A victim can obtain a restraining order for emotional and physical abuse suffered in an intimate relationship or due to civil harassment. Abuse can occur in many ways today because of the advancement in technology. Online harassment is on the rise, and it falls under the protections provided by restraining orders. Most people suffer online harassment from once-trusted friends, family members, and former partners. In this case, someone can take advantage of another person’s private life by sharing their information online.

As technology evolves, online harassment has become a popular tool for abuse. Doxxing, cyberstalking, and relentless smear campaigns online can have a deep and lasting impact on someone. A restraining order can offer protection to people facing online harassment.

Understanding A Restraining Order

Also known as a protective order, a restraining order is a legal order issued by the court. The purpose of this order is to stop ongoing abuse among people who are in close relationships, like married partners and family members. The court can also issue a restraining order following civil harassment. Restraining Orders set boundaries which protect victims from any kind of abuse, whether digital, financial, emotional, or physical.

Forms Online Harassment

The most common types of online harassment include:

1. Revenge Pornography

Revenge porn is a form of online harassment where the abuser shares nude or sexually explicit videos or photos without the permission of the victim. This type of abuse is also known as conconsensual porn and it is similar to sexual harassment. This can happen when a former or current intimate partner shares images as revenge or threatens to share them as a form of blackmail.

An abusive partner can take nude or sexual photos without the knowledge of the victim. However, revenge porn is not restricted to intimate partners. A stranger, family member, or co-worker can also gain access to the victim’s private images and distribute them to the public for various reasons.

Revenge porn can contain the following information:

• The name of the victim
• The links to the victim’s social media account, and
• The victim’s phone number

Most victims experience long-term personal and psychological issues when the abusers share their private images online. This often makes most victims withdraw from social settings and become isolated. Victims can feel worthless or ashamed. Revenge porn can also cause the victim to lose the job or taint his/her family relationship. A victim can opt not to apply for employment for fear that a potential employer will have seen his/her images online. It is also a crime to share sexual pictures or videos of any person under 18 years old.

2. Doxxing

Doxxing is online harassment where the harasser uses sensitive or secret information, records, or statements. The abuser can use this for exposure, financial harm, or other exploitation of the victim. Doxxing involves taking someone’s specific information and distributing it on the internet or through other means of getting it out to the public.

Doxxing has long-term effects because the documents have permanent records of facts regarding the victim and what he/she has done and said. This form of abuse has played a major role in modern culture wars. It involves people targeting those who believe or support a cause that opposes the one they are attempting to push forward.

Doxers often look for the following information:

• The phone numbers of the victims and call them directly to secure some information
• Social security numbers of the victims
• Home address
• Credit card details
• Bank account details

In some situations, doxxing is not a crime, especially because the information that is being exposed is already online and accessible to the public. Sometimes, the victim can permit the alleged abuser to publish it. It can only be an offense if it involves harassing, stalking, or threatening the victim.

3. Swatting

Swatting is a form of online harassment where the abuser makes hoax calls to report serious offenses to emergency services. Individuals who engage in swatting prank calls often fool emergency services into sending a Special Weapons and Tactics, abbreviated as SWAT, team to respond to emergencies. They will falsely report major cases like murders, hostage situations, and bomb threats to encourage the most serious response from emergency services. Most people have died innocently because of swatting.

Swatting often happens when the abuser accesses the victim’s personal information, like their work address or their home address. The information can be secured through the following processes:

Location Services

Mobile phones, gaming consoles, and computers allow users to enable location services. This allows the device to access the victim’s location for a more personalized experience. The abuser can access the victim’s location, enabling him/her to see the victim’s home address.

Sharing Information

Sharing personal information regularly on social media or websites makes it easier for swatters to access people’s home addresses. Most people have been victims of swatting because of overusing social media.

4. Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is a form of online harassment that occurs on digital devices like tablets, computers, and mobile phones. This abuse can take place through texts, or online in social media, gaming, or forums where people share, participate, or view content. It involves posting, sending, or sharing false, harmful, or negative content about another person. The harasser can share personal or private information about the victim, causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying can result in unlawful or criminal behavior.

Anybody with access to social media and digital forums can access posts or photos shared by the abuser. Cyberbullying has the following unique concerns:

• Hard to notice because the parents and teachers can fail to see cyberbullying taking place
• The information shared electronically is often public and permanent, if not reported and removed
• Digital devices can communicate continuously

Filing An Online Harassment Complaint With The Police In California

A victim of electronic harassment can file a report with his/her local law enforcement. However, the victim should seek the services of a skilled online harassment attorney. The attorney will assist him/her in navigating through the elements of the offense, evidence, and arguments that will be vital to bolster the online harassment claim.

The victim should first contact his/her local law enforcement if he/she is in immediate danger. This is important because online harassment can take a heavy emotional toll. Reaching out to the police has the added advantage of officially documenting the harassment if the abuse continues. Apart from the local police department, the abused can also file a complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3). The victim will be required to give the following information when filing his/her complain:

• The name, address, telephone number, and email
• Specific details of the crime
• Email headers
• The individual who committed the internet crime’s name, address, telephone number, email, website, and IP address, if known
• Financial transaction information, if applicable

Documenting Online Harassment

Documenting online harassment can appear counterintuitive, but it is vital. The victim can do this to provide a record of what happened. Documentation also helps to track the abuser’s details, alerting the victim and others about abuse patterns and escalations in harmful acts.

This evidence can help facilitate conversations with family and friends. The evidence is also important if the victim reveals the abuse on social media platforms. The victim can also use the documentation to inform his/her employer, report the abuse to police, or take legal action against the harasser. Some of the ways the victim can use to document online harassment include:

1. Logging Online Harassment

The victim can create a log if the online harassment is severe, ongoing, or repetitive. This will enable him/her to record specific details about online abuse. The following details should be on the log:

• Time and date
• The name of the app or website
• Type of electronic communication, including social media comment, posted image, email, or direct message.

2. Delegating

Sometimes, documenting online harassment can take a long time and be draining. It can also trigger negative feelings about your abuse allegations. The victim can seek the help of a trusted confidant if he/she is dealing with a traumatic online harassment. In this case, the victim can delegate his/her account to the confidant to help him/her document the abuse. The following social sites guide how to delegate account access:

• LinkedIn is available for pages but not profiles
• Instagram, while using a business account
• Facebook is available for pages but not profiles
• Gmail or Twitter by using the teams feature in Tweetdeck

The victim must save all necessary evidence while documenting cases of abuse. The documented evidence should not just paint the victim in a favorable light. For example, the victim must include the aspects of the exchange if he/she contributed to an offensive dialogue or heated language to online harassment. It can be regrettable to have said certain things, but failing to document all aspects of the abuse can affect the victim if he/she decides to file the abuse in court. The victim does not have to show that he/she reacted perfectly at every step to pursue the abuser.

What To Document

The victim can document the following:

Texts And Harassing Phone Calls

Sometimes, digital abuse can happen through other forms of communication, like a phone call or text messages. The victim should take a screenshot of the text messages and any contact information available for the sender. He/she should also log the time, date, and phone number of all threatening text messages and calls.

Message Sent On Social Media Platforms

The victim can access streamlined processes for reporting abuse on most social media platforms. However, he/she must save screenshots and hyperlinks, particularly to the abuser’s profile if possible. This provides a record of the abuse, particularly in situations where the original platform or user can delete the offending content. Most social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook also provide a ‘’Download Your Information’’ feature. This feature saves, downloads, and documents all the victim’s previous activities.

Emails

In some cases, emails contain crucial information that can assist in identifying the sender. The victim should save the header with the IP address when documenting a threatening or harassing email. Often, IP information can be found between square brackets, for example (125.127.1.2). The original email should not be forwarded to any person. The victim can lose the originating IP address permanently if he/she does so. He/she should copy and paste the content of the abusive email when he/she wishes to let others know its harmful messaging.

How To Document

Many devices, including tablets, smartphones, and computers, have a default technique of capturing images directly from a person’s screen.

The victim can use a browser extension when taking a screenshot of a long page or social media profile on his/her computer. Extensions can capture the whole page and convert it to a PDF. A victim should save the images in an easy-to-access file once captured. The victim can also print screenshots for hard-copy documentation because it is important when pursuing legal action. It is more comfortable to save the files to external hard drives if the files have sensitive materials like non consensual or sexually explicit images.

Find a Restraining Order Attorney Near Me

Digital harassment has become more prevalent given the advancement in technology. The common forms of digital harassment include cyberbullying, doxxing, swatting, and revenge pornography. Victims of digital harassment can experience intense emotional turmoil, some to the point of committing suicide. A victim can file a restraining order to seek protection from the abuser and stop the online harassment.

Filing for a restraining order can be intricate, especially when a victim does not know what to expect. This is where an experienced attorney comes in. A restraining order attorney can also help perpetrators who receive notices of restraining orders to fight against them. If you need reliable legal representation and guidance in applying for a restraining order or fighting against a restraining order, our attorneys can help. At the Goldman Flores Restraining Order Law Firm, our responsive attorneys can help you apply for or defend against a restraining order in California. Contact us today at  213-341-4087 for legal representation you can rely on.