Hi-tech Creepiness | GPS Stalker
Just saw a strange news story on morning television. It seems that Japanese police have arrested a man in Nagano for stalking a woman by GPS.
The victim found it strange that he would turn up in places that she rarely, or had never, visited before and contacted the police. The police searched her car and found a global positioning device taped to the underside of her car. Using his mobile phone he was able to get updates on her position and stalk her. Each time he checked her position it cost him 200 yen and from what the report said he spent many tens of thousands of yen on checking up on his victim each month.
This isn’t the first case of stalking by GPS globally - boingboing.net reports a case from 2004 in Los Angeles where a Glendale businessman was charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend after doing the exact same thing.
Technology has its place and GPS is extremely useful for things like mountain safety. But one has to wonder when it is used in such a way. And this is certainly taking stalking to a new level of creepiness.
Oh, and don’t ask what boingboing means in Japanese…
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
bitshifter
I never wanted to know what boingboing means in Japanese until now!
Oct 6th, 2007
psymeg
does samantha fox ring any bells?
i found out when i was trying to explain the word ‘dribble’ to a class of junior high school students. they found it hilariously funny, but i had no idea what they were laughing about. until one of the naughtier students demonstrated.
they do bounce up and down don’t they?
Oct 6th, 2007
Thomas Bailey
If the stalker put the device on my bike, he’ll be amazed. The stalker might think “WTF?! One day he rode his bike to Oakland, another day to Hollister, repeatedly to San Francisco, once to Santa Cruz!”
Nov 28th, 2008
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