INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image caption
Police say the stalker was able to locate his victim by zooming in on the reflection in her eyes
A Japanese man accused of stalking and sexually assaulting a young pop star told police he located her through the reflection in her
eyes in a picture, according to local media reports.The man said he had identified a train station reflected in the singer's eyes in a
The 26-year-old then waited at the station until he saw his victim and followed her to her home, police said.The case has prompted debate
about the threat of cyber-stalking.The suspect, named by police as Hibiki Sato, is accused of following the woman home on the night of 1
September and molesting her.Following his arrest later that month, he told police he was a big fan of the woman, who was described as a
21-year-old "Japanese idol" in local media reports
The suspect told police that after zooming in on the image of her eyes, he used Google Street View to identify the station.He also said he
had studied videos the woman shot in her apartment, looking at details such as the placement of curtains and the direction of natural light
coming through the window to try to determine exactly which floor she lived on, reports said.The case raises questions about the risks
unwittingly taken by social media users who post high definition pictures online documenting their lives
"Higher quality images allow for more details to be identified that can help with geolocation, and the more reference imagery there is from
services like Google Street View, the higher chance there is of finding a location," Eliot Higgins, the founder of investigations site
Bellingcat, which has pioneered online investigative techniques, told the TheIndianSubcontinent."Even the tiniest details can reveal a lot
of information about where a photograph is taken, and information about the individuals in the photograph," he said
"Never post anything online you wouldn't want your boss, partner, or worst enemy to see
Even what seems like the most private setting online can be exposed, just ask Coleen Rooney."Japan has seen several attacks by fans on
female pop stars in recent years:In 2016, Japanese singer Mayu Tomita was left in a critical condition after being repeatedly stabbed by a
fan as she was waiting to perform at a concert in Tokyo
It was reported this year that she was suing the government for not doing enough to protect her Pop star Maho Yamaguchi went public earlier
this year with allegations that she had been assaulted by two obsessive fans Shuichiro Hoshi, a professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University
and expert on the risks of social media, told the Tokyo Reporter that improved picture quality on smartphone cameras had increased the risk
of private information "being leaked unexpectedly"."In other words, the risk of a so-called 'digital stalker' is on the rise," he said.
