Cyberbullying

As technology continues to advance and more and more people every day continually sign up to join social networking sites and join the craze of interactive technologies, so does the amount of vulnerable individuals that come with this latest trend. This is known as Cyberbullying. Cyberbullying (or online bullying) is using modern communication technology or digital media to deliberately and repeatedly harass, humiliate, embarrass, torment, threaten, pick on or intimidate someone. Cyberbullying can happen in lots of different ways. Some of these include by mobile phone, text messages, email, internet channels or through social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Examples of cyberbullying include sending anonymous threatening emails, spreading rumours online, or setting up a fake social networking account using real photos and contact details. The 2008 youth poll found that cyber bullying is affecting more than 1 in 5 young people. The poll also found that 64% of those aged 15-20 belonged to a social network site such as MySpace or Facebook and that over 22% of users in this age bracket had been harassed or bullied through such mediums. In comparison to bullying, cyber bullying adds a new dimension to the consequences of bulling. These include: • This powerlessness felt by victims with its ability to reach the target 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now a victim of bullying cannot even rely on his or her home as a safe haven from bullying behaviour. • It can involve harmful material being widely and rapidly distributed to a large audience, for example, rumours and images can be posted on public forums or sent to many people at once • It can provide the bully with a sense of relative anonymity and distance from the victim, so there is a lack of immediate feedback or consequences. Some of the effects associated with cyberbullying include: • Feeling distressed • Finding it hard to interact and connect in social situations • Having difficulty concentrating at school, and not being able to do school work. • Feeling depressed. • Having a lowered sense of confidence. • Feeling humiliated, rejected and isolated. • Decline in academic performance and social interactions. • Becoming withdrawn in the public environment. In terms of legal responses to this growing problem, the law in many respects has struggled to keep ahead with the advancements in technology. The problem of cyber bullying is no different. While there is yet to be a case of cyber bullying reach an Australian court, such an eventuality is readily plausible. Many pieces of legislation in Australia can be adapted to meet the requirements to prosecute cyberbullying. One such legislation In Australia, which could be adapted for prosecution involving cyberbullying, is the Commonwealth Criminal Code. This key piece of legislation sets out that using a carriage service (such as a mobile phone or the internet) in a way that is menacing, harassing or offensive can be deemed as an offence. Currently this legislation is used for cases involving harassing phone calls, but it could easily be extended to prosecuting cases of cyberbullying involving online communication and mechanisms. In practice, cyber bullying involves activities that are prosecuted under other laws. For example, serious threats may constitute an assault. Persistent online harassments may constitute stalking. In Australia, any conduct which could reasonably be likely to arouse any apprehension of fear in the victim is an offence. Accordingly, sending emails or posting messages on interactive internet forums such as bulletin boards, or chartrooms may constitute stalking. Bullying is not a new phenomenon, but the Internet gives bullies the ability to continually humiliate their victim and amplify a person’s actions beyond a school’s boundaries and jurisdiction. Even though most schools have internet policies, codes of conduct and procedures put in place to deal with bullying in schools, the problem has existed for some time. Thanks to the effects of cyberbullying, the issue is further complicated when bullying begins because it is solely done through the Internet. Teachers and schools in general are sometimes not aware of what might be happening online, and are unsure of the boundaries of their responsibility with cyberbullying, or are simply ill-equipped to handle it, if they do know about it. There is a strong relationship between society and the legal system, and our society feels strongly about justice. The public like to see justice served through our legal system and legislation. Whilst there is no current specific legislation that caters for the effects of cyberbullying, legislation will need to be introduced sooner rather than later. Overseas other countries, such as America have already begun to react to cyberbullying and Australia need to follow suit and do the same. One example of an international case involving cyberbullying is the suicide of Megan Meier. Megan hung herself 3 weeks before her 14th birthday, following an attack from a fake MySpace profile by a fellow classmate’s mother. Soon after Megan first opened her account on MySpace, Megan received a friend request from a 16 year old boy, named Josh Evans. Megan and Josh became online friends however they never actually met in person. The pair soon became close friends. On the 15th October, 2006 Josh’s tone changed and he began to ridicule Megan and cyberbully her. Josh sent her a final message saying ‘you’re a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a bad rest of your life’. Megan then hung herself 20 minutes later in her bedroom closet. It was later discovered that Megan’s friend, Josh was actually the mother of one of her fellow classmates at school who she had had a falling out with, Lori Drew. Miss Drew was indicted and convicted in 2008 on the matter however unfortunately in 2009, this conviction was reversed. Nevertheless, this case caused several jurisdictions including Megan’s hometown of Dardenne Prairie to pass legislation relating to cyberbullying. The state of Missouri updated its laws on harassment and amended them to cover harassment through computers and mobile phone messaging, and creating a new crime to cover adults, 21 and over harassing children under the age of 18. The new legislation went into effect on August 28, 2008. The bill was a reaction to Missouri police's inability to comprehensively prosecute Lori Drew for cyberbullying and harassment by computer and allowing her to walk away with no penalty except for her public image being destroyed. This case is just one specific example which shows that globally, there is a growing need for reform in all areas involving technology. Harsher penalties and legislation needs to be created and enforced to ensure more vulnerable individuals, such as Megan are not victimised and harassed.