What is cyber bullying?

Cyber bullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person,

normally by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. I
What does Cyberbullying look like? Cyber bullying can include:

Abusive texts and emails

Hurtful messages, images or videos
Imitating others online to set them up
Excluding others online
Nasty online gossip

How do I deal with cyber bullying?

Talk to someone you trust straight away e.g. your parent, sibling,
uncle, aunty, teacher or best friend.
Dont respond to any of their texts or emails because they might
use it against you.
Block the bully and change your privacy settings.
Report the abuse to the service.
Collect the evidence e.g. Mobile phone messages and print emails
or social networking conversations because if you take the case to
the police they might need them.
And finally remember that you didnt ask for this because nobody
deserves to be bullied.
Cyber bullying effects
Cyberbullying causes psychological, emotional and physical
stress. Each person's response to being bullied is unique, but
research has shown some general leanings. Go to StopBullying.gov
and reports that youth who are bullied have a higher risk of
depression and anxiety. Symptoms may include:
Increased feelings of sadness and loneliness

 Changes in sleep and eating patterns

Loss of interest in activities
More health complaints
Youth who are bullied are most likely to struggle personally at school

They may miss, skip or drop out of school

Receive poor grades
Have lower self-respect
Use alcohol and drugs

Bullying can lead to thoughts about madness, sometimes continuing into

adulthood. In one study, adults who were bullied as youth were three
times more likely to have unhappy thoughts or feelings. Youth who are
bullied may react through violent measures. In 12 of 15 school shooting
cases in the 1990s, the shooters had a history of being bullied.
How to prevent cyber bullying
Always think carefully about what you are going to post or say
online. Dont share secrets, photos or anything that might be
embarrassing to you and others if it fell into wrong hands. One
thing to remember you dont have complete control over what
others forward or post.
Set privacy settings on your accounts, and make sure youre only
sharing information with people you know and trust. Furthermore,
pay attention to notices from social networks, because sometimes
privacy settings change.
Do a search of your name because accounts that you created in the
past may be sharing your personal information. Any information
that you posted about yourself on a web page (blogs, forums, free
services, groups, etc...) may be publicly available if privacy settings
were overlooked at the time or changed later without your
knowledge.
To do a search for yourself, use quotes around your name, like
Johnny Appleseed. Also search for your email address,
nicknames, blog names or other information. By doing this, you
can see whats publicly available about you and fix it if necessary.

History of Bullying (cyber bullying)

As technology has changed, bullying has multiplied. With the advent of
the Internet, chat rooms soon followed. Online forums provided a shared
education ground for youth to attack one another (Subrahmanyam &
Greenfield, 2008). Chat rooms were increased by AOL Instant
Messenger (AIM), an online communication program that allowed teens
to spend hours talking to one another in private, one-on-one conversations or in public chat rooms. The program further allowed youth to
create group-specific chat rooms. This exclusive opportunity allowed for
youth to get together with select groups of friends and talk about the
latest gossip. Online advances have continued due to telecommunication
advances. The dawn of cell phones in the late 1960s and early 1970s
changed the way people communicated (Shiels, 2003). However, these
portable communication devices did not become widespread, or make it
into a majority of youths hands, until the appearance of the second
generation of digital network phones in the 1990s. After that, they
spread like wildfire. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research
Centre, 75% of 12-17 year-olds own cell phones, which increased from
45% in 2004 and one-in-three teens sends 3,000 text messages per
month (Lenhart, 2010). Though many parents believe that they are
purchasing a cell phone for their child for protective reasons, the
opposite may be true as many youths admit to using their phones as an
instrument for cyberbullying.
Current laws related to cyberbullying
While all cyberbullying is hurtful, some may actually be illegal. When
name-calling, insults and tease increase to harassment, threats, and
intimidation, a teen could face criminal charges.
Current criminal laws already apply to most forms of serious
cyberbullying such as criminal harassment or saying threats. However,
with digital technology changing rapidly, and the behaviours that go
along with it, our laws need to change as well. The Government of
Canada is committed to enabling law enforcement to take action when
acceptable, and is proposing changes to the Criminal Code to make that
possible.

Depending on the exact nature of the cyberbullying behaviour, the

following current Criminal Code offences could be charged:

Criminal harassment
Uttering threats
Intimidation
Mischief in relation to data
Unauthorized use of a computer
Identity fraud
Extortion
False messages, indecent or harassing telephone calls
Counseling suicide
Incitement of hatred
Child pornography
Defamatory libel