Amanda Todd - Cyber Attack and Bullying - Essay Example

7th March Amanda Todd- cyber attack and bullying Introduction Internet is one of the mediums that are widely known by young generations to spread information in a very fast way. The information can be true or untrue and still can be an avenue through which people use to threaten others. Other people make money through the internet by using unlawful ways of cheating others. Internet has to be used by the young or old people in a responsible manner and not as a ground to make others suffer. This paper will discuss Amanda Todd – cyber attack and bullying that made a 15 year old girl to commit suicide. The paper will also indicate how cyber attacks and bullying could be addressed. Background of the killing Amanda Michelle Todd, who was born in 1996 in Columbia, committed suicide in 2012 at the age of 15. This emanated from a man who was 32 years old after he posted topless pictures of Amanda online and harassed her so relentlessly that she killed herself (James 21). The 15 year old Amanda was found hanging in her home after she uploaded a video from YouTube after experiencing horrific treatment at the hand of cyber bullies. When she was in grade 7 in 2009 to 2010, Amanda used video chat to meet different people over the internet and some friends would comment on her look. Amanda was convinced by a stranger to expose her breast to the camera. The individual later started to blackmail her with treats that the topless breasts are going to be exposed to the internet and friends unless Amanda gives him a show. The only thing Amanda did was to block the email address of the man and report the matter to the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Disclosure of photos In 2012, Amanda was informed by police that photos belonging to her were circulating on the internet, this caused a lot of problems mentally thus experiencing anxiety, depression and panic after the experience. Based on this problem, her parents relocated to a new place where she later started to use drugs and alcohol due to depression. This meant that Amanda had to transfer to another school so as to try and forget the situation in her former school where everybody was aware of the photos that were released in the internet. One year later, after Amanda issue was not in the public but an individual in the Facebook appeared creating a profile using Amanda topless photograph as the profile image. This made the situation to deteriorate and in the same photo all the classmates were contacted in the new school by unknown person. This was a bad experience in the new school where she was being mocked at by other students and this meant that she had to transfer a second time (John and Russell 27). The 32 year old man wrote that he contacted Amanda and invited her to his house where later he had sex with her since his girlfriend was on a holiday. The situation got worse when the girl friend together with other group of people attacked Todd at school and shouted insults on her and received a thorough beating. This made Amanda’s life difficult and unbearable. Later, Amanda commented in the video that the photos together with the comments from the 32 year old guy killed her inside and only deserved death. As the result of the usage of bleach, Amanda did not die and her family decided to move to another city so as to start afresh and try and see whether Amanda life could change. During this time, Amanda tried to do away with old friends in the Facebook but was unable to escape the past (Alan 45). The man was always in her toes meaning that whenever Todd transferred to another school, the man would go undercover to the school and become a Facebook friend to the new school students. The 32 year man had to tell the students that he is going to be a new student and thus being invited as a friend by other students in the social media. This meant as soon as the stranger joins the school, he would post the photos of Amanda with topless breast to the students, teachers and parents making Todd’s life unbearable. After transferring to the new school six months later, further messages were still circulating in the social media together with abusive language that was directed to her. This caused mental problems on Todd’s thus engaging in self mutilation. The doctors prescribed anti depressants and regular counseling sessions that were conducted to improve the condition. But due to shame and disrespect, Amanda would overdose the anti depressants making her to be hospitalized again for more than two days. As a result of the long period of time spent in hospital trying to cure depression and low esteem that she experienced, Amanda performance was poor. She scored low grades in the school making. After going therapy and counseling, the situation was somehow back to normal but still he schoolmates treated her as a poor performer. This made Amanda to hang herself due to depression that emanated from the topless breast that was posted on the social networking sites. Reaction after death Amanda case was received in a widespread way due to the social communication. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) provided email to the public so that they can provide appealing information to the government. The same message was posted to Amanda YouTube video making it a public domain. Within twenty four hours the government had over 400 tips about the death of Amanda and the man behind her death. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police faced lot of challenges during the investigation since some of individuals received false information through the online posting. Others claimed that they were raising money to the family while in the real sense they misused the money (Michelle 23). The death of Todd was received with great concern by many. For example, millions of students took a minute of silence in Toronto district school board to remember her. Another incidence is that series of vigils were held in Canada so that they could remember Todd and other victims who received intimidation in the social media and bullying. Bullying in the social networking was the topic that had to be discussed at length so as to curb the problem once and for all. The government together with the anti- bullying advocates had to call for a conference so that they could deliberate on social networking rules that were to be introduced to make sure that a repeat of the same would no be done again. After the police carried investigation concerning the death of Amanda, it was discovered that social media sites had complaints over death threats thus indicating that the government was unable to curb the behavior (Dirk 19). The government had to monitor all the social networking sites to try and curb the problem. This resulted to the state reporting that the person who they thought was the target turned to be 19 years rather than 32 years. Social media Following the death of an innocent young girl, more than one million users of Facebook liked the memorial page. All the students and strangers who new about Amanda death, contributed by commenting on the page. During this difficult time, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was in the control of social networking making sure that they were monitoring all the sites to try and get appealing information that could help and trace the man behind the death of Amanda. Amanda supporters in the Facebook page also warned the man by commenting on his page and they went further and came up with a list of his personal information, including his date of birth and the address (Amanda 19). The username he used on the website appeared where the man blackmailed the young girl and gave directions what to do so as not to release the topless breast to the internet. The man was taking advantage to the young children in the social networking and was a disgrace to the society. It is worth to note that social media is an initiative that is vital not only in assisting us to communicate with our colleagues but also it helps us to market or advertise our brands. This implies that the society should refrain from making illegal statements through social sites. Anonymous group Anonymous branches or the group is an internet subculture and they do share common goal of censorship and freedom of speech on the internet with the individuals. The group is known well since it focuses at the freedom of speech to those who intimidate others in the social networking media making sure that they reveal the names of harassers in the internet very fast. The group is known as the best to hack government and company websites and in this case it was involved so that it can hack the details of the man behind Amanda death. Anonymous has threatened to take down the Facebook and twitter servers so that it can come up with the required result concerning the man behind the death (Moore 16). The group is known since it has carried cyber attacks on company like Visa, MasterCard and Amazon and yielded good results. Anonymous works together with Luizsec (Luiz Security) since both have claimed responsibility for high profile concerning cyber attacks. The two groups normally compromise the user account data from the Sony Pictures thus making sure that some of the websites are made offline. Security of the page After the death of Amanda, the security was observed on the Facebook users since it was an alert that cyber attacks are currently ruining the life of innocent people. After a man used derogatory comments about Amanda death, he was reported by the security agencies to his employer Mr. Big working in Tall Clothing Chain and was fired. In October 19 2011, a boy who posted inappropriate and disturbing image was arrested and he was questioned (Sheeran 12). The boy had posted images on the Todd memorial page and the police had to remove the images and the Facebook page was shut down. Afterwards, the security was observed in all social networking sites to make sure that such cyber attacks were eliminated from the society. Due to the death of Amanda, the government established Todd trust where all those who were receiving threats from the cyber attacks and bully received donations and support from anti- bullying awareness education programs for the young people with mental health problems ( Barnett 31). Due to this program that was started, websites to give donations were established though they were later made to be offline as the result of the scams associated with the website. The government of Canada took a motion to the parliament to discuss about cyber attacks and bullying thus funding and supporting anti- bullying organizations. This acted as a ground to prevent bullying for all people who used social networking. As the demand for social networking sites increase, it is imperative that governments come up with effective regulations that will ensure that laws are put in place to prevent the misuse of the social sites. In the same way, individuals who are caught up in social network illegal cases should be punished or fined at stipulated by the authorities. Conclusions Key step to deal with cyber attacks is that all the social networking pages associated with intimidation of others and use of abusive languages must be made offline and severe punishment to follow. The second way that one can use when there is cyber attacks and bullying is keeping abusive comments. In the above case, Amanda would have reported the messages to the police or trusted adult. The third way individuals can use to address cyber attacks is being relentless meaning that the cyber bullying will have to keep on sending messages or commenting now and then. So the best way is to be relentless and keep reporting each and every bullying incident until it stops. Similarly, individuals who come into contact with cyber attacks and bullying should block their email address. The affected parties should block the parties’ cell phone number. This implies that if the number is deleted and blocked permanently, the cyber attack and the bullying will be eliminated in a significant way. In the case of Amanda, the situation could not be so bad if she made sure that she did not access the social networking for a month and change the account. The last way one can use incase of cyber attack and bullying is to report the activity to the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Internet Service Provider will make sure that the comments are blocked before they reach one page. If the Internet Service Provider used this method, Amanda would not have died but this made the government to adopt security initiatives in the field of internet. Works Cited Alan, W. Amanda Todd Probe Delayed By Online Rumours, Scams. Canada: Canadian Press. 2012. Print. Amanda, T: Toronto Students to Remember Bullied Teen Who Committed Suicide. Toronto: Toronto Press, 2012. Print. Barnett, J. Virtually Real: A Psychological Perspective on Massively Multiplayer Online Game. New York: New York Press, 2000. Print. Dirk, M. Amanda Todds legacy: A look at Canadas anti-bullying efforts a year after her death. Available from http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/amanda-todd-s-legacy-a-look-at-canada-s-anti-bullying-efforts-a-year-after-her-death-1.1490889 James, K. Amanda Todds Death Felt at we Day Event in Vancouver. Canada: Canadian Press, 2012.Print. John, W and Russell S. Youth at Risk and Youth Justice: A Canadian Overview. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print. Michelle, B. Video Games Activates Reward Regions of Brain in Men More Than Women. Stanford: Stanford University, 2008. Print. Moore, M. Anonymous group decide to intervene in the situation. London: London Press, 2008. Print.   Sheeran, T. Ohio Teen Who Killed Over Video Game Gets 23 Years. Ohio: Associated Press, 2009. Print. Read More