The truth about cyberbullying
A 2005 survey of UK teens, found that 20% said that they had experienced some form of cyberbullying.
An Australian study, reports that cyberbullying incidents are occurring around the globe, in such places as Japan, Australia, Canada and Scandinavia.
Cyberbullying happens because there is little supervision of kids in the cyberworld and because the media provides anonymity for the bully. "There's no monitoring in cyberspace," says Hinduja, "plus parents do not — and I believe should not — always stand there looking over children's shoulders when they're on the computer, because there needs to be a level of trust there. It would certainly help for parents to regularly go online with their kids and discuss issues related to Internet safety with them. Nevertheless, just like offline behaviors, parents cannot supervise their kids 100% of the time and must establish appropriate Internet usage rules even when those parents aren't around. Also, there's the fact that when you're behind the keyboard and the computer monitor, it takes less fortitude to express really malicious comments, because of the anonymity and because they're physically distant from the victim. It's much easier to be cruel."
What can be done?
Law enforcement
There are many steps to take before bringing in the police, but parents should know that law enforcement can assist when, and if, necessary.
Sgt. John Geraty, of the San Francisco Police Internet Crimes Against Children unit, explains that while there are no laws specific to cyberbullying, there are times when a line is crossed and law enforcement can step in. "Cases that involve threats of death or injury to a person or their family, and which the recipient believes to be credible, should be reported to law enforcement immediately."
In such cases, it's important to preserve the evidence. "A copy of the email with the full header information should be given to the police," says Geraty. "This will provide law enforcement with the information needed to trace the sender. The option for viewing the full header is often located in the Mail Preferences tab of your email service browser. If threats of injury or death occur via a chat session, the sender's screen name, the time and date the threats occurred, and the Internet Service Provider should be provided to the police."
Evidence should be given to the police as soon as possible, urges Gerity. "ISPs vary in terms of how long they save information. AOL, for example, will save information of chat users, such as their IP addresses, for seven days before purging. Other ISPs save information for only 30 days. The sooner incidents of crime are reported to law enforcement, the sooner information can be preserved for an investigation."
Some states, such as Washington, are introducing legislation that will specifically address cyberbullying in the schools. Currently, however, the only tool that many states have in their legal toolboxes are anti-stalking statutes that mention electronic communications.
Districts and schools
Cyberbullying often takes place outside of school, leaving the schools with limited ability to prevent it.
"I've had a kid come to me to say that she received abusive emails from an online chat room and that she felt scared about it," says Sara Spence, a middle and high school counselor in San Francisco. "From a school counselor's perspective, it's a relatively new phenomenon. I feel like my hands are tied. I mean, when you receive emails from an unknown person, I don't really know if there's a protocol in place for me to do anything."
A growing number of schools are starting to develop policies and procedures to address some of the behaviors associated with cyberbullying, such as blocking access to problematic Web sites and controlling usage of cell phones on campus, especially in locker rooms, restrooms or by pools.
