The Internet offers an amazing array of options to everyone. However, with that freedom also comes danger. The advent of the Internet has given once reclusive and hard to find criminals a wide-open playground. The crimes perpetrated on the Internet range from "victimless" white-collar crime to serious and sometime violent cyber stalking. Girls, boys, women and men are all vulnerable to attack and exploitation. Some cases may only amount to simple verbal harassment, but others have led to a darker and final end...death.
             "Hello, J how are you CUTEGal?"..."I'm fine, how are you CyberGuy?"..."Oh, not bad I just got back from the lake, I was using my new Jet Ski"..."Really! I love Jet Skiing, of course my Mom thinks its too dangerous"..."Oh, its not dangerous its a ton of fun!...so you like Jet Skiing, by the way how old are you?"..."I'm 15"..."Cool...my sister is 15 too, she went with us to the lake". Sounds innocent doesn't? It's just a couple of young kids talking on a chat line about Jet Skiing. If you look at their profiles you would find that CUTEGal is a 15 year-old girl who likes water sports, volleyball and boys. CyberGuy's profile shows a 16 year-old boy who plays football and baseball, likes to go out with his friends and so on. However, CyberGuy is really a 38 year-old convicted pedophile in search of his next victim. What makes this even more unsettling is that this is not simply good narrative...it could be real. The details of similar stories will be explored further, but first it is important to look at some aspects of the Internet as it applies to cyber crime. We will review issues with cyber stalking and crimes against children, other associated crimes both on and off the Internet, what the government and local authorities are trying to do, and some real-life examples of what happens when thin...