But if everybody else is doing it, it can't be that bad, right!?

When I googled "stalking definition" there was no one specific definition for it. In fact, the closest definition that I could find was the 'legal' definition which read: "A form of harassment generally comprised of repeated persistent following with no legitimate reason and with the intention of harming, or so as to arouse anxiety or fear of harm in the person being followed. Stalking may also take the form of harassing telephone calls, computer communications, letter-writing, etc." (your dictionary.com) Personally I think it makes perfect sense why there isn't really one universal definition for stalking. I mean if you think about it the way the world is today people can follow people and look at people in all sorts of way. With every social network on the internet-whether it be myspace, facebook or twitter (just 3 examples of the many out there)- comes some form of what could be called "stalking". I myself have probably be guilty of this. I mean I get on facebook a ridiculous amount-probably about 10-15 times a day- and I only write to somebody or comment a picture or update my status maybe 5 times out of the15 i sign on. The rest of the time spent on facebook is what I like to call "creeping"-something that not only me but most of my friends & people I've met confess to doing- where I page jump from person to person to find out any new gossip of whats going on in their lives. The most popular ones I look at tend to be a guy that I have a slight interest in or find attractive, old friends from previous school years & even my friends, friends. I don't have any want to hurt them or cause them hurt in someway but is it really necessary for me to look through their pictures and what they have written to other people? I even have to admit that this has to be some form of stalking and I'm sure most everyone is guilty of doing it. But then it gets me thinking, if I can look into all of these peoples lives, who is looking into mine? It's scary to think of how pretty much anybody has access to peoples websites-even though my stuff is on super private mode I still feel that there is some way around it. My brothers girlfriends daughter, who is 12, has myspace and before I forced her to make it private she had it open to the world to view. With how many creeps are out in the world these days I'd hate to think of the kids who don't have their information private. In fact, this cyber-stalking has become so popular that some people have formed organizations in hopes to stop it (it's especially common in the U.S.). But is all stalking really bad behaviour? I don't think so. I think that as long as you aren't obsessing over a person, threatening them or trying to commit harm to them, a simple "creep" session is okay.

To find out a little more about how cyber-stalking is becoming an issue, especially in the U.S. heres a link to an article I read about some groups that are trying to put a halt to this form of stalking: Privacy Watch: Stalking Over the Web Is a Growing Threat by Andrew Brandt