings to victims that their online activities may be monitored, and many have escape buttons that switch to an innocuous website if someone walks into the room. Telecommunications companies have donated new cellphones and airtime to victims who fear their abusers may be tracking their communication or whereabouts with their regular phone.

E-Services, an online counselling program that allows shelters to provide live chat help to clients, is currently being rolled out across Canada by Shelternet, a Toronto-based organization that provides online resources to shelters and abuse victims.

Like those of many advocacy groups, the E-Services website has detailed instructions for clearing browser histories to help victims cover their online tracks, says project manager Tammy Falovo. But the widespread availability of spyware programs that can grab regular screen shots or log every keystroke on a computer and send the information to an abuser means that's no longer enough, she says.

"What we try to do is remind people that no medium is 100 per cent safe," Falovo says.

Many organizations now advise victims to seek help only on computers located in a safe place such as a public library or workplace, and to create a safe e-mail address they only use on computers the abuser has no access to.

The goal is to educate abused women and their children about the high-tech risks without frightening them even more, says Lee-Todd. But while the methods of abuse and stalking may be changing, she says the underlying motivation remains the same.

"The issues are still about power and control, and they're still rooted in that," she says. "Technology has afforded the opportunity to do that more strategically and often in a more sophisticated way."

For Moore, even a professional background as a high-tech investigator didn't protect her when she left an abusive partner several years ago. He began a campaign of "cyberstalking" that involved cancelling her credit cards, emptying her bank account and destroying her credit rating, she says, and like most intimate partners, he knew all the personal information and passwords that allowed him to do so.

Now a cyberstalking expert and founder of the California-based victim advocacy group Survivors in Action, Moore says some abusers will open e-mail accounts and impersonate their victims to seek information or send out naked photos — real or faked — to embarrass them.

"You can't believe what some of them do," she says.*

ARTICLE HERE

(*EOPC can believe it... )

Victims & Abusers: Both Use Technology

By Shannon Proudfoot

Technology has moved to the front lines in the fight against domestic violence.

Advocacy organizations are using increasingly sophisticated high-tech solutions in their efforts to keep victims safe, even as they struggle to keep pace with abusers using technology to control and threaten their victims.

"Worldwide, it's an epidemic," says Alexis A. Moore, an abuse survivor and founder of the California-based victim advocacy group Survivors in Action.

"Perpetrators are changing their information and their manoeuvres. Their road map changes by the hour, where our training and education and awareness programs happen on a yearly basis, if that. Laws take years to develop."

GPS devices on vehicles or cellphones can be used to track a victim's movement without their knowledge and abusers can hack into their victim's online accounts to track e-mails or instant-messages, says Cynthia Fraser, a technology safety specialist with the Washington-based National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV).

Advocates first started hearing about high-tech abuse a decade ago, she says, but it's becoming a bigger problem because the technology is so widely and cheaply available. Even abusers who are not tech-savvy can learn how to stalk their partner with the help of the Internet, Fraser says.

The consequences of leaving a digital trail can be deadly. Fraser recalls one case where an abused woman wrote an e-mail about her plans to leave but didn't empty her computer trash bin after deleting the message. Her abuser found the message and killed her.

Fraser works with Safety Net, a project that focuses on technology and domestic abuse, and she's conducted training in Canada with law enforcement, Crown attorneys and shelter workers. Like other advocates, she's careful about how much detail she provides on this type of abuse and efforts to counter it because she doesn't want to "educate abusers."

"Technology has just added another layer to the complexities of women's safety," says Erin Lee-Todd, executive director of Lanark County Interval House, a shelter near Ottawa. "We just have to move with the times."

In Canada, most shelter websites prominently display warnings to victims that their online activities may be monitored, and many have escape buttons that switch to an innocuous website if someone walks into the room. Telecommunications companies have donated new cellphones and airtime to victims who fear their abusers may be tracking their communication or whereabouts with their regular phone.

E-Services, an online counselling program that allows shelters to provide live chat help to clients, is currently being rolled out across Canada by Shelternet, a Toronto-based organization that provides online resources to shelters and abuse victims.

Like those of many advocacy groups, the E-Services website has detailed instructions for clearing browser histories to help victims cover their online tracks, says project manager Tammy Falovo. But the widespread availability of spyware programs that can grab regular screen shots or log every keystroke on a computer and send the information to an abuser means that's no longer enough, she says.

"What we try to do is remind people that no medium is 100 per cent safe," Falovo says.

Many organizations now advise victims to seek help only on computers located in a safe place such as a public library or workplace, and to create a safe e-mail address they only use on computers the abuser has no access to.

The goal is to educate abused women and their children about the high-tech risks without frightening them even more, says Lee-Todd. But while the methods of abuse and stalking may be changing, she says the underlying motivation remains the same.

"The issues are still about power and control, and they're still rooted in that," she says. "Technology has afforded the opportunity to do that more strategically and often in a more sophisticated way."

For Moore, even a professional background as a high-tech investigator didn't protect her when she left an abusive partner several years ago. He began a campaign of "cyberstalking" that involved cancelling her credit cards, emptying her bank account and destroying her credit rating, she says, and like most intimate partners, he knew all the personal information and passwords that allowed him to do so.

Now a cyberstalking expert and founder of the California-based victim advocacy group Survivors in Action, Moore says some abusers will open e-mail accounts and impersonate their victims to seek information or send out naked photos — real or faked — to embarrass them.

"You can't believe what some of them do," she says.*

ARTICLE HERE

(*EOPC can believe it... )

Stalking Laws Need to be Tougher

by Kim Archer

He seemed to be around every corner. Standing near her. Watching her.

"It's unsettling," said Tulsan Stephanie Lewis, who met the man through her work in coordinating a local arm of a national political group.

The man started calling constantly and sent hundreds of e-mails, she said. Every public meeting she led, he was there. He argued with her and tried to take over. Then he copied everything from her political group's Facebook page and put them on his.

"First, what you notice about him is he doesn't respect social boundaries. He gets real close to you when he talks," Lewis said.

On Christmas Eve, things took a scary turn. He called her again that evening. When she asked why he was calling on a holiday, he went off.

"He got abusive and threatening. He said he was going to teach me a lesson," Lewis said. She spent last Christmas Eve filing a report at a police station.

From there, things escalated. It got so bad, she filed for a protective order against him I in Rogers County where she then lived. But the judge only admonished the man to stay away from Lewis.

He didn't. One time, he even pushed her down and spit on her. But it was just the two of them, her word against his.

Again, Lewis filed for a protective order. Only this time, it was in Tulsa County, where she moved. The judge indicated it wouldn't be granted, but Lewis pleaded.

"He said it didn't meet the requirement because there was no relationship between us," she said.

Lewis argued her case and got a 60-day order.

"If a judge does not interpret the law to protect people out in the public, that's where the problem lies," Lewis said.

Lewis is not the first person to have filed for a protective order against a particular stalker. She just appears to be the first successful one.

Tulsa County records show at least two other individuals have done so without success.

Stalking is a crime
Stalking is considered a crime in all 50 states, although legal definitions vary.

Oklahoma law is relatively strong on stalking, but courts and law enforcement are reluctant to enforce it, said Tim Gray, attorney advocate with Domestic Violence Intervention Services in Tulsa and vice president of the board for Family and Community Empowered for Safety.

"It isn't taken seriously enough. That's pretty much because society doesn't take it seriously enough," he said.

Judges, district attorneys and law enforcement officers have some discretion in dealing with stalkers. Often, they are hesitant to take action against them, Gray said.

"It is time-intensive for law enforcement and district attorneys to make a case," he said.

Sheree Huckill, an anti-stalking advocate with T.K. Wolf, a counseling and wellness group in Skiatook, said the majority of stalkers go on to commit physical violence against their victims.

"If we look at recent homicides, chances are the victims were being stalked first," she said.
Stalking is pervasive and can be done in person or on the Internet.

An estimated 3.4 million people age 18 or older reported being victims during a one-year period, according to a report released by the U.S. Justice Department in January. The report came after the most comprehensive study of stalking ever done.

The study confirmed that women are at higher risk of being stalked, and that stalking is a gateway to more violent crimes.

"Stalking can absolutely lead to death," Gray said. "Like domestic violence or sexual assault, it all boils down to power and control. The stalker gets a high from doing the stalking. They enjoy putting that person in fear."

Perhaps the state law's only weakness is it does not recognize emotional damage, Gray said.

"Our society and our courts want to see physical damage done," he said.

By the time it gets to that point, it can be too late.

Reprieve
The relative peace Lewis has had since the protective order soon will be replaced with worry. The order expires in early May. And she will have to spend nearly another entire day to get the order approved for another period.

Her stalker has mostly stayed away, but has inched near her at public political events, testing his boundaries. "It's just creepy," she said.

Lewis said when she got the first protective order, the man came to court and argued the law like a pro. "He knows the stalking law like he's a lawyer," she said.

Lewis says she is not about to allow someone else to run her life.

She believes the stalking law should be strengthened so judges and district attorneys can't ignore the pleas of those who are victims.

"I will do whatever it takes to get this message heard."
(NOTE: Many Cyberpaths will ACCUSE THEIR VICTIMS of Stalking them. This is PROJECTION! Take your proof to the police, victims - and demand they file a report and GIVE YOU A COPY. - EOPC)

Eighty-seven percent of stalkers are men. One in 12 women and one in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime, federal data show.

• Seventy-seven percent of female and 64 percent of male victims know their stalker.
• Fifty-nine percent of female victims and 30 percent of male victims are stalked by an intimate partner.
• Fifty-five percent of female victims report their stalking to the police.
• Nearly a third of stalkers have stalked previously.
• Seventy-six percent of women murdered by an intimate partner and 85 percent of women who are victims of attempted murder by their intimate partner had experienced at least one incident of stalking by the perpetrator within a year of the crime.

Source: National Center for Victims of Crime

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Stalking Laws Need to be Tougher

by Kim Archer

He seemed to be around every corner. Standing near her. Watching her.

"It's unsettling," said Tulsan Stephanie Lewis, who met the man through her work in coordinating a local arm of a national political group.

The man started calling constantly and sent hundreds of e-mails, she said. Every public meeting she led, he was there. He argued with her and tried to take over. Then he copied everything from her political group's Facebook page and put them on his.

"First, what you notice about him is he doesn't respect social boundaries. He gets real close to you when he talks," Lewis said.

On Christmas Eve, things took a scary turn. He called her again that evening. When she asked why he was calling on a holiday, he went off.

"He got abusive and threatening. He said he was going to teach me a lesson," Lewis said. She spent last Christmas Eve filing a report at a police station.

From there, things escalated. It got so bad, she filed for a protective order against him I in Rogers County where she then lived. But the judge only admonished the man to stay away from Lewis.

He didn't. One time, he even pushed her down and spit on her. But it was just the two of them, her word against his.

Again, Lewis filed for a protective order. Only this time, it was in Tulsa County, where she moved. The judge indicated it wouldn't be granted, but Lewis pleaded.

"He said it didn't meet the requirement because there was no relationship between us," she said.

Lewis argued her case and got a 60-day order.

"If a judge does not interpret the law to protect people out in the public, that's where the problem lies," Lewis said.

Lewis is not the first person to have filed for a protective order against a particular stalker. She just appears to be the first successful one.

Tulsa County records show at least two other individuals have done so without success.

Stalking is a crime
Stalking is considered a crime in all 50 states, although legal definitions vary.

Oklahoma law is relatively strong on stalking, but courts and law enforcement are reluctant to enforce it, said Tim Gray, attorney advocate with Domestic Violence Intervention Services in Tulsa and vice president of the board for Family and Community Empowered for Safety.

"It isn't taken seriously enough. That's pretty much because society doesn't take it seriously enough," he said.

Judges, district attorneys and law enforcement officers have some discretion in dealing with stalkers. Often, they are hesitant to take action against them, Gray said.

"It is time-intensive for law enforcement and district attorneys to make a case," he said.

Sheree Huckill, an anti-stalking advocate with T.K. Wolf, a counseling and wellness group in Skiatook, said the majority of stalkers go on to commit physical violence against their victims.

"If we look at recent homicides, chances are the victims were being stalked first," she said.
Stalking is pervasive and can be done in person or on the Internet.

An estimated 3.4 million people age 18 or older reported being victims during a one-year period, according to a report released by the U.S. Justice Department in January. The report came after the most comprehensive study of stalking ever done.

The study confirmed that women are at higher risk of being stalked, and that stalking is a gateway to more violent crimes.

"Stalking can absolutely lead to death," Gray said. "Like domestic violence or sexual assault, it all boils down to power and control. The stalker gets a high from doing the stalking. They enjoy putting that person in fear."

Perhaps the state law's only weakness is it does not recognize emotional damage, Gray said.

"Our society and our courts want to see physical damage done," he said.

By the time it gets to that point, it can be too late.

Reprieve
The relative peace Lewis has had since the protective order soon will be replaced with worry. The order expires in early May. And she will have to spend nearly another entire day to get the order approved for another period.

Her stalker has mostly stayed away, but has inched near her at public political events, testing his boundaries. "It's just creepy," she said.

Lewis said when she got the first protective order, the man came to court and argued the law like a pro. "He knows the stalking law like he's a lawyer," she said.

Lewis says she is not about to allow someone else to run her life.

She believes the stalking law should be strengthened so judges and district attorneys can't ignore the pleas of those who are victims.

"I will do whatever it takes to get this message heard."
(NOTE: Many Cyberpaths will ACCUSE THEIR VICTIMS of Stalking them. This is PROJECTION! Take your proof to the police, victims - and demand they file a report and GIVE YOU A COPY. - EOPC)

Eighty-seven percent of stalkers are men. One in 12 women and one in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime, federal data show.

• Seventy-seven percent of female and 64 percent of male victims know their stalker.
• Fifty-nine percent of female victims and 30 percent of male victims are stalked by an intimate partner.
• Fifty-five percent of female victims report their stalking to the police.
• Nearly a third of stalkers have stalked previously.
• Seventy-six percent of women murdered by an intimate partner and 85 percent of women who are victims of attempted murder by their intimate partner had experienced at least one incident of stalking by the perpetrator within a year of the crime.

Source: National Center for Victims of Crime

ORIGINAL ARTICLE