Stalkerish behaviour or am I being OTT?

Steel_2

Kay_Peel wrote: »

This isn't stalking.

It's surprising what you can find out with a bit of persistence, some imagination, a little bit of information and google.

I had lost touch with my 'bridesmaid' of 30 years ago and set out to find out what had happened to her. I knew her mother and brother's names, where she went to school and a few other bits and bobs. It took me a couple of hours (she's married and changed names about three times) but I found her. Not only did I find her but I found out about huge chunks of her life - I even saw photos of weddings, christenings, newspaper reports, her contributions to various forums, her obituary and even the row and plot number of her grave.

I've even had people mention past escapades of my own. They had googled me and found references to me in newspapers, conferences and other work-related reports, nothing more. It's a bit unnerving - and that's why I don't have a Facebook presence or share photos online.

Some people do this sort of trawling for a living - journalists, writers, researchers, debt collection agencies, job recruitment agencies, government bodies and so on.

I can understand that you may feel uncomfortable about his scouring the internet looking for you - and when he couldn't find you he did the same as I did. He found you via your family's internet activity. It's not as if he has contacted you or bothered you - you met him when you were near to his house and you appeared on his screen when you signed into MSN. A stalker acts on the information they receive, they don't politely stand on the side-lines until you appear.

I would ignore him and lessen the likelihood of contact by signing off MSN for good.

But you didn't cross the line by hacking into a photographer's website to get photos of her. This guy did.