It’s not hard to imagine how an article I’ve written could land me in the territory of having enemies I’ve never met. While I respect those who take different ideological positions than I do, it’s hard to understand readers who react violently, emotionally, or criminally.

Towards the end of last semester I received a number of:

• Opt-in spam emails indicating that I had signed up for them
• Telephone marketing calls indicating that I had asked for more information about their products

In other words, someone was using my public status to create havoc in my well-ordered online life. I don’t like persistent telemarketers or spam. I don’t like receiving email newsletters with a misspelled version of my name.

Fortunately, one of the many spam emails I received included the IP address and the time at which the individual abused my identity. The moral of the story is that electronic intimidation, no matter how anonymous and safe you think it is, can be traced back to you.

It’s also a cowardly and childish way for you express your opinions. The person who did this is a Cornell student, but never left a comment on this blog, and never sent me an email. If you’re attending an Ivy-League institution, you should have the good sense to deal with a difference of opinion through open debate, not illegal harassment.