Blogging and stalking

[gwynhefar]

I wonder if anyone has ever done a study of the effect blogging has had upon stalking. After all, from what I understand, one of the primary motivations for the stalker is an obsessive desire to feel close to the subject, and to know things about them that other people do not know. Blogging satisfies this desire in a way that had no parallel before.

So I can sit here in my living room watching Wil Wheaton guest star on Numb3rs, and feel smug in the knowledge that I know what songs Wil was listening to on his iPod as he waited to audition for the part.

So now I have to wonder. How many people who may have become stalkers have found their needs met by reading the blog of their obsession? How many others have become so titillated by what they read in a blog they escalate further than they would have otherwise?