Published:
06/01/2011 09:56am
iPredator: A Brief Introduction
Dr. Michael Nuccitelli is a New York State licensed psychologist trained in behavioral healthcare, forensics, criminology, sexual deviance, and child developmental theory. After working in behavioral healthcare for twenty-five years and ten years as a forensic psychologist, he is now a consultant to health/wellness companies, legal/healthcare professionals, and regional/national organizations.
Recently, Dr. Nuccitelli and his colleagues have initiated their plan to introduce his theory of the iPredator and strategies for reducing cybercrime and victimization. Dr. Nuccitelli’s primary goals are twofold.
His first goal is to encourage the professional community to develop a standardized nomenclature for communicating iPredator identification methods, pediatric awareness skills building, legal and law enforcement strategies, and techniques to reduce contact with iPredators. Dr. Nuccitelli has concluded the field and study related to internet predators does not have a standardized terminology leading to confusion and difficulty in accessibility for those not trained in cybercrime or criminal psychology.
His second goal is to increase the public’s awareness of how widespread cybercrime has become which continues to grow at an alarming pace. Despite attempts by federal, state, and private agencies to alert and educate internet users, the iPredator continues to thrive and grow. Cyberspace and the Digital Universe have evolved to resemble a new dimension of human reality. As time moves forward with digital technology following suit, society will continue to become increasingly engrossed with cyberspace, disconnected from actual human contact.
Telecommunications and digital technology are the iPredator’s tools of choice, with cyberspace being his favorite environment to stalk his prey. In cyberspace, he hunts at a leisure pace without fear of detection or punishment.
Simply defined, the iPredator is a person(s) who engages in victimizing others using digital technology and telecommunications motivated by deviant sexual fantasies, aggressive needs for power and control, religious/political retribution fantasies, or criminal justifications for personal/financial gain. Cyberstalkers, cyberbullies, cyberterrorists, cybercriminals, sexual predators and white-collar fraud artists all use the "cloak of invisibility" afforded by the internet and social media to stalk their prey. Under Dr. Nuccitelli’s theory, the iPredator revels in his/her internet anonymity, quickly becomes grandiose from his criminal accomplishments, and fueled by the knowledge that he can freely troll for his victims, immune from law enforcement identification or apprehension.
By the end of 2012, digital technology trend experts anticipate that 1.2 billion people will interface with mobile digital technology (smartphones etc.) and home computers on a daily basis. The frequency of digital communication and exchanges per day number in the multi-billions as telecommunications expands, improves, and becomes more affordable. Without strict penal regulations, a concerted and constant law enforcement presence, or structured and sustained educational methods for identifying iPredators, cyberspace will become a prime hunting environment for their criminal and sexually deviant pursuits. As digital technology gradually replaces human contact and reality based social relationships, humanity will become increasingly disconnected not realizing they increase their probability for becoming a target of the iPredator.
Dr. Nuccitelli has assembled a group of colleagues, and proactive organizations to help him alert public and professional sectors of what he has called the “Impending iPredator Plague.” Although millions, and soon billions, of people use and rely on the internet daily, few acknowledge the “cancer” iPredator brings to humanity if not identified and stopped. Society must become diligent and prepared for iPredator’s growing influence, which is inevitable as digital technology expands to all corners of the pla
