“Every Breath You Take I’ll be Watching You”: Governing Cyberstalking in Malaysia

Zaiton Hamin, Wan Rosalili Wan Rosli

2018

Abstract

Since the past decade, cyberstalking has been on the rise worldwide. The prevalence of such crime is much higher than its real-world counterpart due to the fact that computer users have unlimited connectivity to the Internet. Cyberstalking acts as a conduit to the commission of other illegalities such as identity theft, cyber fraud and physical danger such as rape and even murder. However, the nature of the crime and the perception on the adequacy of the law remains ambiguous in the current Malaysian legal landscape. Hence, this paper aims at examining the various motives of the cyberstalkers in committing such crime and the perception of the criminalisation of cyberstalking in Malaysia. This paper adopts a qualitative methodology, of which the primary data is generated from semi-structured interviews and secondary data from library-based sources. The preliminary findings revealed that several motivations of cyberstalkers were evident, including revenge and obsession. Significantly, there were paradoxical views on the adequacy of the current legal position for cyberstalking. The evidence from the findings illustrates the need for a review of the existing legal position, which does not adequately address the criminalisation of cyberstalking and the victims’ protection within the Malaysian criminal justice system.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Hamin Z. and Wan Rosli W. (2018). “Every Breath You Take I’ll be Watching You”: Governing Cyberstalking in Malaysia.In Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC, ISBN 978-989-758-482-4, pages 315-320. DOI: 10.5220/0010051803150320

in Bibtex Style

@conference{i-nlac18,
author={Zaiton Hamin and Wan Rosalili Wan Rosli},
title={“Every Breath You Take I’ll be Watching You”: Governing Cyberstalking in Malaysia},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,},
year={2018},
pages={315-320},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010051803150320},
isbn={978-989-758-482-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,
TI - “Every Breath You Take I’ll be Watching You”: Governing Cyberstalking in Malaysia
SN - 978-989-758-482-4
AU - Hamin Z.
AU - Wan Rosli W.
PY - 2018
SP - 315
EP - 320
DO - 10.5220/0010051803150320