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!