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Cyberstalker ordered to pay €70,000 to US movie duo in cross-border lawsuit

A woman from Amsterdam has been ordered to pay €70,000 compensation to two members of the American movie industry after she targeted them for months in an online harassment campaign.

Efthimia Dilpizoglou, 31, has been ordered to take down a series of posts about film-maker Christopher Johnson and actress Mariana Tosca, in which she which claimed they were part of an international vegan conspiracy.

It is thought to be the first cross-border case of cyberstalking to be decided in the Netherlands.

Dilpizoglou became obsessed with Johnson, whose film credits include Final Destination and Die Hard 4.0, after she visited his home in the US in 2010.

She saw Tosca as a rival and published a stream of defamatory films and articles on internet channels such as Twitter, YouTube and LiveJournal, as well as her own blogs in English and Dutch.

A judge in the US had already awarded compensation to Johnson and Tosca, but the pair went to court in Amsterdam to obtain an order that can be enforced in the Netherlands.

Lawyer Cees Nierop said: “This unusual case shows that American citizens are not fair game for stalkers from the Netherlands.

“I don’t know of any other judgments relating to cross-border cyberstalking. It seems remarkable that using Twitter can lead to a substantial compensation claim.”

The US Justice Department has said it will seek to extradite people in foreign countries who target its citizens online. It is not known if extradition proceedings are being sought against Dilpizoglou. 

Source: AT5: A'damse stalker moet 70,000 euro dokken

Photo by jisc.ac.uk