Cyber Bullying?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/teens-killed-in-cyber-bullying-epidemic/2009/02/23/1235237498061.html?sssdmh=dm16.362445

Article wrote:[A Melbourne youth worker] called on federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to change laws so police could pull down online threats and arrest those responsible.

What y'all think of giving them these powers? And what y'all think in general about the concept of cyber bullying? As in, how different is it from regular bullying?

Its different because its completely anonymous and there fore you can give it right back. This guy is just a dickhead.

I don't like those chumps on CS who just constantly piss on each other, but they are all as bad as each other. If you don't like the server, then leave. Its not as if there aren't others. Same as chat rooms, same as any game, same as on the box blaa blaa blaa.

This guy is just another try hard activist with too little witt and too much power.

Once again Tom decides that looking after other people is the wrong idea!

I think I'm coming in on Glen's side. I should also have been more specific in the opening, and so, apologies...

The 'cyber-bullying' was more referring to things like face-book and that other one... whatever the shit it's called, and so they're not really anonymous, although they could just change their name...

Still, I agree that it's kinda different, but I don't think that that makes it 'better' or less-serious—it may even be why it's so terrible, because it's a whole new avenue for kids to torture one another. Before, when kids may have been able to, say, go home from school and get a brief respite, now they can be 'assaulted' at anytime of the day, through mobile phones and internet social sites. It may be different, but that's exactly the point: it just adds to the arsenal of 'bullies.'

But I possibly agree with Tom about not wanting them to bring in laws to enforce this kind of thing... I'm not sure.

Once again glen attacks and in doing so offers no oppinion and opens no door to inquiry, debate and refutation. Well done i say. A creature of habbit is always fantastic to watch.

I am not in favour of bringing in laws to solve our problems in general. Laws restrain freedoms, that is all that they do. Admittedly a lot of the freedoms they curtail are freedoms that hurt others, and so the laws are good. But this is, essentially, free speech.

I don't agree with people bullying other people. But finding someone via the internet and bullying them is a far cry from bullying in the play ground. On the internet if you don't want the confrontation you can just 'run away', and run a lot faster than you can in real life. Not only that but most of the 'bullying' happens by people who don't know you at all, and so it wouldn't contain the same sting as those who do know you bullying you.

Bullying is bad, i know, i was on the brunt end of a lot of it, but putting in place a law that in curtails free speech is not a sollution its a problem waiting to happen.

Glenjamin wrote:Once again Tom decides that looking after other people is the wrong idea!

seriously what the fuck man

Yeah, I agree that we shouldn't just look straight to legislation first to try and solve all our problems — we should probably look at educating those children and/or their ignorant parents. But that doesn't always seem to be effective.

Also, I think you may be underestimating the cyberbullying, slightly. I think a lot of it would be from people they know. This isn't just about playing CS with some douche who you don't know which says "you're shit!!1!" or whatever; it's about people you do know harrassing you on these social networking sites, amongst others. And it's too easy to say "they can just go away." 1) They often can't: if it's posted on someone's site, it stays there. 2) why should they have to? That's one of the whole problems— kids not being able to do what they'd like because they're forced to leave because of the harrassment.
And so on and so forth.

Anyways, I guess this is getting a little off topic because I know you're not disagreeing about the suckiness of bullying, but I just wanted to put forth (down?) that cyber bullying is probably as bad as regular bullying, or, more acccurately (I think) cyber bullying enhances regular bullying.

Andy hits the nail... and Tom- instead of trying as hard as possible to make yourself look so superior, think- for just one moment PLEASE. i didn't have time to write an opinion, so a showed that i disagreed with what you'd said (btw, something you regularily do through sledging) in an amusing fashion. Well, apparently not amusing to you, and so i apologise... Cyber-bullying IS an extension of physical bullying, and i think we need tougher laws to protect individuals from this type of behaviour. Far too many kids lives are ruined by anti-social (yet socially backed) behaviour for any number of reasons- and so yes we should be training parents to be, well- good parents, but as Andy pointed out this is often not enough, as the people who seek help usually aren't the ones who need it most.