Cyberbullying on the Rise

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Cyberbullying on the Rise
With the advent of each new technological trend
or breakthrough, law makers must try to
appropriately regulate the usage of that
technology based on its impact on both the cyber
and real worlds. Nothing has brought to the
light the complications in litigation keeping up
with technology more than the rise of
"Cyberbullying," a crime that is plaguing
schools and law enforcement across the United
States. Social Networking Sites and
Bullying Parent's concerns over their child's
social lives tend to focus primarily on the
drama that arises from the relationships with
other students and around searching someone to
write my paper for me. When those relationships
seem to become harassing in a way that detracts
from a student's feeling of safety, parents are
expected to bring up the issue with school
officials to deal with their child's antagonist.
This is their right and, some would say, their
responsibility as parents. Instead, many parents
are relying increasingly on law enforcement to
solve these types of problems particularly when
they lead over into cyberspace. In response to
this, the National Crime Prevention Council has
recently began to release commercials aimed at
convincing youths to
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use more discretion while accessing the online
social networking sites used in the act of
"cyberbullying." While many networks such as
MySpace or Facebook provide privacy settings
that can allow parents or the child to prevent
such problems, it has done little to curb
cyberbullying from remaining a relevant issue for
school officials. Infringement of Free Speech
or Good Discipline? A recent lawsuit by a
University of Florida freshman reported by the
New York Times shows a troubling side to the
issue of disciplining alleged acts of online
bullying infringement on the freedom of speech.
The suit, which aims only to correct the
student's disciplinary record as well as cover
legal fees, claims that the female student was
suspended unfairly for posting a rant against a
teacher on an online site. Her rant was posted in
response to the teacher's alleged failure to
assist the student and deleted a couple days
later after the girl had calmed. The issue
raised is whether or not the school is infringing
on the student's freedom of speech in an
over-reaction to adolescent frustration. While
school officials say that the student's comments
are on par with verbal threats against the
teacher's safety, others wonder how criticism can
be considered the same as a threat of physical
violence. For some, the new focus on
cyberbullying is a needed crackdown to help make
student's feel more secure in the most vulnerable
years of their social lives. For others,
cyberbullying is an unnecessary reaction to
problems that can be solved through mediation
instead of disciplinary or criminal procedure.
Until law enforcement officials and attorneys
have constructed concrete policies on dealing
with the new trend, there is little to suggest
the issues will be resolved in the near future.