Tag: cyberbullying

Ladies and trolls: Should we make cyberbullying a crime? – Ireland. [The Register, by Jennifer Burke, 5/1/2015 ].

Ireland’s top legal watchdog is asking for public opinion on whether a new crime of cyber-bullying should be introduced. Members of the public have another two weeks to respond to the independent Law Reform Commission’s (LRC) public consultation on cyberbullying, privacy and reputation.

The Commission’s job is to advise the government on legislation and plans to issue recommendations for criminal law and civil remedies including “take-down” orders.

The consultation asks whether people believe the harassment offence in section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 should be amended to incorporate a specific reference to cyber-harassment.

Specifically, it wants to know if “interfering with another person’s privacy” through “cyber technology” should be a criminal offence. The consultation document points out that “the breach of privacy would have to be more serious than just causing embarrassment to the victim. There would have to be significant humiliation involved not matched by a public interest in having the information published.”

It seems that the leak of celebrity selfies last year was one of the motivations for the consultation as the document mentions J-Law and other “well-known personalities” whose images were distributed online after their iCloud service was hacked. Computer hacking is already an offence in Ireland under the Criminal Damage Act 1991.

However the legal boffins are still worried that current law on hate crime, harassment, etc does not adequately address activity that uses cyber technology and social media, such as so-called “revenge porn” and “fraping” (amending a person’s Facebook profile or other social media profile).

According to the LRC, individuals online “may feel disconnected from their behaviour” as it occurs at a distance from the victim. “This sense of disconnection is increased by the anonymity frequently involved in online communications and may prompt individuals to act in a manner they would not in the offline world,” it says.

Harassment laws include the element of repetition or persistence of an offence, but the searchability of the web means that damaging content can survive long after the event and can be used to re-victimise the target each time it is accessed. For this reason it is difficult to determine if some forms of cyber stalking fall under current laws.

Setting up harmful websites or fake profile pages on social networking sites, in order to impersonate the victim and post harmful or private content in the victim’s name is another area the consultation asks respondents to consider.

Submissions are required before 19 January 2015.

Ask.fm may base itself in Ireland, but social-media abuse isn’t about geography. [ IrishTimes, by Brian Boyd, 8/11/2014].

Would you, at any stage today, go into a shop, bar or restaurant, approach someone you didn’t know and call them “a fat, ugly slut”? Or say you hope they “die of cancer”, before casually moving on? It happens on ask.fm.

The ask.fm site is most popular among 13- to 18-year-olds; anti-bullying charities have called for it to be boycotted. Parents have been urged to warn their children off using it.

Ask.fm announced this week that it is moving its headquarters to Dublin, from its current site in Latvia. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said on Tuesday that there had been “real concerns and anxiety” about the site, adding that the Department of Children and Youth Affairs can work with the site on the issue of cyberbullying.

Ask.fm’s chief executive, Doug Leeds, speaking about the move to Dublin, said the company had hired the world’s best safety experts to ensure a safe and bully-free environment for users. “The overwhelming majority of people who use the site are using it for entertainment, for conversation.”

With about 175 million users worldwide, ask.fm is seen a parent-free digital space where many young teens get their first experience of social media. Primarily, it allows users to ask and answer questions from other members on the site. Some of the users are anonymous.

The site is generally benign, but a small percentage use it for a form of hate-speak.

Simple to use, ask.fm can be a lively and engaging forum for teenagers to share their views on school, music and TV. But for some it is a magnified version of the school playground, where gangs form, individuals are picked on, and anonymous users post content that even in its most printable form runs to “drink bleach”, “go get cancer”, “go die”. A thirteen-year-old in the UK has been threatened with rape.

The founder of ask.fm, Mark Terebin, has said that in his experience cyberbullying is worst in Ireland and the UK. “It seems children are more cruel in these countries.”

It’s certainly not exclusive to ask.fm. This sort of activity happens on several social-networking sites, but ask.fm does seem to have become a particular source of worry.

Two young girls from Co Donegal, aged 15 and 13, took their own lives in 2012 after being subjected to abuse on the site. Some saw a connection between the posts and the girls’ deaths.

Prominent UK companies – including Vodafone, Specsavers and Laura Ashley – said last year they would not advertise on ask.fm for ethical reasons, following cases there. The British prime minister, David Cameron, said people should boycott “vile” websites that allow cyberbullying.

Although Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan says that “ask.fm relocating to Dublin is a matter of concern”, and that it is an issue he will be raising with his colleagues, the reality is that it matters little where the site has its headquarters. Equally, the site could be banned tomorrow to little or no effect. The conversation would merely move elsewhere.

With due regard for the grief, anger and sadness of parents whose children have lost their lives, a panic about ask.fm in isolation does not address the bigger issue.

Bullying behaviour, by both teens and adults, is endemic to social-media dialogue. And the worst bullying comes from those afforded anonymity.

On the more grown-up Twitter and Facebook sites, bullying and personally hateful remarks can be contextualised by adults who are generally more inured to their effects. But when your core audience is to 13- to 18-year-olds, it’s different. A 13-year-old today sees content online that would send shivers down the spine of the most robust and broad-minded adult.

Following the death of the 13-year-old Donegal girl Erin Gallagher, in 2012, the founder of ask.fm, Mark Terebin, said that the site could not be held responsible for cyberbullying and that it is “necessary to go deeper and to find the root of the problem. It’s not about ask.fm. The problem is about education and moral values that have been devalued. Start with yourself; be more polite, kinder and more tolerant of others. Cultivate these values in families and in schools.”

Whatever your feelings about ask.fm, Terebin’s point is at least partly true: in the online world, legislating against bullying behaviour is almost impossible – but educating about its causes, context and consequences is not.

Call for watchdog to tackle bullying online [Examiner, by Sarah Slater, 10/11/2014].

Jim Harding, founder of the anti-bullying group Bully4U, also called for more powers to independently audit social media organisations such as Ask.fm, Facebook and Twitter.

Bully4U provides training to children and teachers at primary and secondary school on the dangers of cyberbullying. It warns that a huge number of schoolchildren they deal with say many social media comments are of “an extreme sexual nature”.

Mr Harding has made the call for Government to introduce “badly needed” statutory powers following the announcement that Ask.fm, which allows users to post anonymous questions to others, is to relocate to Ireland.

Bully4U deals with thousands of schoolchildren every year and, in conjunction with the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre at Dublin City University, held the first national cyberbullying conference in September.

“There really needs to be more substantial powers to independently audit such websites as Ask.fm. People can just post comments anonymously, so there needs to be some sort of trail so that posts can be verified. Such posts include; ‘Go die, you are worthless,’” Mr Harding said.

“Having Ask.fm located in Dublin makes no difference when it comes to the use of social media as it has no worldwide borders. Hopefully one good thing of having the social media website located here is that it will push for the creation of a social media ombudsman, allowing these companies to be independently audited and for the introduction of fines if certain guidelines are not followed by these companies.

“Up to 30% of children we deal with feel that Twitter is the safest of the social media networks in use. Urgent measures to stop the creation of false social media accounts set up by children who are under the age of 13, need to be in place. Parents feel they have no influence in their children’s internet usage.”

Ask.fm in a statement said it plans to introduce a “law enforcement affairs officer” based in Ireland.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has also voiced concern on Ask.fm moving to Ireland and intends to raise the issue with the Government.

Ask.fm has come under scrutiny following the deaths by suicide of 15-year-old Ciara Pugsley in Leitrim and 13-year-old Erin Gallagher in Donegal in 2012. Erin’s older sister Shannon took her life soon afterwards. Their mother Lorraine has campaigned to have the site shut down.

Jonathan Pugsley, whose daughter Ciara took her life following alleged cyberbullying and who has condemned the relocating of Ask.fm to Ireland, said it “is worrying that the popularity of the site was increasing again”.

Ask.fm chief executive Doug Leeds said: “I can tell you that there are 180m global unique users that visit Ask.fm each month. Ireland is still a relatively small market for us, but we’ve seen 30% growth for registered users in Ireland in the last year.

“In terms of daily new registered users on a global scale, there were 400,000 new users in one day (earlier this year) caused by a spike in registrations in Thailand in April. In the last three months, the average number of daily registrations is between 120,000 and 140,000.”

Twitter chief highlights user role in tackling cyberbullying [The irish Times, by Rachel Flaherty, 02/09/2014]

The best ways to stop the “disturbing” trend of cyberbullying were discussed at a major conference in Dublin yesterday.

The head of global safety outreach and public policy for Twitter said the company’s goal to stop abuse on the site was to empower the user to protect themselves.

However, Patricia Cartes said the reason “eggheads” – accounts with no names or description of who the person is – were allowed was because it was in line with the company’s freedom-of-speech approach.

“There are areas in the world where using the internet is not safe,” she said.

Ms Cartes said as the company did not collect dates of birth, they did not know what ages their users were.

Taking action

“If an account is reported, we will take action on that account,” she said.

Ms Cartes was asked by a member of the audience why the minimum age for social media use should not be increased from 13 years to 18 years.

“Restricting access to under 18s would be a mistake. There are some really positive uses of technology out there,” she said.

Facebook’s director of policy for UK, Middle East and Africa Simon Milner said users had to use their real name on its site but they could not stop people under the minimum age of 13 from setting up accounts.

Proof of age

He said the company took action when an account was reported and Facebook could ask the user to prove their age.

“We know we don’t always get it right, but we have established what are known as ‘Insafe’ helplines around Europe to help,” he said.

He said removing people’s comments or photographs was a “complicated area” as people had the right to express themselves.

“We operate a zero tolerance to bullying and harassment,” he said. “With regard to anonymity, users have to use their real name, if not, we will ask the user to take it down or we can have it blocked.”

Founder of the Digital Youth Council and Kidtech Harry McCann, who had asked a question from the audience about what Facebook could do to stop underage children from using the site, said his question had not been answered.

“It really made me feel that Facebook are taking the lazy approach to ensuring that they are sticking to the guidelines they have laid down. It is simply not good enough,” he said.

Senior facilitator at Bully4u Kevin Deering said children as young as seven and eight were on Facebook.

“I met one little girl who came up to me after a workshop to say she didn’t realise her behaviour was bullying behaviour,” he said.

Cyberbullying

“We need a unified approach from parents, parents council, teachers, young people to tackle cyberbullying and bullying.”

MEP Seán Kelly, a former teacher and GAA president who opened the conference, said young people did not have the life experience to cope with threats and harassment online.

“Cyberbullying is a disturbing trend . . . an epidemic that is growing rapidly,” he said.

National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals director Clive Byrne said that banning smartphones from school was not a solution to cyberbullying.

“It would only drive the issue underground,” he said.

Mr Byrne said all the internet service providers needed to “do more” to stop cyberbullying.

Health and safety law expert David Fagan said specialised legislation for cyberbullying was needed.

“In all instances of bullying, it should be reported to the gardaí.”

image

(Facebook’s Simon Milner, MEP Seán Kelly MEP, special rapporteur on child protection Geoffrey Shannon and Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw)

Parents urged to learn the signs of cyberbullying to protect their children [Irish Examiner, by Evelyn Ring, 02/09/2014]

Colman Noctor, a child and adolescent psychotherapist at St Patrick’s Hospital in Dublin, said the genie was out of the bottle when it came to cyberbullying.

“It is very hard to avoid it so we have to put interventions in place to help young people deal with it,” said Mr Noctor.

It was up to parents to be vigilant about their child’s online behaviour and there were a number of signs that they should watch out for.

“The child might act very territorial about their mobile phone or flip down the laptop when you come into the room,” he said.

Parents also needed to look out for signs of emotional upset such as sleep and appetite problems.

The child might also lose interest in activities they would normally take part in and opt out of engaging with friends.

Mr Noctor, who addressed the conference on cyberbullying held in Dublin Castle yesterday, said parents were often surprised that their child was being cyberbullied.

“Unfortunately, cyberbullying is a manifestation of bullying behaviour that has being projected into another forum,” he said.

Mr Noctor said parents also needed to show children how to manage technology.

Research also showed that young people who were depressed were more likely to spend more time online.

Colm Human, 18, who described himself as a “cyberspace techie”, told how he helped a friend who was being cyber-bullied.

Colm, who has just finished the equivalent of the Leaving Certificate in Toronto, Canada, has come to Ireland to study film at a Dublin college.

He said his friend was repeatedly sent malicious text and video messages.

“I got very upset as my friend was considering suicide as a way out,” he said.

Colm identified the perpetrator and told him to stop bullying his friend.

He knew it was probably not the best way to deal with the situation but had found from personal experience that teachers were not helpful in dealing with such issues.

“I am not saying go out and fight the bully but make them realise that you can stand up for yourself and cannot be pushed around,” said Colm. “I helped him make a difference.”

Cyber Bullying Statistics States That Over 1 In 3 Young People Have Experienced Cyber Threats [KDrama Stars, by denise Garcia, 01/09/2014]

Cyber bullying according to Stopbullying.gov “is bullying that takes place using electronic technology”. This includes devices like computers and cell phones, and communication tools like social media sites and chat.

iSafe Foundation reported that “more than one in three young people has experienced cyber threats online and that over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet.” This only shows that this is a serious concern among teenagers.

There are a lot of ways to fight against cyber bullies:

Ignore the message and block the user.

Do not respond – act as if you do not care. Showing this bully that you are not affected at all will make him feel powerless and without control of the situation. Block the user, change your mobile number or create a new social media account to prevent the person from making another ‘attack’. You may also consider deleting all your social media accounts, if it will make your life more peaceful.

Do not answer back. It may only worsen the circumstance. Relax. Share your problem with your family to unload yourself of the emotional burden. They can even offer you help.

Do other things – stay away from the computer or your mobile phone.

There are times like this that you should keep yourself from using the computer or your mobile phone. Busy yourself with other offline activities like playing your favorite sport with your friends. It is not easy; it actually takes a lot of courage but you can do it if you try hard. Surround yourself with happy persons.

Report the cyber bullying to the webmaster and others.

Ask help from the webmaster, mobile service provider, and Internet server. Send an email that tells your request for the removal of the item.

Look for a support group.

There are organizations or community groups that reach out to people that are victims of cyber bullying. Seek help from one of them. It can give you advices on how to manage Internet bullies. It can also guide you on how and when to seek legal assistance.

Scullen student named as finalist in Google Science Fair [NapervilleSun, by Jane Donahue, 29/08/2014]

Trisha Prabhu didn’t know Rebecca Sedwick, the Florida teen who ended her life last year after being cyberbullied. But after reading about her suicide in the news, the 14-year-old set out to raise awareness and hopefully put a halt to cyberbullying altogether.

“She was younger than me,” said Prabhu, of Naperville. “I was stunned and I immediately knew that I had to do something.”

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, cyberbullying is similar to other types of bullying, except it takes place online and through text messages sent to cell phones. Cyberbullies can be classmates, online acquaintances, and even anonymous users, but most often they do know their victims.

Prabhu chose cyberbullying as the topic for her Scullen Middle School science fair project, specifically whether those ages 12-18 were more willing to post offensive messages on social media sites than an older age group.

“I found out that the younger age group was 40 percent more willing,” said Prabhu. “I was shocked. I knew we needed to focus on that age group and that is when I started to do work to find an effective long term method to stop cyberbullying.”

Armed with that data, Prabhu said she had to do something to force change.

“I realized I could use my science and technology skills to effectively prevent cyberbullying at the source, before it occurs,” said the teen.

She created a prototype for software called “Rethink” for web and mobile platforms. The idea, if adolescents were provided an “alert mechanism” that suggested they rethink their decision to post a mean message on social media, the number of hurtful messages would be decrease.

She entered the project, “Rethink: An Effective Way to Prevent Cyberbullying,” in the 2014 Google Science Fair competition.

“Google Science Fair is an amazing platform and such a great place to share ideas,” said Prabhu. “With my passion for wanting to stop cyberbullying, I thought why not give it a shot.”

This month, Prabhu was named as one of 15 global finalists, and will travel to Google’s headquarters in California to present her project to a panel of judges on Sept. 22.

“I am just so honored to be one of the global finalists,” said the teen, who will be a freshman at Neuqua Valley High School. “I hope that this project not only raises awareness about cyberbullying, but conquers it. We need to focus on stopping it.”

 

‘Bird of the Day’ Facebook pages encourage cyber-bullying, says Irish university. [ The Cambridge Student, by Larissa Kennelly, 15/11/2013 ].

The pages, which encourage other students to ‘rate’ or comment upon the attractiveness of the pictured female, have sparked complaints of cyber-bullying and concerns that such pages promote sexist attitudes.

In response to complaints over the content of one such page featuring their name, ‘UCC Bird of the Day’ University College Cork (UCC) contacted Facebook to ask that pages of this nature attempting to affiliate themselves with the university be taken down.

UCC stated on their Facebook page that they were “aware of several Facebook pages that claim to represent UCC and which in many cases contain hurtful or defamatory comments targeted at students and/or members of staff… we strongly condemn them.” The post also included information on support networks available to students that had been affected by content on the pages.

The University’s public condemnation of these pages has attracted national attention in Ireland as other universities began to follow suit, and request that these pages be shut down.

Tom McCarthy, Media and Public Relations Officer at UCC, told The Cambridge Student about the positive impact of the university’s decision: “Indeed it has encouraged others to do [the] same in various universities and it is great to see it has started a conversation around the topic, as this is an unfortunate reality, thankfully in the minority, of the digital world that is not going away.”

However, Dave Berry, UCC Student Welfare Officer, reported that students complaining about the content of pages such as ‘Bird of the Day’ were being subjected to further bullying and intimidation as a result. He said, “The worrying thing is that students who have talked up [sic] against the page, or even our own staff, have been ridiculed or bullied afterwards.”

The student union at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) – another  institution that has seen similar pages appear in its name – has also spoken out against the phenomenon. President of GMIT Student Union, Sam O’Neill, said, “These pages have on many occasions encouraged other students and the general public to make comments on individual student’s looks, clothes and their circumstances.

“The issue of cyber-bullying has once again raised its ugly head here, as these comments could potentially have a seriously negative affect on student’s mental health. We would urge students to think before they post, and to be more conscious of the privacy settings of their social media pages (thus preventing non-friends from sharing their content), and to report incidents to Facebook where they feel cyber bullying has occurred.”

Despite the serious criticism such pages have sparked, ‘Bird of the Day’ pages featuring the names of universities such as University of Limerick (UL) and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) are still in operation at the time of writing.