[SilentEchoes]

So I come home from a jolly night on the town and my 13 year old sister is playing Halo 2 on xbox live. After playing a few games on there with a friend of hers she gets a private voice message from a man who sounded to be in his mid 20's telling her he wants to sodomize her in words Im not going to post here. After sending 3 more messages I quickly looked for a block botton. I didn't look to terribly hard but it should have been right there with the other options in the list which where: add friend, respond, yadi yadi. So now this guy can see when she is online and sexually harass my 13 year old sister all he wants and she can't do anything about it.

I don't quite think so. I simply responded to the guy that I am contacting the proper authorities and in the mean time he will have to make due with a puppy and a jar of peanut butter.

I am pretty livid right now. We just set xbox live up tonight, She couldn't have been playing it for more than a few hours before the incident took place.

So I'm going to call a lawyer and see what he has to say and if there is anything that can be done about this.

[staph]

N.B.: I am only familiar with UK and Australian law.

Under the common law, assault is either contact/harm done to another person without their consent, or making the victim reasonably believe that unconsensual contact/harm was imminent. Assuming you can trace the person, it would certainly come under the definition of assault, assuming she was actually frightened or intimidated by the communication.

I really don't know what the law might be in your part of the US, but under the Crimes Act 1900 (ACT) (i.e. Australian law) it might also arguably come under the definition of third-degree sexual assault:

53 Sexual assault in the third degree (1) A person who unlawfully assaults, or threatens to inflict grievous or actual bodily harm on, another person with intent to engage in sexual intercourse with that other person, or with a third person who is present or nearby, is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 12 years.

If you have stalking laws in your area, they may also be relevant. As an example of the kind of provision, the ACT Crimes Act has this to say on the subject of stalking:

35 Stalking (1) A person must not stalk someone with intent— (a) to cause apprehension, or fear of harm, in the person stalked or someone else; or (b) to cause harm to the person stalked or someone else; or (c) to harass the person stalked. Maximum penalty: (a) imprisonment for 5 years if— (i) the offence involved a contravention of an injunction or other order made by a court; or (ii) the offender was in possession of an offensive weapon; or (b) imprisonment for 2 years in any other case. (2) For this section, a person stalks someone else (the stalked person) if, on at least 2 occasions, the person does 1 or more of the following: (a) follows or approaches the stalked person; (b) loiters near, watches, approaches or enters a place where the stalked person resides, works or visits; (c) keeps the stalked person under surveillance; (d) interferes with property in the possession of the stalked person; (e) gives or sends offensive material to the stalked person or leaves offensive material where it is likely to be found by, given to or brought to the attention of, the stalked person; (f) telephones, sends electronic messages to or otherwise contacts the stalked person; (g) sends electronic messages about the stalked person to anybody else; (h) makes electronic messages about the stalked person available to anybody else; (i) acts covertly in a way that could reasonably be expected to arouse apprehension or fear in the stalked person; (j) engages in conduct amounting to intimidation, harassment or molestation of the stalked person.

[Franz Josef]

Inform Microsoft and the police and tell Microsoft you have told the police. M$ will take a very dim few of Live being used for predatory behaviour. Far from there being nothing you can do, the guy will be on a very sticky wicket.

[MBHockey]

Yeah probably will be hard to get him...but MS does have his credit card info...so if enough pressure were put maybe they would release it? (the address, not his card # )

If you find out where he lives, PM me.

[staph]

Originally Posted by MBHockey Yeah probably will be hard to get him...but MS does have his credit card info...so if enough pressure were put maybe they would release it? (the address, not his card # )

All it would take would be a court order, which would be very easy to obtain if you actually filed suit against this fellow.

[atomicbartbeans]

Originally Posted by MBHockey Yeah probably will be hard to get him...but MS does have his credit card info...so if enough pressure were put maybe they would release it? (the address, not his card # ) If you find out where he lives, PM me.

M$ wouldn't necessarily have his card info/address, if he brought one of those subscription cards retail. Although M$ probably does have his IP address, which could be traced to his ISP. The ISP could then take the address and cross-reference it to whoever was assigned that address at the time you received the message. That's how you get his address.

[torifile]

Unless he was somehow using someone's open wifi network to access Live. Regardless, this is very creepy.

[SilentEchoes]

If you buy a card retail you still need your credit card information to activate it. So in a year if you don't cancel they can start charging you.

He gave me a AIM screen name in one of the messages I havent looked into it further. I was pretty pissed off at the time, Not to mention it being 5:00 in the morning.

I called xbox live support as soon as it happened. But they don't have 24 hour service and support.

EDIT: Forgot to say thanks staph. I figured some one here would know the law far better than I would. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Mugge]

Good luck getting that bastard!

I doubt even MS will like to be known for "empowering" perverts or pedophiles.

[ast3r3x]

Don't you have to proove it? I mean...like record it when he does it so you can have evidence.

[Mugge]

Good point ast3r3x. The case is a dead duck without evidence.

[SilentEchoes]

Yeah, We have one of the private messages recorded and a text message as-well.

[Franz Josef]

Originally Posted by SilentEchoes Yeah, We have one of the private messages recorded and a text message as-well.

That should be all you need for M$ and the authorities to act. M$ seem to take great pride in Live being a quality service (and because you have to pay for it compared to PS2's free service) - I'd have thought they would take strenuous action against this guy.

[onlyafterdark]

Im surprised they dont have a block feature already built into Live. Maybe its something they will add in the future.

[Banana]

Touching on a more broader issue-

I've always felt that block button was always inadequate, and given that sexual predatory are rampant on web, I'd be *thrilled* if the I'm client, live service and so forth would implement a hot button that automatically record the conversation, IP address (and real address if possible) and forward to a law enforcement agency.

By reducing it to a simple click of button and automating everything, it won't be more than five minutes after that pervert has ranted, his local polices knocking at the door. Should scare sh*t out of everyone.

And for protecting abuse, whoever clicks will have their information forwarded to the same agency, and may face same charges as one would for make fraud 911 calls.

So, what's the hold up here?

[bb823]

Keep us posted, I'm interested to see what happens. I have a feeling that we'll be seing this more and more. Hopefully they are able to deal with these situations with force from the start. They need to set precedent. Let us know....

[SilentEchoes]

onlyafterdark Honestly they might have a block option, Perhaps accessing xbox live by starting the xbox with out a game in it or in some other random menu in Halo 2. The point is I should have to hunt down the block button.

EDIT: Yeah I will keep you guys posted. Im not as concerned for my sister as much since she has always been hanging around with me and my friends since she was younger and my mom has a mouth like a trucker. Plus she has a good head on her shoulders, first thing she did was come tell me she was going to erase the message but wanted to ask me first. I mean of course I am still concerned but I have a lot of faith in her - of course.

but I know there are a lot of families that don't even know what goes on in these games or that this kind of thing is even possible. I am more worried about the fact that it only took a matter of hours from setting up xbox live for this thing to happen. That doesn't invoke a lot of faith. All they have to do is talk one of these kids into meeting them some place and the rest is history.

[BarracksSi]

Originally Posted by Banana By reducing it to a simple click of button and automating everything, it won't be more than five minutes after that pervert has ranted, his local polices knocking at the door. Should scare sh*t out of everyone.

That makes sense.

Consider me just watching for updates, too.

[alcimedes]

I hope they nail the creep. I wonder if it matters that technically he may not know your sister's age. Last I heard that didn't matter, and you should still be able to nail his ass to the wall.

[BarracksSi]

Speaking of just taking a few hours --

I've heard a story where a there was an online workshop at a police conference.

The officer doing the demonstration started out by setting up a Yahoo profile, pretending to be an underage girl, and starting up the IM program. He talked a little while longer, describing this & that, when he got his first "bite" -- fifteen minutes after posting the profile.

Then, he used the opportunity to demonstrate what the cops should do. He was going, "Okay, now here's where you say this...", making the point to never suggest meeting, eventually settling on a time about two or three hours ahead.

And about two hours later in the lobby of the hotel hosting their conference, here comes this guy walking in. One of the cops (in civilian clothes, too) asks him if he's looking for someone, the guy lets slip that he's looking for a girl, and *bam* -- he gets arrested.

FIFTEEN MINUTES after posting the fake profile. Sheesh.

It's embarrassing to be a single guy these days because of bastards like that.

[Banana]

BarrackSi, cool. Just imagine how much better the arrests would be if the one click was implemented. I know there's some "cyber-cops" out there, but I'm under the impression that the resources isn't adequate and its goes about largely unchecked. Blocking only means they go on to next victim.

Furthermore, SilentEcho shouldn't have to go thru the hassle of saving stuff, calling proper authorities, etc etc and hoping that the pervert is found. It really sucks when you have to do those stuff when you should be playing halo or something.

[Meltedbutter421]

Good luck man... just make sure your sister never says where she lives or talks about a unique landmark near you. I myself play XBox Live, and I agree, they do need to start taking some actions, its hard but they've gotta find a way.

[Wrao]

Originally Posted by BarracksSi Speaking of just taking a few hours -- I've heard a story where a there was an online workshop at a police conference. The officer doing the demonstration started out by setting up a Yahoo profile, pretending to be an underage girl, and starting up the IM program. He talked a little while longer, describing this & that, when he got his first "bite" -- fifteen minutes after posting the profile. Then, he used the opportunity to demonstrate what the cops should do. He was going, "Okay, now here's where you say this...", making the point to never suggest meeting, eventually settling on a time about two or three hours ahead. And about two hours later in the lobby of the hotel hosting their conference, here comes this guy walking in. One of the cops (in civilian clothes, too) asks him if he's looking for someone, the guy lets slip that he's looking for a girl, and *bam* -- he gets arrested. FIFTEEN MINUTES after posting the fake profile. Sheesh. It's embarrassing to be a single guy these days because of bastards like that.

Interestingly enough, the internet, via places like myspace and the likes, is actually starting to become more 'normal', or at least sort-of accepted, in regards to meeting members of the opposite sex(or just people in general). But, there have been, and always will be creeps, spoiling the potential fun for everyone else, and preventing the net from ever really being accepted for real.

A friend of mine recently got married to someone they met online. She's a pretty girl, and From the time she first signed up to the dating service till she met him(about a month I think), she was receiving something around 40+ emails a day. Half of them from old guys(40+) into 'casual sex'. I don't think that'll ever really change either, girls don't use the internet.

[709]

Originally Posted by Wrao old guys(40+)

[Wrao]

Originally Posted by 709

> (2x my age, or my friend's age in this instance) = old

[SilentEchoes]

I accidentally do that to my dad all the time. Sometimes just for shits and giggles

[sunrain]

Originally Posted by onlyafterdark Im surprised they dont have a block feature already built into Live. Maybe its something they will add in the future.

The next revision of Live that's coming with the Xbox 360 will have a block feature. I've wanted to block people for lesser reasons, so I'll be happy when it comes.

[SilentEchoes]

Originally Posted by sunrain The next revision of Live that's coming with the Xbox 360 will have a block feature. I've wanted to block people for lesser reasons, so I'll be happy when it comes.

I can't believe they left out a simple block feature. Thats a huge oversight IMO.

[Amadeus]

I'm very sorry to hear that this has happened to you. Hope that it will work out successfully.