Hacking and Harressment on Social Networking Sites

[cyborggirl]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I need advisory on how to progress and if I can even make a case against a person and company.

I started dating my boyfriend on Oct. 1st of 2008. Since the beginning his ex of 5 years has been trying to meddle in things. First it was emails to him and instant messages via AOL Instant Messenger saying how much she missed him and mentioning sexually explicit things to try and lure him back to her. When he deterred her attempts she got more aggressive by hanging out with his friends, sleeping with his friends, and then trying to steal his friends away. She has succeeded in all of this. She has even succeeded in turning his friends against me and making them believe lies about me to where they won't talk to me or even my boyfriend anymore.
He's actually gotten over losing his friends, and she has "won" in a sense. But, she didn't stop there. She hacked into his main email account and changed the password, and hacked his Facebook account and changed the password. Now every few weeks she will update his facebook status with crude comments against my boyfriend and myself; even writing sexual want-ads on it for sexual acts.
I have sent numerous emails to the facebook support staff regarding this issue and it's been three months now with nothing done about it.

Early this morning I wrote to them again with a complaint and a mention that I will look into taking legal action to have this hacked account removed if it comes to that.
But honestly, I have no where to begin in that pursuit or even if I would have a case.
I have researched internet laws and the ex is in federal law violation with the account hacking and the internet slander, and even the sexually explicit emails and messages she used to send him.

My question now is: What actions can I take to have this slandering account removed and this obtrusive ex taken to justice for her criminal actions?
Who is best to contact, what type of lawyer should I seek, and what should I compile for a case?

[Skyymiles]

Originally Posted by cyborggirl

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I need advisory on how to progress and if I can even make a case against a person and company.

I started dating my boyfriend on Oct. 1st of 2008. Since the beginning his ex of 5 years has been trying to meddle in things. First it was emails to him and instant messages via AOL Instant Messenger saying how much she missed him and mentioning sexually explicit things to try and lure him back to her. When he deterred her attempts she got more aggressive by hanging out with his friends, sleeping with his friends, and then trying to steal his friends away. She has succeeded in all of this. She has even succeeded in turning his friends against me and making them believe lies about me to where they won't talk to me or even my boyfriend anymore.
He's actually gotten over losing his friends, and she has "won" in a sense. But, she didn't stop there. She hacked into his main email account and changed the password, and hacked his Facebook account and changed the password. Now every few weeks she will update his facebook status with crude comments against my boyfriend and myself; even writing sexual want-ads on it for sexual acts.
I have sent numerous emails to the facebook support staff regarding this issue and it's been three months now with nothing done about it.

Early this morning I wrote to them again with a complaint and a mention that I will look into taking legal action to have this hacked account removed if it comes to that.
But honestly, I have no where to begin in that pursuit or even if I would have a case.
I have researched internet laws and the ex is in federal law violation with the account hacking and the internet slander, and even the sexually explicit emails and messages she used to send him.

My question now is: What actions can I take to have this slandering account removed and this obtrusive ex taken to justice for her criminal actions?
Who is best to contact, what type of lawyer should I seek, and what should I compile for a case?

It would be against Facebook and prorobably whoever's e-mails Terms of Service to utilize malicious code, or specifically brute force an account on either to retrieve his password. Although you'd have to prove this are you 100% certain without a doube there is no way he gave her his password, or that she could have found it elsewhere. Possibly the same password he used during the period ur b/f was with his ex. If he told her then and he jus never changed it, well... too bad so sad. facebook, wont revoke/suspend an acct just because someone else has your password. Its your responsibility to protect that info. Does he have any other social networking accounts ie, myspace etc.? if so you need to add a hidden statcounter.com code to the main pages immediately, there are instructions on how to so this on their website for each one. Very simple and free, anybody can do it and it does not violate the ToS. This in going to help you keep track of the time of every visit down to the second and IP address so you can build a stalking case. The IP address wont prove its necessarly her, just her computer but it will help your case. make sure you adjust your statcounter preferences to record new visits every half hour, i think the unique IP acceptance interval is greater than that by default... this probably all sounds like jibberish but once u get going it's really easy.


ok my next question is, has the acct actually been compromised, or do you still have access. I'm assuming not if she's able to manipulate the passwords every so often. the reason i ask is, chances are, and no offense to any chick hackers reading this lol, she probably dosent have the capibility to hack facebook itself. my guess is based on what you told me about the IM's she was sending that, either a keylogger or fake AOL login generator was used to capture the info on your b/f's computer. You need to download ad aware free and do a complete scan. and it may take awhile. this way though you'll know if one was installed. most keyloggers(keystroke recorders) are discoverable and trojan AOL scripts are not at all uncommon either. its in your best interest to get a good security sweep set up on a regular basis...

keep up with facebook staff, have they written u back at all? you dont have a whole lot to work with yet, like many others have said, internet cases are hard. You need lots of data XD

[TimStudiesLaw]

Originally Posted by cyborggirl

My question now is: What actions can I take to have this slandering account removed and this obtrusive ex taken to justice for her criminal actions?

None. You don't have a dog in this fight, your BOYFRIEND does.

[cyborggirl]

Originally Posted by Skyymiles

It would be against Facebook and prorobably whoever's e-mails Terms of Service to utilize malicious code, or specifically brute force an account on either to retrieve his password. Although you'd have to prove this are you 100% certain without a doube there is no way he gave her his password, or that she could have found it elsewhere. Possibly the same password he used during the period ur b/f was with his ex. If he told her then and he jus never changed it, well... too bad so sad. facebook, wont revoke/suspend an acct just because someone else has your password. Its your responsibility to protect that info. Does he have any other social networking accounts ie, myspace etc.? if so you need to add a hidden statcounter.com code to the main pages immediately, there are instructions on how to so this on their website for each one. Very simple and free, anybody can do it and it does not violate the ToS. This in going to help you keep track of the time of every visit down to the second and IP address so you can build a stalking case. The IP address wont prove its necessarly her, just her computer but it will help your case. make sure you adjust your statcounter preferences to record new visits every half hour, i think the unique IP acceptance interval is greater than that by default... this probably all sounds like jibberish but once u get going it's really easy.


ok my next question is, has the acct actually been compromised, or do you still have access. I'm assuming not if she's able to manipulate the passwords every so often. the reason i ask is, chances are, and no offense to any chick hackers reading this lol, she probably dosent have the capibility to hack facebook itself. my guess is based on what you told me about the IM's she was sending that, either a keylogger or fake AOL login generator was used to capture the info on your b/f's computer. You need to download ad aware free and do a complete scan. and it may take awhile. this way though you'll know if one was installed. most keyloggers(keystroke recorders) are discoverable and trojan AOL scripts are not at all uncommon either. its in your best interest to get a good security sweep set up on a regular basis...

keep up with facebook staff, have they written u back at all? you dont have a whole lot to work with yet, like many others have said, internet cases are hard. You need lots of data XD

Sky, she guessed his facebook password is all we can think of because she's not very good with computers, then took the email that was associated with that account and tried the same password on it. He rarely changes passwords. and no we have absolutely no access to the accounts in question.
what makes it creepy is that right before it happened i told him to change his passwords and he said he'd do it later. then when he went to do it he had been hacked. I took your advice on the statcounter. i wish i had known about that sooner as i would definitely would have a case against her by now since she repeatedly stalked our pages and then somehow found my online journal. there really isn't a way to search it unless you know the url address or my email. i've tried several times in multiple ways to locate it, but there's just no way.
facebook has not replied except with automated emails saying they received the message and someone will get back to us.
I put in a complaint as well with the IC3 after posting here.
Was it too soon for that?
When I go see my boyfriend tomorrow i'm going to tell him about it and try to get him to file one also on the matter. but it's going to be hard since he doesn't like to create drama, and as he'll see it, this will only flair it up. but i personally think seeking legal action would help clear it up in the long run.

and finally... Tim, what should my boyfriend do?

[Skyymiles]

Originally Posted by cyborggirl

Sky, she guessed his facebook password is all we can think of because she's not very good with computers, then took the email that was associated with that account and tried the same password on it. He rarely changes passwords. and no we have absolutely no access to the accounts in question.
what makes it creepy is that right before it happened i told him to change his passwords and he said he'd do it later. then when he went to do it he had been hacked. I took your advice on the statcounter. i wish i had known about that sooner as i would definitely would have a case against her by now since she repeatedly stalked our pages and then somehow found my online journal. there really isn't a way to search it unless you know the url address or my email. i've tried several times in multiple ways to locate it, but there's just no way.
facebook has not replied except with automated emails saying they received the message and someone will get back to us.
I put in a complaint as well with the IC3 after posting here.
Was it too soon for that?
When I go see my boyfriend tomorrow i'm going to tell him about it and try to get him to file one also on the matter. but it's going to be hard since he doesn't like to create drama, and as he'll see it, this will only flair it up. but i personally think seeking legal action would help clear it up in the long run.

and finally... Tim, what should my boyfriend do?

...yea that's kinda what I figured...that is the problem these days between work, school, or friends, everybody is sharing passwords for multiple accounts on multiple sites. on the weirdness aspect of it all, I have to say it was made ovbious to the ex. either through direct communication of your b/f or through a 'status' micro blog that he would be selecting a new password soon. It's pretty much emperically denied that the ex. would try and bust the account before he did[change] it. I kinda had a similar issue once, which caused me to stumble upon Statcounter.com, great, free, and , accurate data I also wish I knew about sooner. lol as far as your online journal goes, 5 mins worth or research on google by somebody who knows even as much as keywords that you're interested in will yield amazing results for someone who knows how to look, even with little computer knowledge. so that dosent suprise me esp. if she was stalking ur b/f social network pages. note on the IC3, probably a little over your case for them, this is civil not really criminal unless she's threatened to murder anyone here lol. ur best bet, but last life line in my personal opinion, would be either a Sexual Violence or Repeat Violence Injunction from the local courthouse depending on his cirmstances with his ex. including his sexual history if any with her depending on your states laws. even if not permananet, a temporary injunction would almost assuredly force her to hand over, delete, close , whatever you want to call it, any account on facebook that has something tangiably related to his name. That would be something only your b/f could get tho, and if he dosent like drama, that's going to be a tough one; however, like I said this is something you'd want to be an absolute last resort, bc u can really **** up someone's life with it. That's comming from experience...

[TheGeekess]

Originally Posted by Skyymiles

....This in going to help you keep track of the time of every visit down to the second and IP address so you can build a stalking case. The IP address wont prove its necessarly her, just her computer but it will help your case. ....

Actually, all an IP address indicates is the DHCP server's address bank of IPs, not the computer itself. For that, you need the MAC address. Unless there is a static IP address for said computer, and most ISPs won't do that unless requested and paid for.

[Skyymiles]

thanx @theGeekess for that, amazing how the lack of the word "or" after the quoted "comma" changes the interpretation of my statement.

[TheGeekess]

Originally Posted by Skyymiles

thanx @theGeekess for that, amazing how the lack of the word "or" after the quoted "comma" changes the interpretation of my statement.

Dude, all I did was delete with ellipses. I did not change what you had erroneously written. So, you can roll your eyes at yourself. Not my fault that you have difficulty making a coherent statement.

[Skyymiles]

Originally Posted by TheGeekess

Dude, all I did was delete with ellipses. I did not change what you had erroneously written. So, you can roll your eyes at yourself. Not my fault that you have difficulty making a coherent statement.

I was acknowledging my own error, ...I kno ****ing amazing right? It was a compliment...jesus christ lol