Cyber Bullying
What is Cyber bullying?
Cyber bullying has been defined as:
An aggressive, intentional act carried out by:
a group or individual
using electronic forms of contact
repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily
defend him or herself
(Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell & Tippett, 2008, p.
376).
What is Cyber bullying?
Cyber bullying does not involve face to face or physical
confrontation.
It does not require any close proximity to the cyber victim
Cyber bullying can also be carried out anonymously
Disinhibition exists
young people say and do things online that they
would never do face to face
perceived as an environment free from adult
supervision
What is Cyber bullying?
The fear of discovery is absent
this fear which may control their behaviour in the real world
does not control it in the cyber world
Disassociation with the turmoil that the cyber bully causes the cyber
victim
By not experiencing the harm it causes means that the cyber bully
may have no empathetic response at all
How Cyber bullying is carried out
MOBILE PHONE
SMS: sending or receiving abusive text messages by mobile phone
MMS: taking, sending or receiving unpleasant photos and/or videos
using mobile phones (e.g. happy slapping)
Calls: sending or receiving upsetting phone calls (e.g. malicious
prank calls)
COMPUTERS / SMART PHONES
E-mail: Malicious or threatening emails directly to a victim, or
about a victim to others
Chat rooms: Intimidation or abuse when participating in chat rooms
Instant Message: Abusive instant messages (MSN, Yahoo etc)
Websites: Where secret or personal details are revealed in an
abusive way or where nasty or unpleasant comments are posted
Behaviours
Flaming: Online fights using electronic messages with angry and
vulgar language
Harassment: Repeatedly sending nasty, mean, and insulting
messages
Denigration: “Dissing” someone online. Sending or posting
gossip or rumours about a person to damage his or her
reputation or friendships
Impersonation: Pretending to be someone else and posting
material to get that person in trouble or danger or to damage
that person’s reputation or friendships
Behaviours
Outing: Sharing someone’s secrets or embarrassing
information or images online
Trickery: Talking someone into revealing secrets or
embarrassing information, then sharing it online
Exclusion: Intentionally and cruelly excluding someone from
an online group
Cyber stalking: Repeated, intense harassment and denigration
that includes threats or creates significant fear
Netiquette & Internet Use
“Netiquette” or online etiquette:
– applying the same social criteria of face to face interaction in
the cyber world
Don’t divulge too much personal information
Permanence of post
Privacy Settings
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=366944610483
“Pause before you Post” Jostens.
Before I make a post, I pledge to ask myself:
Who will be able to see what I post?
Will anyone be embarrassed or hurt by it?
Am I proud of what I’m posting?
How I would feel if someone posted it about me?
Potential Consequences
Remember that you will be held responsible for any
inappropriate or questionable content that you publish
Do not send or share any content that:
– may call into question your integrity
– may be misinterpreted as offensive or inappropriate
– could damage your reputation with your friends
– be punished by your parents,
OR you may also get into trouble with the law
Bystanders/ Witnesses
Bystanders or Witnesses to cyber bullying are those who receive
messages about someone else or see it posted.
By not responding or encouraging the cyber bullying or by
reporting the occurrence to an adult can assist the cyber bully.
Silence, when others are being hurt, is not acceptable.
If they don’t allow the cyber bullies to use them to embarrass or
torment others,
–cyber bullying will stop.
Preventing Cyber
bullying.
Young People
Don't reply
Keep the message
Block the sender
Tell someone you trust
Report problems
http://www.watchyourspace.ie/report.aspx
What should a young person do?
Tell someone: someone you trust.
• http://www.childline.ie/
Report to website
• http://www.watchyourspace.ie/report.aspx
Report Serious Issues:
• The Hotline, run by the Internet Service Providers Association of
Ireland (ISPAI) is supervised by the Department of Justice, Office
for Internet Safety (OIS), in cooperation with An Garda Síochána
and is a member of INHOPE, the International Network of
Hotlines.
• http://www.hotline.ie/
What should a Parent do?
Speak openly to their children about cyber bullying.
Talk to them about internet safety.
Monitor their online activity.
Reported cyber bullying episodes will not result in loss of technology.
Discourage young people from responding to the bully as this only antagonizes the
bully and the situation.
Evidence of the cyber bullying should always be kept as a record of what has
happened.
Contacting the Internet Service Provider (ISPs) which may result in the cyber bully
having their SNS suspended.
Inform the school
Contacting the police may be necessary if the cyber bullying involves threats of
violence, harassment, child pornography, extortion or obscene calls or texts.
Internet Safety Legislation
There is no specific legislation governing Internet
safety at school level.
Complicating this issue is the fact that the Internet
functions in a global context whereas the law operates in
a localized one.
There are, however, a number of legislations that have
relevance to Internet safety:
Data Protection Act 1988
This act was passed in order to deal with privacy
issues arising from the increasing amount of
information kept on computer about individuals.
Internet Safety Legislation
Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003
This amendment extends the data protection rules to
manually held records and also makes improvements to the
public’s right to access data.
Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998
This act legislates against anyone who knowingly produces,
prints, publishes, distributes, exports, imports, shows,
possesses or sells child pornography.
Internet Safety Legislation
Interception Act 1993
(The Interception of Postal Packets and
Telecommunications Messages Regulation Act 1993). This
act stipulates that telecommunication messages can be
intercepted for the purpose of an investigation of a serious
offence.
Video Recordings Act 1989
This act prohibits the distribution of videos which contain
obscene or indecent material which may lead to the
depravation or corruption of the viewer. It would apply
where someone in the State supplied this kind of video
over the Internet.
Anything you say or do to someone online, you
are doing to them in the real world too.
Walk In My Shoes is a mental health awareness and fundraising campaign by St.
Patrick’s Mental Health Foundation. For more information log on to
www.walkinmyshoes.ie
Thank you!