Glossary

The words you hear from police, lawyers and platforms, explained simply.

Case dismissal (archiviazione): Closing of proceedings without a trial, decided by the judge at the prosecutor’s request. It often happens when the author remains unknown. If new evidence emerges, the case can be reopened.
Chat export: A complete copy of a conversation saved to a file. Telegram Desktop creates it in JSON format with dates, times and account IDs: it is one of the most useful pieces of evidence.
Codice Rosso (“Red Code”): An Italian law of 2019 that speeds up proceedings for domestic and gender-based violence, stalking and the sharing of intimate images: the police must pass the report to the prosecutor immediately.
Complaint against unknown persons: A complaint filed when the author is not known. The authorities can ask platforms and operators for the data needed to identify them.
Criminal report (denuncia): Notifying the authorities of a crime. For many crimes against the person, such as defamation, a formal complaint (querela) is required.
Cyberbullying: Online harassment among young people, usually in a school setting. Italy has a specific law for minors (law 71/2017). For adults, people speak instead of online harassment, defamation or stalking.
Data broker: A company or service that collects personal data from many sources and resells it. Some illegal services on Telegram do the same with stolen data.
DDoS: An attack that floods a site with requests until it stops responding. A protection service such as Cloudflare absorbs most of it.
Deepfake: A fake image, video or audio created or altered with artificial intelligence to look real.
Defamation: Damaging a person’s reputation by speaking about them to others, for example in a group or channel. In Italy it is Article 595 of the Italian Criminal Code, more serious if committed online. In Switzerland it is Art. 173 and 174 of the Swiss Criminal Code (SCC).
Digital fingerprint (hash): A code calculated from a file that identifies it without revealing its content. StopNCII uses it to block intimate images without you having to upload them.
Doxxing: Collecting and publishing someone’s personal data (name, address, phone number, family) to expose them, frighten them or have them harassed by others.
DSA (Digital Services Act): A European regulation that obliges platforms to offer a way to report illegal content, to respond, and to allow an appeal against their decisions.
Formal complaint (querela): The victim’s request to punish the author of a crime. For many crimes it is required and has a deadline: in Italy as a rule 3 months, 6 months for stalking and intimate images.
Impersonation (sostituzione di persona): Pretending to be another person to harm them or gain an advantage, for example with a fake profile. In Italy it is Article 494 of the Italian Criminal Code; in Switzerland misuse of identity is Art. 179decies SCC.
IP address: A number that identifies an internet connection at a given moment. On its own it does not say who you are: linking it to a person requires a request from the authorities to the connection provider.
Online harassment: Repeated insults, threats, messages or unwanted contact over the internet. When coordinated by several accounts or a group, it is called organised harassment or a hate campaign.
Online shaming: Exposing a person to public contempt on the internet, with repeated photos, accusations and insults, often in channels or groups created for the purpose. When it is organised it is also called a hate campaign or smear campaign.
Questore’s warning (ammonimento): In Italy, a formal warning that the Questore (the provincial police chief) can give to someone who commits stalking or shares intimate images. You can ask for it at any police office if you have not already filed a complaint for the same facts. The author’s identity must be known.
Right to be forgotten: A right under the GDPR to ask whoever processes your data to delete it when there is no longer a valid reason to keep it.
Sextortion: Blackmail with intimate images, real or fake: whoever has them demands money or something else in exchange for not sharing them.
Shitstorm: A sudden wave of hostile comments against a person or a company. It is often spontaneous and short-lived; an organised shaming campaign, by contrast, is targeted and continues over time.
SIM swap: A scam in which someone gets a copy of your SIM card from the operator and receives your SMS messages, including login codes.
Spoofing: Falsifying the number or name of whoever calls or writes, to look like someone else or to avoid being traced.
Stalkerware: A spy app secretly installed on a phone to read messages, listen to calls or track the location.
Stalking (atti persecutori): Repeated harassment or threats that make you anxious, make you fear for yourself or your loved ones, or force you to change your habits. In Italy it is Article 612-bis of the Italian Criminal Code, more serious if committed with IT tools. In Switzerland, since 2026 there is the offence of “Nachstellung” (stalking, Art. 181b).
Swatting: A false emergency call made to send law enforcement to a person’s home. It is dangerous for the people who live there.
Telegram numeric ID: A number that identifies a Telegram account and does not change when the name or username changes. It is the most useful piece of data to give in a complaint.
Threat: Making someone fear an unjust harm. In Italy it is Article 612 of the Italian Criminal Code; a serious threat is in some cases prosecuted even without a complaint. In Switzerland it is Art. 180 SCC.
Throwaway account: A profile created for a single purpose and then abandoned. Whoever uses it hopes not to be traced, but the platform keeps technical data that the authorities can request.
Trusted flagger: An organisation recognised under the DSA whose reports platforms must handle with priority.
Two-step verification: In addition to the password, a second code is needed, from an app or a message. It stops anyone who knows your password from getting into the account.
Unlawful sharing of intimate images: Publishing or sending sexually explicit images without the consent of the person pictured. In Italy it is Article 612-ter of the Italian Criminal Code, in Switzerland Art. 197a SCC. It is often called “revenge porn”.
Virtual number (VoIP): A phone number that works over the internet, often bought online and sometimes foreign. The prefix does not say where the person using it really is.
VPN: A service that routes your connection through another server and hides your real IP address from the sites you visit. It does not make you invisible: it still leaves traces with the provider.

Legal definitions are simplified and do not replace a lawyer’s advice.