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Comment by brandonmenc | Hacker News Reader

Seems like a great opportunity for a company that "bounty hunts" cyberstalkers - tracks them down then physically intimidates them for you.

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Maybe they won't even charge for it, just maybe call on you someday - and that day may never come - but maybe, they'll call upon you to do a service for them. But until that day, you can just accept their justice as a gift.

Both Reddit and 4chan have demonstrated exceptionally well why this is a terrible idea.

I shouldn't do this, but I will.

In the specific case mentioned here, where state and Federal law enforcement won't take charge, why shouldn't she find a professional investigator to confirm who the perpetrator is, then use the same tactics he has used against her against him?

After all, law enforcement refuse to take action right? So it appears that law enforcement wouldn't care if she ensured that he is kept out of the picture.

(for the record, I'm playing devil's advocate)

I'm not sure an investigator is the most productive course. If it was me, I'd start with a Cease and Desist letter from a lawyer. Cost: about 2 billable hours. If that fails, since there is, in fact, a law being broken, and now the creeper has ignored a C&D, get a court order. No need to involve police, they can continue writing speeding tickets and tending to other urgent matters. If the creeper ignores the court order, then see if you can get a bench warrant issued. Although, in this case, it sounds like the person is mentally ill -- what you can do about that varies greatly from state to state.

Now that's actually a very clever solution! Never considered this. Thank you.

I would expect that this happens more often than not, but via friends and family. If someone was stalking or harassing one of my sisters we'd find a way of handling it, legal or no.

It's not preferable but if it's the only way to get results... Nobody deserves this kind of treatment.

Yes, in specific cases this might be the right answer. However we have to say "No, rule of law, blah blah" because we don't want everyone doing it or we're back to a tribal society with vendettas and blood-feuds.

A society that will not take intimidation and threats to someone's livelihood seriously has already regressed to the level of tribal societies with vendettas and blood-feuds.

It's hyperbole to compare the median person's experience in the US to that of the median person in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

I know you are probably getting down-voted into oblivion, but I'm with you.

There are already services like this, they just don't have an LLC or an App :-)

Interesting idea, but there's no way to do this legally, and it would be prone to horrible abuses.

Also, if someone is dangerous enough to intimidate ... well, you don't want to intimidate them and risk having them escalate back. Following that logic, you only end up in one place.

It is a bad idea, but without legal recourse someone will eventually provide the service.

Someone already provides the service, and they happen to import high quality olive oil as well.

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