Cyber Bullying free essay sample

The researchers would like to thank the following people and organisations for all their help in making the study possible: Cyber Bullying Research Centre, particularly Debarati Halder for all her insights; Mrs. Vasundhara Sanghi, Mrs. Ruby Pavri, Mrs. Noellene Fialho, Ms. Panna Mehta,Dr. Anuradha Sovani. Sociologists Father Arun D’souza, Mr. P. S Vivek from the University of Mumbai Mrs. Amrita Nadkarni , Mrs. Madhuri. Cyber cell Investigation Centre, Mumbai, Cyber cell Inspector Sanjay Jadhav, Inspector Liyakat Nadaf, and Inspector Nandakishore More. Mrs. Ketaki Gadre for her guidance, particularly in the initial stages of the study, and Sujay Sabnis, for all his help and advice from time to time. We would like to express gratitude for our professor, Dr. Gautam Gawli for encouraging us to take this topic. Constructive feedback and suggestions from a large number of friends have gone into the making of this project. We are extremely grateful to all the people who have helped us and contributed in their own respective ways. â€Å"Afterward, her fellow students came forward to tell school officials that Prince had been teased incessantly, taunted by text messages and harassed on social networking sites like Facebook†. (Donaldson 2010). In schools across The United States, minors are being bullied every single day. Bullying has escalated from the schoolyards to the classroom in previous years and it goes from the school to the home via cyberspace today. Cyber Bullying is when a child, preteen or teenager is bullied, harassed, humiliated, threatened, embarrassed, or targeted in some way by another child, preteen, or teenager with, cell phones and other forms of technology. In order for someone to have this title of a cyber-bully their intent must be to cause emotional distress, and there must be no legitimate purpose for the communication. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. Once an adult becomes involved it is no longer considered cyber bullying; it is then considered cyber harassment or cyber stalking. The Internet has created a whole new world of social communications for young people who are using e-mail, Web sites, instant messaging, chat rooms and text messaging to stay in touch with friends and make new ones. While most communications are positive, more and more kids are using these social tools to intimidate others. In 2006, The United States House of Representatives passed The Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006, which consists of public schools and libraries to block student access to commercial social-networking sites such as MySpace. com some individuals do not favor this bill because it unfairly blocks learning applications and websites necessary for the students to learn and communicate. In addition, there is already an act that blocks content that is harmful to minors it is The Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA). There are several ways that young people bully others online. They send e-mails or instant messages containing insults or threats directly to a person. They may also spread hateful, sexual, and/or provocative comments about a person through e-mail, instant messaging or postings on web sites and online blogs. An increasing number of kids are being bullied by text messages through their cell phones. These phones are challenging the ability of adults to monitor and guide children because, unlike a computer placed in a public area of a home, school or library, mobiles are personal, private, connected and always accessible. Kids tend to keep their phones on at all times, meaning bullies can harass victims at school or even in their own rooms. Built-in digital cameras in cell phones are adding a new dimension to the problem. In one case, students used a camera-enabled cell phone to take a photo of an overweight classmate in the shower after gym. The picture was distributed throughout the school e-mail list within minutes No behaviors in cyberspace are completely anonymous. Every instance of Internet access creates an Internet Protocol address or electronic fingerprint which can be traced by authorities. However, it can still be difficult to prove cyber bullying. The police may be able to trace the source of harassing messages but the bully can simply deny involvement and claim that someone else used their computer. Bullies can also challenge authorities with arguments of freedom of speech and intellectual property. According to Jeffrey Shallit, vice president of Electronic Frontier , a group founded to protect the rights and freedoms of people using information technology, Freedom of speech protects the thoughts we hate just as much as the thoughts we like. ( Shallit Jeffrey). Most cases of cyber bullying go unreported because victims are afraid the bully will not be properly prosecuted. Victims believe that if they tell on the bully that there will be something done about it and if nothing is done when they tell then they fear that the abuse will continue. Another reason cases involving cyber bullying are not reported is that victims fear no one will believe there is crime being co mmitted. These young people should be aware that some forms of online bullying are considered criminal acts. Megan Meier Cyber bullying Prevention Act –â€Å"Amends the federal criminal code to impose criminal penalties on anyone who transmits in interstate or foreign commerce a communication intended to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to another person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior†. (The Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Prevention Act U. S. C title 18 H. R. 1966). It is also considered a crime to publish something defamatory and libelous, that is, writing something that is insulting or damaging to a persons reputation by exposing him or her to hatred, contempt, or ridicule. Violation of the Human Rights Act is also punishable. Cyber harassment involving the spreading of hate or discrimination based on race, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status, age or disability is illegal. Police often do their investigations with an officer acting as a child online. Many officers have said that they are amazed when they go online posing as a child; cyber bullies approach them so quickly. When police officers go online and take this type of action, they are catching a very limited number of bullies. This is because not every bully will accept someone they do not know on Twitter, MySpace, or Facebook. The Bowling Green Police Department in conjunction with the Bowling Green High School Renaissance Team has developed a Cyber Safe program for our citizens. â€Å"As part of the third annual Student Solutions Program, Bowling Green High School students helped develop a solution to a real problem Cyber bullying. The Student Solutions program works with teams of students from all four Bowling Green and Warren County high schools. Each team is given one problem from a list of five provided by the City of Bowling Green Department Heads and spends two months developing a solution to that problem. †At the end of the process, each group presents a ten-minute power point presentation outlining their solutions†(Stinson, Brad 2008). Many other law enforcement agencies have started to develop partnerships with local schools and city officials to prevent ways to stop cyber bullying. Law enforcement agencies have discussed putting together a cyber-bullying prevention team. This team will be assigned to local school to monitor cyber activity and to make sure none of the students are participating in any acts of cyber bullying and if adults aren’t committing any acts of cyber harassment. Figure 1 shows what Cyber Bullying does to people. Also it shows a message send by someone that is committing the act of cyber bullying. This picture resembles a girl who is being cyber bullied by someone else. Kids who are cyber bullied think and act like this girl does in this picture. Children who act and feel like this can be harm to themselves and their families. Anybody that is a victim of cyber bullying needs to get the proper help to overcome the suicidal thoughts and overcome mental abuse. Figure 1. 1 shows the number of Deaths from 2005 to 2010 as a result of Cyber Bullying. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, â€Å"Parents need to keep their computers at home in a busy area. †(NCPC). â€Å"Also parents need to set up their children’s email for them and they need to be able to access it regularly† (NCPC). â€Å"Parents need to know who their children are friends with at school and at home†. NCPC) Cyber bullying is not always solvable. Though it happens every day at home, at school, and in the public, it is nearly impossible for police officers to stop every situation. Police and the people of the public are well aware of cyber bullying and most do the best they can to prevent it. Thousands and thousands of children go online every day; therefore making it hard to catch every case of cyber bully ing. When possible, the police do intervene, but it is up to parents and their children to bring their situation to the police. In addition, friends of the teens who are being bullied should go tell an adult or a school official that their friend is being bullied that’s what true friends are supposed to do. Parents need to be involved in their child’s daily life and they need to be in charge of who their children are friends with a parent is a good judge of character when it comes to who their children should be friends with. The president and the congress should create a bill that makes cyber bullying illegal and it can cause for imprisonment.