Cyberbullying

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Cyberbullying involves the use of information and and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.". [1] Cyberbullying can be as simple as continuing to send e-mail to someone who has said they want no further contact with the sender, but it may also include threats, sexual remarks, pejorative labels (i.e., hate speech). Though the use of sexual remarks and threats are sometimes present in cyber-bullying, it is not the same as sexual harassment and does not involve sexual predators . Cyber-bullies may disclose victims' personal data (e.g. real name or workplace/schools) at websites or forums, or may attempt to assume the identity of a victim for the purpose of publishing material in their name that defames or ridicules them. Some cyber-bullies may also send threatening emails and instant messages to the victims. The content in these messages are often so strong that a victim may commit suicide. Suicide is rare but strong bullying material is more common. Some may post victims' photos, or victims' edited photos like defaming captions or pasting victims' faces on nude bodies. One famous forum for disclosing personal data or photos to "punish" the "enemies" is Hong Kong Golden Forum. One example of suicide from being a victim of cyber-bullying is the Megan Meier suicide controversy

Certain characteristics inherent in online technologies increase the likelihood that they will be exploited for deviant purposes.^[1] Firstly, electronic bullies can remain virtually anonymous using temporary email accounts, pseudonyms in chat rooms, instant messaging programs, cell-phone text messaging, and other Internet venues to mask their identity; this perhaps frees them from normative and social constraints on their behavior. Furthermore, cyber-bullies might be emboldened when using electronic means to carry out their antagonistic agenda because it takes less energy and courage to express hurtful comments using a keypad or a keyboard than with one’s voice.

Second, electronic forums can often lack supervision. While chat hosts regularly observe the dialog in some chat rooms in an effort to police conversations and evict offensive individuals, personal messages sent between users (such as electronic mail or text messages) are viewable only by the sender and the recipient, and therefore outside the regulatory reach of such authorities. In addition, teenagers often know more about computers and cellular phones than their parents or guardians and are therefore able to operate the technologies without worry or concern that a probing parent will discover their experience with bullying (whether as a victim or offender).

Thirdly, the inseparability of a cellular phone from its owner makes that person a perpetual target for victimization. Users often need to keep their phone turned on for legitimate purposes, which provides the opportunity for those with malicious intentions to engage in persistent unwelcome behavior such as harassing telephone calls or threatening and insulting statements via the cellular phone’s text messaging capabilities. Cyber-bullying thus penetrates the walls of a home, traditionally a place where victims could seek refuge from other forms of bullying.

One possible advantage for victims of cyber-bullying over traditional bullying is that they may sometimes be able to avoid it simply by avoiding the site/chat room in question. Email addresses and phone numbers can be changed; in addition, most e-mail accounts now offer services that will automatically filter out messages from certain senders before they even reach the inbox, and phones offer similar caller ID functions. Unfortunately, this obviously does not protect against all forms of cyber bullying; publishing of defamatory material about a person on the internet is extremely difficult to prevent and once it is posted, millions of people can potentially download it before it is removed.

In March 2007, the Advertising Council in the United States, in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council, U.S. Department of Justice, and Crime Prevention Coalition of America, joined to announce the launch of a new public service advertising campaign designed to educate preteens and teens about how they can play a role in ending cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying was the subject of a forum at the British House of Commons chaired by Tim Loughton and Louise Burfitt-Dons of Act Against Bullying^[2]. A Pew Internet and American Life survey found that 33% of teens were subject to some sort of cyberbullying. [2]

January 31, 2008, KTTV Fox 11 News based in Los Angeles, California put out a report about organized cyber-bullying on sites like Stickam by people who call themselves "/b/rothas".^[3] The site had previously put out report on July 26, 2007, about a subject that partly featured cyberbullying titled "hackers on steroids".^[4]

In 2007, Debbie Heimowitz a Stanford University Master's student created Adina's Deck a film based upon accredited research through Stanford. She worked in focus groups for ten weeks in three different schools to learn about the problem of cyber bullying in Northern CA. She found that over 60% of students had been cyber bullied or victims of cyber bullying. Adina's Deck is now being used in classrooms nationwide as it was designed around learning goals pertaining to problems students had understanding the topic. The middle school of Megan Meier is reportedly using the film as a solution to the crisis in their town.

The Youth Internet Safety Survey-2, conducted by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in 2005, found that 9% of the young people in the survey had experienced some form of harassment.^[5] The survey was a nationally representative telephone survey of 1500 youth 10-17 years old. One third reported feeling distressed by the incident, with distress being more likely for younger respondants and those who were the victims of aggressive harassment (including being telephoned, sent gifts, or visited at home by the harasser). ^[6] Compared to youth not harassed online, victims are more likely to have social problems. On the other hand, youth who harass others are more likely to have problems with rule breaking and aggression. ^[7] Significant overlap is seen -- youth who are harassed are significantly more likely to also harass others.

Hinduja and Patchin completed a study in the summer of 2005 of approximately 1500 Internet-using adolescents and found that over one-third of youth reported being victimized online, and over 16% of respondents admitted to cyber-bullying others. While most of the instances of cyber bullying involved relatively minor behavior (41% were disrespected, 19% were called names), over 12% were physically threatened and about 5% were scared for their safety. Notably, less than 15% of victims told an adult about the incident.^[8] Additional research by Hinduja and Patchin^[9] found that youth who report being victims of cyber-bullying also experience stress or strain that is related to offline problem behaviors such as running away from home, cheating on a school test, skipping school, or using alcohol or marijuana. The authors acknowledge that both of these studies provide only preliminary information about the nature and consequences of online bullying, due to the methodological challenges associated with an online survey.

According to a 2005 survey by the National Children's Home charity and Tesco Mobile^[10] of 770 youth between the ages of 11 and 19, 20% of respondents revealed that they had been bullied via electronic means. Almost three-quarters (73%) stated that they knew the bully, while 26% stated that the offender was a stranger. 10% of responders indicated that another person has taken a picture and/or video of them via a cellular phone camera, consequently making them feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, or threatened. Many youths are not comfortable telling an authority figure about their cyber-bullying victimization for fear their access to technology will be taken from them; while 24% and 14% told a parent or teacher respectively, 28% did not tell anyone while 41% told a friend.^[10]

A survey by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in 2000 found that 6% of the young people in the survey had experienced some form of harassment including threats and negative rumours and 2% had suffered distressing harassment.^[5]

A study by Campbell of Year 8 students in Queensland, Australia found 14% had been a victim of cyber-bullying, 11% admitted to bullying, while 25% knew someone who had bullied. Anecdotal evidence suggests that girls are more involved than boys as they are more likely to communicate regularly.

Mossley Hollins High School in Manchester has recently taken the national lead in developing resources and material in the UK for schools and services to use. Will Aitken, coordinator of ICT, recently organised the countries first cyberbullying awareness day (http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/cgi-bin/go.pl/features/article.html?uid=2483) for students and parents.

In September of 2006 abcNews produced a survey done by I-Safe.Org. The Data was based on a 2004 survey of 1,500 students between grades 4-8. The results were as followed:

• 42 percent of kids have been bullied while online. One in four have had it happen more than once
• 35 percent of kids have been threatened online. Nearly one in five had had it happen more than once.
• 21 percent of kids have received mean or threatening e-mails or other messages.
• 58 percent of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.
• 58 percent have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.

It has been suggested by the BBC that cyber-bullying may be influenced by videos that are uploaded to video sharing websites online which contain offensive content or examples of acts of bullying. Websites that currently do not filter such videos, such as YouTube and Metacafe, have been asked to take legal action against videos of people being attacked, harassed or ridiculed, in order to reduce cyber-bullying as a result of the influence.^[11] Some jurisdictions are currently using the videos posted on YouTube as evidence in later convictions and as a way of monitoring youth.^[12]

• Berson, I. R., Berson, M. J., & Ferron, J. M. (2002). Emerging risks of violence in the digital age: Lessons for educators from an online study of adolescent girls in the United States. Journal of School Violence, 1(2), 51-71.
• Burgess-Proctor, A., Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2008). Cyberbullying and online harassment: Reconceptualizing the victimization of adolescent girls. V. Garcia and J. Clifford [Eds.]. Female crime victims: Reality reconsidered. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. In Print.
• Keith, S. & Martin, M. E. (2005). Cyber-bullying: Creating a Culture of Respect in a Cyber World. Reclaiming Children & Youth, 13(4), 224-228.
• Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2007). Cyberbullying: An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Related to Offending and Victimization. Deviant Behavior, 29(2), 1-29.
• Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2007). Offline Consequences of Online Victimization: School Violence and Delinquency. Journal of School Violence, 6(3), 89-112.
• Patchin, J. & Hinduja, S. (2006). Bullies Move beyond the Schoolyard: A Preliminary Look at Cyberbullying. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 4(2), 148-169.
• Tettegah, S. Y. , Betout, D., & Taylor, K. R. (2006). Cyber-bullying and schools in an electronic era. In S. Tettegah & R. Hunter (Eds.) Technology and Education: Issues in administration, policy and appications in k12 school. PP. 17-28. London: Elsevier.
• Wolak, J. Mitchell, K.J., & Finkelhor, D. (2006). Online victimization of youth: 5 years later. Alexandria, VA: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Available: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc
• Ybarra, M. L. & Mitchell, J. K. (2004). Online aggressor/targets, aggressors and targets: A comparison of associated youth characteristics. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 1308-1316.
• Ybarra ML (2004). Linkages between depressive symptomatology and Internet harassment among young regular Internet users. Cyberpsychol and Behavior. Apr;7(2):247-57.
• Ybarra ML, Mitchell KJ (2004). Youth engaging in online harassment: associations with caregiver-child relationships, Internet use, and personal characteristics. Journal of Adolescence. Jun;27(3):319-36.

• Act Against Bullying
• Adina's Deck- a film about three 8th graders who help their friend who's been cyber bullied. DVD and teacher's guide for the classroom.
• Bullying Online
• Internet Troll
• Moral panic
• Odd Girl Out - a film about a girl who is bullied at school and online
• Shredderman Rules - a film about a middle schooler who cyber-bullies the school bully to exact revenge for being bullied physically and emotionally
• Digital safety

• www.cyberbullying.org
• Adina's Deck- Cyberbullying DVD & Teacher's Guide created by Master's Student at Stanford University
• Cyberbully411
• Cyberbullying Research and Response
• BullyDB.com Online CyberBully database, check and report CyberBullies
• ISafe.Org
• Cyberbullying, Encyclopedia of Risks and Threats, MySecureCyberspace