In this blog I'm going to look at Stalking and how celebrities have been affected.
Also I'm looking at how New Media has influenced stalking, both for the stalker and the victims, and how many more resources are open to victims after their stalking situation or how to be aware before.

I'm also going to look at the idea that "people stalk celebrities to gain their own 15 minutes of fame"

Celebrity stalkers

Some people may recognise the people, others may know of them by their name, while others may never have heard of them. For those who are unaware who the people are above they all have something in common, they've all stalked celebrities, some have gone to more extremes than others, some have tried to kill, some have threatened to kill, while others have gained or tried to gain access to a celebrities house.

First there is Jonathan Norman, Steven Speilberg's stalker, who had planned to rape the director in front of his wife in 1998. He was arrested outside of Steven Speilberg's house, carrying a "rape kit" and was sentenced to 25-years-to-life under the America three strikes law. With the possible reforms coming towards the America legal system Jonathan Norman could be out within the next year or so, and could commit a crime like this again, and he could possibly carry out his crime before he's caught.
Next is Mark Chapman, John Lennon's killer, before the killing he had told his wife that he had previously been obsessed with killing John Lennon, but had "snapped out of it". He also had an obsession with the the book "The Catcher in the Rye" and before committing the killer had began to act out scenes from the book. 4 hours before Mark Chapman had killed John Lennon, he had approached John and asked for his autograph, than 4 hours later he shot him 5 times. He than took out his copy of "The Catcher in the Rye" read a few chapters and waited for the police to arrive. He was sentenced to 20 years to life and ordered to receive psychiatric treatment.

Dawnette Knight was Michael Douglas' stalker, she claimed to be madly in love with him and hated his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, to whom she sent death threats in the form of letters. These threats nearly caused Catherine to have a nervous breakdown. Dawnette Knight was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Athena Rolando is slightly different from the other stalkers mentioned. She did not send death threats or killed someone. She broke in Brad Pitts house, changed into his clothes, slept in his bed and fed his dogs. She was sentenced to 3 years probation and to undergo psychiatric treatment.

Lastly John Hinckley, he became obsessed with child actress Jodie Foster, when she played a child prostitute in the film "Taxi Driver". He began to stalk her by sending letters, posting poems under her door and phoning her constantly. He began to plan ways in which to gain her attention, when his previous letters and phonecards failed, he developed ideas such as hijacking a plan, committing suicide in front of her and assassinating the US president Jimmy Carter, but was arrested when he followed Jimmy through Texas on a firearms charge. In 1981 he decided to get her attention by turning his sights on the newly elected president Ronald Reagan. He shot 6 rounds toward Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C. He wounded three people, including the president, but did not kill anyone, although his permanently paralysed Reagan's press secretary on his left side. He was found not guilty by reasons of insanity and placed under institutional psychiatric care, where he still resides.

Stalkers are scary to any individual, but more so to celebrities. All information on a celebrity is public knowledge, and using the Internet you are able to find any information you wish, which is dangerous. A stalker being able to gain any information may make them more delusional and believe that that persons wants and loves them. Most of these stalkers mentioned stayed at the scene of their crimes, and waited for the police, surely this suggests; A) they knew what they had done was wrong and B) that they wished to be found and arrested, possibly wanted their own 15 minutes of fame and becoming celebrities in their own right.

When I asked someone what they thought about celebrities and their stalkers they said;

"although most celebrity information is public knowledge and people believe that they can know everything about celebrities, because it's 'part of the job', this is highly unfair. They are normal people who are in a different profession which makes them widely known to the public, how is it fair that we can know everything about them? Surely they should be able to have the same privacy that we have. It may be scarier for celebrities with stalkers because although they may have high security, it is not hard to discover where they live."

Stalking and New Media influence

New media and films have influenced stalkers by giving them new ideas and showing new up to date gadgets and expanding on old ideas.





When a stranger calls (2000) shows the traumatic side of stalking, although it's a fictional story, made for entertainment, it is still a way we can understand what the victim goes through, although not all stalkers go to the extreme, some do.


http://glamour-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/best-stalker-movies.html This blog shows many examples of different stalker films, a genre of film that has become increasingly popular.



The Taxi Driver, was the film that influenced John Hinckley in his final attempt to gain Jodie Fosters attention. This shows that some individuals are influenced by these films.

The Internet has also made it easier for stalkers to gain information on anyone they want, whether focusing on celebrities or simply on a normal person.


This video outlines that stalking is not just a issue for celebrities but for any individual, although new media may have influenced some stalkers, there has been a positive outcome for the use of new media towards stalkers. It has made the subject of stalkers well know and there are help websites, help phone lines and even talk shows talk about the subject. These help websites offer information on how to protect yourself, what to do, who to ask for help.

Overall I believe that new media has had a positive effect on stalking for the victims, by offering support that may have previously not been available.

spokeo.com New and easier way to stalk?

Technology has inhanced incrededibly in recent years. From the influence of new media and films and books to new technology that makes stalking easier.
For example digital cameras and video recorders have got smaller as the years go on.

an example of the new type of spy camera, the purpose of this camera is that it be placed in a button hole on a shirt and looks exactly like a plain black button. For the price of about £125 it's a small price to pay to film anything you want without other people knowing. This might not be out right stalking as it's not filming someone all the time, but still it's invasion of someones privacy. Where is technology going to go? Are we going to be completely unaware of when we might be being filmed.

The invention of new media has made internet stalkers more common, it's easy to gather information about someone online through their social networking sites, even the simpliest information given can make the search for all other details on a person easier.

http://www.spokeo.com/ is a new type of website, one that makes the search for anyone so much easier. You can simply type in an email of someone you might not know and the website gathers all information known about this person on the internet. Or you can simply enter someones name and the area they live in, however this function is just limited to those in America. Alternately you can scan your whole email address book and find information on all your contacts, even those you don't know.

In my email address book I know I only know about 10% of the people and have seen and spoken to about 5% face to face. So using Spokeo.com I'm able to know details of the rest of the 90% of my address book.

Surely this is unfair, and seems completely against the law, when in fact it is not breaking any privacy laws and is perfectly legal. To me this seem scary for someone whom I may not know or may not have contact with to know many details about me. On this website for free, you're able to know a few details about some, such as their full name and the area in which they live, pictures of them and their friends and posts and blogs which they have, although the free version doesn't allow you to click and view any of these on an external website. However for just $2.95 a month and $35 a year you are able to view everything available on someone, this includes their address, phone number, photos and videos etc. If you really wanted to know everything about someone the price of $2.95 which is about £1.90 is a small price for those who wish to stalk someone.

Surely making it this easy to gather information about someone should be illegal, the way in which those who wish to stalk anyone can find all this information in one place with one simple step.