Cyber Bullying - Sealing a Tragic Faith - Research Paper Example

Cyber Bullying: Sealing a Tragic Faith Introduction A new kind of cyber bullying became known when Loft Drew exploited MySpace, the online social networking site, to bully Megan Meier in 2006. Megan is aged thirteen and what happened to her is one of a kind because her cyber bully was the mother of another young girl, or, in other words, was an adult. The cyber bullying started when Drew took advantage of MySpace to form a fake profile for a teenager ‘Josh Evans’ on the 20th of September 2006 (Meredith, 2010). It stopped several days afterward when Megan committed suicide in reaction to the remark of Josh that her existence only makes everything worse. According to Gaines and Miller (2011), aside from the fact that this case implicated an adult harassing a minor, this incident is special because Drew was criminally tried in federal court. Drew was charged of breaching the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) because she took advantage of MySpace to form a fabricated profile with the intention of bullying another member of the social networking site. The Dangers of Cyber Bullying Although Drew was the adult offender involved in one of the severest cases of cyber bullying, the reality that criminal law does not particularly forbid cyber bullying does not give good reason for expanding the CFAA or endorsing new statutes that classify cyber bullying as a new criminal act (Meredith, 2010). Nevertheless, federal policy that fights cyber bullying through educational programs would have a favorable outcome. Taking into consideration the favorable and unfavorable impacts of the attempts to fight cyber bullying to date, this paper argues that deterrence through education will be the strongest approach. As argued by Kowalski and colleagues, because educational attempts do not involve the potential unfavorable outcomes of enforcing criminal anti-cyber bullying laws, enhanced Internet protection educational programs deal with cyber bullying constructively, by equipping teachers with the important instruments to educate parents and students how to utilize new technologies sensibly and securely. The common naïve and innocent character of minors, when merged with the Internet’s setting, builds a perfect venue for bullying, particularly because parents can be uninformed of their children’s actions and attitude and the risks involved. In explaining the actual impacts of these risks, the Staten Island chief of the computer and technology investigations division and district lawyer, stated, “[u]nfortunately, many people have trouble living by [the Golden] rule, and when being unkind is taken to the Internet, police and prosecutors are often called on to step in. Welcome to the world of cyber bullying” (Meredith, 2010, 311). Although the advantages of the Internet involve enhanced speed of communication, an exclusive and capably risky feature of this technology is its promotion of anonymity and tolerance (Meredith, 2010). Another risk is that Internet communication is chiefly accessible to younger or trusting users, and particularly adapted toward younger users in several instances. Although additional studies are needed on the motivations of children for cyber bullying, research has discovered that between 8% of adolescents and 18% of middle school pupils have fallen victim to this act. Cyber bullying appears to be most widespread among girls, both as victims and bullies, starting in the 6th and 7th grades (Meredith, 2010, 311). Although a quite contemporary trend, its impacts among victims involve “higher rates of absenteeism, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol use and illness” (Meredith, 2010, 311). Cyber bullying, more serious than traditional bullying, has an especially persistent presence thus, “[f]or some kids who are targeted at school and out of school, it can be a nightmare. They don’t feel like they have a break,” (Meredith, 2010, 311) according to one of the authors of Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age (2007), Patricia Agatston. Thirteen-year old Ryan Halligan, in one of the first publicly known cases of the perilous effects of cyber bullying, killed himself on the 7th of October 2003. He did so partly because several of his classmates performed a practical joke against him through cyber bullying. John Halligan, the father of Ryan, remembers that Ryan liked using the Internet but that he obeyed the house policies his father laid down about online security (Meredith, 2010). Ryan had been taunted and mocked at school and the months before he became an 8th grader when “a classmate pretended to be interested in him romantically [and] then forwarded his instant message responses to all of her friends” (Meredith, 2010, 312). Once classes started and he talked to her personally, “she told him he was just a loser and that she did not want anything to do with him” (Kowalski, Limber, & Agatston, 2007, x). Akin to house policies set by John Halligan for his son’s online activities, Tina, the mother of Megan Meier, regulated her daughter’s online activities. Even though reluctant because Megan confessed that she was not acquainted to ‘Josh Evans’ in any way Tina still permitted her to approve ‘Josh’s’ friend request at MySpace. Tina and Megan did not know the profile had in fact been fabricated by Lori Drew, the mother of one of the previous buddies of Megan, whose purpose was to find out what Megan was saying about her daughter online (Gaines & Miller, 2011). Once Megan approved Josh’s friend request, Drew exploited the fabricated profile to manipulate the young girl’s weaknesses and persuade her that Josh likes her. Megan believed it, but after a few weeks after it started, Josh said to her, “The world would be a better place without [her in it]” (Gaines & Miller, 2011, 186). On the 16th of October 2006, after reading that message, the clueless young girl hanged herself in her cabinet (Gaines & Miller, 2011). According to Meredith (2010), even though Megan had been counseled for depression prior to the cyber bullying incident, her mother holds cyber bullying culpable for ultimately weakening her daughter’s control over herself. Hail Ketchum, a California student, resolved a court case with Newport-Mesa Unified School District and Corona del Mar High School in January 2009 over a video uploaded on Facebook (Meredith, 2010). The video was uploaded by some of her schoolmates who vividly portrayed sexually violating her in the rear of a pickup truck. A vast number of students saw the video before it was finally deleted. Even though Ketchum saw the video itself upsetting although no real sexual violence took place, the court case emerged out of the fact that when informed of the cyber bullying, the school officials did not take the problem seriously. As portion of the agreement, the school district is obliged to set up discrimination- and harassment-prevention seminars for faculty and students as supervised by the Anti-Defamation League (Meredith, 2010). In addition, as explained further by Meredith (2010), the school district was obliged to make an apology to Ketchum, who was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the court proceedings because the video posted on Facebook inflamed interests in homophobia and sexism characterizing Rent, the musical performance produced by the school district. The cases of Megan Meier, Ryan Halligan, and Hail Ketchum demonstrate diverse, although equally grave cases of harassment that was, perhaps, more severe because it took place online. The fact that large numbers of students were immediately able to see the video raping Ketchum, at the same time as numerous buddies of the bully of Ryan Halligan were able to receive the humiliating mails she sent, embody the magnitude and swiftness of online communications. Nevertheless, whether or not bullying is merely changing settings, these severe cases of cyber bullying have brought the problem to the apex of public concern. State legislation has been modified to deal with cyber bullying through different strategies, and federal ruling is presently hanging. Although this form of bullying runs the gamut from improper to morally blameworthy, the task of making a law that would envision and encompass all imminent cyber bullying offenses, without violating the provisions of the First Amendment, appears impossible to be surmounted (Gaines & Miller, 2011). As argued by Kowalski and colleagues (2007), it is crucial as well to take into account aspects like state versus federal legislation and cyber bullying perpetrated by young users as compared to that perpetrated by adults. In order to most successfully fight cyber bullying, policymaking and community programs have to place emphasis on informing parents and children on online security. Conclusions Cyber bullying is certainly a serious issue nowadays. To differing levels of harshness, it distresses children’s security and comfort. Nevertheless, bullying is a social issue that has apparently lived even in the earliest societies. As the severe cases of Ryan Halligan, Megan Meier, and Hail Ketchum illustrate, cyber bullying is unusually risky due to the broad reaches and capacities of online communications. According to Meredith (2010), although cyber bullying can be differentiated on that basis from other kinds of harassment and bullying, it is indefinite whether there has really been a quantifiable boost in the rate of harassment and bullying in our nation, or if the arrivals of sophisticated technologies only make it more noticeable or observable. Therefore, the goal of the government to safeguard the children and the youth from the threats of cyber bullying would be more practically fulfilled by policymaking that raises awareness and understanding of the threats related with the Internet. Not like criminal laws, education initiatives are simply flexible, and hence are more able to adapt to and integrate evolving technology and any related risks. Furthermore, the danger of expanding quite extensively in an education program is far lesser than implementing a very wide-ranging criminal law. References Gaines, L. & Miller, R. (2011). Criminal Justice in Action: The Core. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Kowalski, R., Limber, S., & Agatston, P. (2007). Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Meredith, J. (2010). Combating Cyberbullying: Emphasizing Education over Criminalization. Federal Communications Law, 63(1), 311+ Read More