# Extreme Cyber Harassment **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222 "2018-03-26T19:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/1 "2018-03-26T19:08:45Z")
First off, don’t worry - I’m not being harassed! 🙂 I’m a few months behind in my reading pile so I just now got around to this article from last November’s _Wired_: [How One Woman’s Digital Life Was Weaponized Against Her](https://www.wired.com/story/how-one-womans-digital-life-was-weaponized-against-her/) It’s quite a tale! Tons of he-said-she-said-he-said stuff and at some points it’s hard to decide who to feel sorry for. In the end it is all pretty clear, but it’s also a frustrating story. The stuff the stalker guy did is not really high-level leet hacker stuff, it’s pretty simple. Yet it was all extremely effective, and for the most part it was easy for him to dismiss. The woman really lucked out in being able to get an amazing legal team on her side. _Pro bono_ to boot! You can Google the stalker’s name and find his blog if you want to read his side of the story, and comments to his support. I guess I don’t really have any insightful comment on this. I’ve been part of “online” since the mid-90s and at this point I’m pretty lucky I haven’t managed to make any enemies to any extreme extent. I read this article over lunch and it freaked me out. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/2 "2018-03-26T21:08:37Z")
Wow… Honestly, I’m not believing much of what the Zonis guy says. I’ve seen too many men who, when they’ve been rejected, resort to scorched-earth blasting of the women who reject them. “If you don’t want me, it must be that you’re a bitch who isn’t good enough for me” kind of mentality. There’s a reason why the phrase “revenge porn” exists. Now, I’m not sure that the husband did the right thing either. I’m not a fan of airing dirty laundry for everyone to see. I’m not victim-blaming here; I’m not saying it’s his fault he’s being harassed. It’s the harasser’s fault he’s being harassed. But I’m not sure that telling everyone was the right step, either. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/3 "2018-03-27T00:51:16Z")
Looking at his blog, Zonis doesn’t sound too bright. And anyone willing to act as their own lawyer in such a situation…well, you know what say about a man who’s his own lawyer having a fool for a client. (Courtney and Steve obviously share their own blame, but damn.) ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/4 "2018-03-27T01:24:56Z")
Wow, just wow. I’m all tensed up from reading that, sounds like this guy is never, ever going to stop his campaign of terror. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/5 "2018-03-27T02:56:20Z")
That is horrible. There were mistakes all around, but that Zonis cat is just an S.O.B. Why was this not a criminal case. He was obviously committing many crimes, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/6 "2018-03-27T06:40:02Z")
Have people stopped watching _Fatal Attraction_? There are lots of crazy people out there in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/7 "2018-03-27T07:43:42Z")
I read the whole thing. At first I thought the husband was doing it all. I guess there are some weird people out there. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/8 "2018-03-27T13:59:19Z")
There was a quick mention that Zonis was rejected by 2 or 3 lawyers before he went to representing himself. For me, that really put me on the side of “guilty” for him. [Here’s everyone on Nightline](http://abcnews.go.com/US/months-horrific-cyber-harassment-wrong/story?id=53612324) talking about the case, if anyone wants a video interpertation of it heh ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/9 "2018-03-27T14:43:10Z")
That is terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/10 "2018-03-27T15:52:31Z")
Sounds like this Zonis guy has waaaaay too much time on his hands. And Courtney and Steve need to have DNFTT tattooed on the inside of their eyelids. Yes, he’s a scary creep. What he wants is attention - any sort of attention. The guy who wrote _The Gift of Fear_ said that if someone calls you ten times and you pick up on the eleventh, you have taught him that the price of getting your attention is eleven calls. And intermittent reinforcement is very difficult to un-teach. You don’t tell him to stop contacting you. You put him on Ignore. Block him on everything, send all his emails to a folder but don’t reply, he doesn’t exist. Ghost him. > [@](#): > > At one point Courtney created a Google Voice number to ask, “If I talk to you, will you leave me alone?” Wrong. > [@](#): > > Courtney’s concerns were mounting. The day before, she had gotten an email to an account she only used for spam. “How did you even GET this email address?” Courtney wrote back. “Leave me and my family alone!” Wrong. > [@](#): > > She kept telling herself that they were just good friends, even when Zonis sent her a penis-shaped sex toy. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Steven…found Zonis’ wife and wrote and texted her. He looked up Zonis’ parents on a people-finder site. “I would ask that you encourage your son to stop this affair before it completely ruins our family,” he wrote, adding that he had heard that the Zonises had an open relationship. “If you have any questions or would like to see some of the evidence, please email me.” Wrong. > [@](#): > > Steven, angry about the message to his coworker, emailed Zonis, writing that he could “look forward to continued exposures to people in your life.” Wrong. > [@](#): > > Courtney decided to ease Zonis out of her life. Her messages to him became short, bland, and infrequent, but still she received long, aggressive responses. Finally she began demanding to be left alone, then stopped responding at all. She had the order wrong. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/extreme-cyber-harassment/811222/11 "2018-03-27T17:17:01Z")
How can adult people be so stupid. It’s hard for me to blame the victim for the stalkers