What is cyber-bullying?

2. What is cyber-bullying? • Cyberbullying includes attacks such as electronic distribution of humiliating photos, false or private information, or cruel online polls. • Someone is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed targeted by another using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. Once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyber-harassment or cyberstalking. Adult cyber-harassment or cyberstalking is NEVER called cyberbullying. • Cyberbullying may rise to the level of a misdemeanor cyberharassment charge, or if the child is young enough, it may result in the charge of juvenile delinquency. It typically can result in a child losing their ISP or IM accounts as a terms of service violation. And in some cases, if hacking or password and identity theft is involved, can be a serious criminal matter under state and federal law.

4. Bully vs. Cyber bullying • Bullying usually happens in the school yard or hallway. • Bullying is face to face, cyber bully can be anonymous • Technology makes bullying even easier with email, chat rooms, and an unlimited audience online. • Bullies always had to let their victims see them and could only gain the support of friends who were around. • Cyber bullies can humiliate other students without their identity being known or they can have an audience of thousands • Cyber bullies can say things that they cant say in front of other people in chat rooms, IM's and on websites. This allows children to be much meaner than they traditionally could and say things they wouldn’t say in front of adults or other children. • Cyber bullying is a bigger threat because the potential for damaging statements is even greater.

5. Types of Cyber-bullying • Direct attacks are made directly by the cyberbully such as sending a text message to someone’s cell phone, bashing them in a blog, emailing them pornographic or X-rated pictures, sending computer viruses and/or stealing their password.  • Indirect attacks or Cyberbullying by proxy is when the cyberbully has someone else do the damage. An example of this is when a cyberbully steals a person’s password and then sends cruel messages to all the friends on the person’s buddy list. Sometimes cyberbullies will even get the parent(s) of a victim to respond and then the parent(s) becomes involved in the online bullying. Another example of cyberbullying by proxy is when a teen makes a false report to an ISP (Internet Service Provider). This is typically done through IM accounts or in chat rooms. The person’s ISP will usually send the victim a warning but if the reports continue, even if they are false, the ISP has the right to close the victim’s account.

6. How? • Generation and access to …rely on…. • Sending mean messages or threats to a person’s email account or cell phone • Spreading rumors online or through texts • Posting hurtful or threatening messages on social networking sites or web pages • Stealing a person’s account information to break into their account and send damaging messages • Pretending to be someone else online to hurt another person • Taking unflattering pictures of a person and spreading them through cell phones or the Internet • Sexting, or circulating sexually suggestive pictures or messages about a person • In recent studies of middle and high school students, (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006; Kowalski et al., 2005; Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006) the most common way that children and youth reported being cyber bullied was through instant messaging. Other ways involved the chat rooms, e-mails, and messages posted on web sites. A study of younger children (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006) showed that they were most often bullied through e-mail, comments on a website, or in a chat room. • Since picking on others can be safely done at a distance from a computer or cell phone and is often anonymous, bullies are becoming much more abusive and hurtful in their language.

7. continued • instant Messaging – IM occurs when people are online and chatting in real time through MSN Messenger, ICQ, AOL Messenger, etc. Users have a buddy list of approved people they can chat with and no one else is able to join. • Text Messaging – According to the Wireless Telecommunications Association, 65% of 16-17 yr olds have cell phones. • Chat Rooms – Teens often chat with people in a virtual meeting room and type messages which immediately appear on the computer screen. Cliques and groups can evolve in chat rooms. • Web sites – Sites are established online with the intent of mocking, harassing and/or humiliating a person or group of people. Some Web sites have online polls and voting stations that bullies use to harass others. Bullies can create Web logs, basically an online diary that can be read by anyone. • Social media Web sites - Sites like facebook are an easy mark for cyberbullies. 175 million people are on Twitter, 500 million on facebook. Cyberbullies send messages through these web sites or post messages on them for everyone to read. • Camera Phones – Bullies take pictures of others and download the images onto the Internet or forward them on to others, sometimes altering the pictures in embarrassing ways. • http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/10/popular-websites-used-for-cyber-bullying/

9. Who • New research has found that approximately one out of every two LGBT youths are regular victims of cyber-bullying. • In a recent study of students in grades 6-8 (Kowalski et al., 2005): Girls were about twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators of cyber bullying.

10. Statistics • 43% of kids have been bullied while online. 1 in 4 have had it happen more than once. • 97% of middle school kids are bullied while online. • 47% of 18-24 are cyber-bullied. • 35% of kids have been threatened online. Nearly 1 in 5 have had it happen more than once. • 21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mail or other messages. • 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than 4 out of 10 say it has happened more than once. • 53% of kids admit having said something mean or hurtful to another person online. More than 1 in 3 have  done it more than once. • 58% have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.

11. Continued • In the online survey of 444 junior high, high school and college students between the ages of 11 and 22 — including 350 non-heterosexual individuals— 54% of the LGBT and allied youth reported being victims of cyber-bullying in the 30 days prior to the survey. • Among the non-heterosexual respondents, 45 %reported feeling depressed as a result of being cyber-bullied, 38 %felt embarrassed, and 28 % felt anxious about attending school. 26 % had suicidal thoughts. • Forty % of the non-heterosexual respondents indicated that their parents wouldn’t believe them if they were being bullied online, while 55 % reported that their parents couldn’t do anything to stop it. 57 % also indicated that they didn’t think a school official could do anything to stop it.

12. Anti-Gay Bullying • http://abcnews.go.com/US/victim-secret-dorm-sex-tape-commits-suicide/story?id=11758716#.T3zTe9lfQRI

13. It Gets Better • Tyler’s suicide followed a string of suicides of teenagers who either were gay or were perceived that way by schoolmates, and who were taunted and bullied because of that. • The first two weeks of October of 2010, at least five teenagers committed suicide in response to being bullied on and offline for ideas and assumptions of his or her homosexuality • http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1649114/dan-savage-explains-why-started-it-gets-better-project.jhtml

14. Laws • Recently, a number of states have passed strong cyber-bullying laws that are designed to protect children from being harassed, threatened and humiliated online. These laws represent a crucial step towards National anti-cyber bullying laws which will protect children of all ages. • Forty-eight states have anti-bullying laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. • North Carolina passed a law in 2009 to criminalize cyber-bullying, making it a misdemeanor for youths under 18. • •In Indiana, a proposed bill would give schools more authority to punish students for off-campus activities such as cyber-bullying from a computer not owned by the school. • •In Maine, a proposal would define bullying and cyber-bullying, specify responsibilities for reporting incidents of bullying and require schools to adopt a policy to address bullying. • •In Delaware, meetings are underway to decide how a new cyber-bullying policy would regulate off-campus behavior. • Five states — Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia and Illinois — limit school jurisdiction over cyber-bullying behavior to acts that are committed using school-owned or -leased computers, according to the U.S. Department of Education. • Opponents of cyber-bullying legislation in Indiana, South Dakota and Montana have criticized the laws as vague, too punitive and counterproductive. • http://www.cyberbullying.us/Bullying_and_Cyberbullying_Laws.pdf

15. State Laws • ArkansasIn 2007, the Arkansas legislation passed a law allowing school officials to take action against cyber bullies even if the bullying did not originate or take place on school property. The law gave school administrators much more freedom to punish those individuals who sought to harass their fellow students. • Idaho2006 saw Idaho lawmakers pass a law that allowed school officials to suspend students if they bullied or harassed other students using a telephone or computer. • IowaIowa has passed several laws that force schools to create anti-cyber bullying policies which cover bullying “in schools, on school property or at any school function or school-sponsored activity.” • New JerseyThe Garden State of New Jersey has always maintained tough laws about bullying, but it wasn’t until 2007 that the laws were amended to include bullying via “electronic communication.” These laws give additional power to the school system to enforce bullying-related punishment for actions that may not take place while on school grounds. • OregonThe progressive state of Oregon really delves into the details of cyber bullying. The laws passed in recent years in Oregon expand the boundaries of what constitutes cyber bullying to include those actions which “substantially interfere” with the education of the young person. • MissouriThe suicide of a 13-year old girl Megan Meier who was the victim of an internet hoax greatly raised the awareness of cyber bullying and its consequences in the state of Missouri. Governor Matt Blunt went so far as to create a task force whose sole purpose was to study and create laws regarding cyber bullying. As a result the Internet Harassment Task Force now stands as a shining example for other states around the country. Missouri has also toughened their laws on the matter, upgrading cyber-harassment from a misdemeanor to a Class D felony. • New YorkNew York created a system to investigate claims of cyber bullying that would help police and school officials better ascertain the circumstances of each occurrence and prosecute or punish the culprits to the fullest extent of the law. • Rhode IslandThe governor of Rhode Island is currently trying to pass a bill that would force repeat cyber bullying offenders to appear in family court, where they would be charged as delinquents under the terms of the state’s laws for young offenders. • VermontVermont has added a $500 fine for cyber bullying offenses to their already stringent laws on the matter. There is currently a bill being discussed that would increase the reach of the school’s powers regarding cyber bullying when the action puts the individual’s ability to learn (or health and safety) at risk.

16. Affects • It is thought that cyber-bullying causes psychological and emotional distress to victims, producing thoughts of suicide in those who are repeatedly victimized. • In recent years, a series of bullying-related suicides in the US and across the globe have drawn attention to the connection between bullying and suicide. Though too many adults still see bullying as "just part of being a kid," it is a serious problem that leads to many negative effects for victims, including suicide. • Some of the more general effects of cyber bullying include poor performance at school, depression and low self-esteem.

17. Discussion • Laws - Legal experts say the laws can possibly infringe on free speech, particularly if a student is accused of using a computer that is not on school grounds. • Prosecution • Reporting bullies - A recent survey conducted by i-SAFE America concluded that 58 percent of children never told an adult or their parent. • Targeting LGBT

18. Are You A Cyber Bully? • 0 – 5 Points: Cyber Saint • Congratulations! You’re a cyber saint! Your online behavior is exemplary! Keep up the good work! • 6-10 Points: Cyber Risky • Well, you’re not perfect, but few people are. Chances are you haven’t done anything terrible and were just having fun, but try not to repeat your behaviors, since they are all offenses. Keep in mind the pain that your fun might be causing others! • 11-18 Points: Cyber Sinner • Your online behavior needs to be improved! You have done way too many cyber no-no’s! Keep in mind that these practices are dangerous, wrong, and punishable and try to be clean up that cyber record! • More than 18: Cyber Bully • Put on the brakes and turn that PC/MAC/text-messaging device around! You are headed in a very bad direction. You qualify, without doubt, as a cyberbully. You need to sign off and think about where that little mouse of yours has been clicking before serious trouble results for you and/or your victim(s), if it hasn’t happened already!