“Civil rights laws are rarely invoked, even though cyber harassment and cyber stalking are fundamentally civil rights violations” (Citron, page 24).

This term, and the quote that places it in context, demonstrates both the seriousness of cyber harassment and the lack of punishment for offenders. As the reading shows, cyber harassment and stalking can have serious negative effects on a person’s life, from damaging their career to derailing their personal life, and sometimes even worse. These effects justify the fact that cyber harassment and stalking are civil rights violations, because no one has the right to make other people so miserable that they are forced to move, or damage their reputation so badly that it is impossible for them to find a job. Unfortunately, “legal action…remains rare” (Citron, 25) and astonishingly some of these victims go without justice. Part of this has to do with the fact that it can be difficult to judge online crimes in a physical court. As Citron mentions, “because [some officers] do not understand the state of the law, they advise victims to buy a gun and to sue their harassers in civil court” (21). However, legal justice can be hard to come by, which makes these clear examples of civil rights violations seem all the more horrific.