Stalking?

When Johnny Depp divorces his wife, abandons his children and moves into the house next door to me then will it be stalking for me to drill a hole through my wall into his and take photographs of him and turn up on his doorstep wanting to borrow a cup of sugar every half an hour? Frankly, I think no it's not. Because you see he WILL eventually leave his wife and children and move in next door and we will marry and live happily ever after :) That's not obsessive is it? Surely not. However, some things ARE considered stalking and I am here to discuss them.

Last week we watched a clip taken from the peep show about a guy ( i dont know his name as that was the first time id seen the peep show) anyway, the guy fancied one of his co workers I think she was and hacked into her email account and read her emails to find out more about her and to see if she liked him or not. He read one of her emails she had sent to a friend in which she talked about him and another guy. We were then given two questions to discuss:

1) When does a concerned interest in someone's activities become stalking?
2) Are some kind of observance allowable and appropriate? Which ones aren't?

I wouldn't say that what the guy did in the peep show was stalking as such but I don't think it was right either. It's not acceptable to access something that is private to another person unless you have permission. He had no right going into her email account and reading her private emails but at the same time I don't think it constitutes as stalking because as far as I saw it was only once he did it. If he were to frequently access her account and read emails and follow her around watching her activities on a daily basis then yes that is stalking. Then again, now that he has access to her accounts its very probable that he would want to read her emails frequently...which is stalking. I think for someone to be classified as stalking another person they would have an unhealthy interest in another person to the point they frequently follow that person around or secretly spy on that person. The guy in the peep show wasn't harming the woman or putting her in any danger or causing her fear or emotional pain. He obviously really likes the woman and only accessed her account to find out what she thought of him. I think that a lot of people would take the chance of accessing someone elses email account if it meant finding out if they like them back, its human nature and I dont think he was doing it in a stalking way or to cause harm to her.

"Fundamentally, stalking is a series of actions that puts a person in fear for their safety. The stalker may follow you, harass you, call you on the telephone, watch your house, send you mail you don't want, or act in some other way that frightens you"

This quote was taken from" Aware.org" and is one of the definitions given for stalking. The website refers to stalking as causing harm or fear to a person so what the man did in the peep show wouldn't be classed as stalking by law unless he continued hacking her account and caused her fear or harm.

The second question asks if any observancies are allowable or acceptable and what aren't. I don't think that it is accepable to enter something private of someones such as an email account or a mobile phone or documents etc because thet belong only to the owner and shouldn't be accessed without permission. I think that a person who has an interest in another person is ok as long at it doesnt violate anyone's privacey and doesn't cause harm to another person.
I found that when researching stalking on the internet it is mostly defined as causing harm to others and making life difficult for that person. However, if a person is to stalk another person but the other person doesnt know then no harm is being caused but they are still stalking....which is kind of what the guy was doing in the peep show. The woman didn't know she was being watched by him but he was accessing things that were provate to her. I think this is very wrong and COULD be seen as stalking depending on how often he does it but in the eyes of the law wouldn't be seen as stalking I don't think.

There are many cases known of stalkers who become violent and send death threats to the person they are stalking and are sent to prison, such as the case of the man who was sent to prison for stalking ABBA's Agnetha Faltskog

However, I don't think that I will be classed as a stalker when Johnny does eventually have the sense to leave his wife and children and live next door. Anyone in their right mind would do it.

Now to end with a fun Quiz