Debate of the month for PFD as sanctioned by the National Forensic League. Were not in this tournament unfortunately. () Due to Mouse that roared productions, but as the armor games community, do you guys believe that internet bullying be a crime punishable by law? In my own personal opinion, I think it shouldn't. Due to the simple fact that cyber bullying is totally preventable by simply, avoiding it. You can block them, ignore them, retaliate easily, or just avoid the site they lurk on. Also, if it was a crime, our prison system would be stacked with useless crimes such as this.
It shouldn't be punishable by law. It's no different than regular bullying, other than the fact it's done on the computer. The obvious solution is to just stop going on forums and social networking websites, which are just a waste of time.
Cyber Bullying should be considered a crime. As stated in the next paragraph, it could cause serious damage:
Cyber bullying crime is the new face of traditional bullying in which a student threatens another with physical abuse, invades their personal e-mail account and leaks the private information outside, posts denigrating remarks about them or their digitally altered images with obscene features - and all these are done through the technical media, such as Internet or mobile phones.
What's stupid about a law on bullying? As i've said before, whatever you put on the internet or your computer can be hacked. And don't provoke disputes. If someone bully's you no matter how, you can take it to law enforcement or court.
It shouldn't be punishable by law. It's no different than regular bullying, other than the fact it's done on the computer. The obvious solution is to just stop going on forums and social networking websites, which are just a waste of time.
*facepalm* Regular bullying is technically illegal. It's known as HARASSMENT. And harassment is illegal, because if it is continuous it may lead to physical or mental harm of the person. Depending on the nature of the bullying it may also be viewed as a form of assault, which, last time I checked is not a stupid law to have.
Kinda a stupid law, but what else is new...
Yes, because having anti-harassment laws is such a bad thing.
So to answer the OP, cyber bullying IS illegal, it's merely another form of harassment. Harder to prove in some circumstances, but illegal all the same.
What is the big deal? People should just grow up already, in life you will encounter idiots who like making fun of people. In the case of cyber-bullying, it is just someone using emails, texts, facebook etc. to smear someone else which, as was pointed out already, there are already laws against bullying.
For those thinking that cyber bullying is not a big deal, take this into consideration. If you have looked at headline in the last three months there has been quite the alarming increase of teen suicide due to cyber bullying. This is related because most of the times in these suicide cases, the teen finally gets comfortable enough to admit that he/she is homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, or wanting to change sex. Once admitted, they get constant harassment online. It is easier to get away with if you want to get basic. There is no way of proving that someone is in fact bullying you online. If done face to face, there is a higher chance of eye-witnesses.
There are really several issues to take into account in this debate. Firstly, I would contend that one who is willing to commit suicide over 'cyber bullying' is most likely being tormented in other areas of life as well, and that these areas are far more likely to be causing the real harm.
Secondly, there is nothing forcing said persons to join areas where the bullying is taking place. For example, if someone on AG is picking on you and making you feel bad, you can avoid it by not logging in. While this shouldn't have to happen, it makes 'cyber bullying' a highly avoidable situation.
If someone is bullying you in real life, it's likely in an area where you are forced to attend, such as school, and as such you cannot easily remove yourself from the situation, which makes the situation far more harmful. Also there is no threat of physical harm with 'cyber bullying', except in cases where the people bullying you actually know in real life as well, in which case there are already legal ramifications.
Most states also already have anti-harassment laws which could conceivably apply to electronic interactions as well, especially as there are already provisions to deter one from committing harassment over the telephone. Providing for repercussions against internet harassment should also fall into that same legal category.
Lastly, it is extremely difficult to prove who is at the keyboard when the harassing messages are written, so prosecution of such crimes would be lengthy, costly, and highly ineffective if such new measures were enacted to provide more serious legal ramifications for perpetrators of internet harassment.
For these reasons I find that new measures which would provide serious criminal prosecution in cases of 'cyber bullying' are unnecessary and would likely do little, if any, good at all.
...............i think alot of the problem with cyber bullying lies with younger aged people...like girls for example. maybe an individual or a group are tormenting another girl. image is everything to younger kids... especially girls. maybe some popular girls are the tormentors... they tell the tormented that if she tells on them they'll spread all kinds of lies about her. ie. she's ugly, she's poor, she's gay, she's stupid, she's a *****, etc. being afraid of lies spreading the girl that's being tormented may not do anything and just continue taking the assault with a false smile on her face and a shattered heart in her chest.
saying things are avoidable is so much easier when you aren't the one having it done to you. you might still argue that it doesn't matter and that you'd tell anyway. there are a myriad of personalities in this world... yours is obviously not one that would submit to such harsh words. but there are those out there that would. you may not understand it, but its true. you make light of situations like that but they are very real and very serious.
As someone who grew up being bullied I actually think I have a good grasp on the effects of words, and physical actions, on people, especially people of an impressionable age. However as I said earlier, the children willing to go to such extremes as suicide over bullying are probably not only experiencing bullying online. In fact, I have yet to hear a story of someone being bullied online that wasn't being tormented by the same people in real life. We don't need to enact laws to prohibit or criminalize further 'cyber bullying', we need to educate teachers and other authority figures on how to recognize, handle, and report real life bullying.
We don't need to enact laws to prohibit or criminalize further 'cyber bullying', we need to educate teachers and other authority figures on how to recognize, handle, and report real life bullying.
A short point: This. But also, in a world where most social interaction actually goes by the internet, it has become rather hard to "avoid" the places where it happens, just like it is rather hard to avoid other technological bullying. If you get bullied on facebook, and you decide not to have that account anymore, it might very well lead to further isolation from classmates and friends because it is one of the biggest media for gatherings, information sharing and general social interaction. That is why internet bullying is an issue at all: Because you can't avoid the internet.
You can get harassing emails, you can block their address, but it is so easy to make a new address and then continue. You can block a number on a cellphone, but again, do you really want to block out the majority of numbers just in case? You get threatening AIM/MSN messages, you against do all the blocking, but... You change your email, your number or your AIM/MSN... and it won't be long before it is back.
There is a reason why stalkers so easily can harass their - prey. It is really easy to get information about someone else on the internet, or from other people.
This being said, I still believe the worst cyber bullies are someone the victim knows in real life, otherwise it would be easier to avoid.
Cyber bullying should be treated no more than what normal bullying should be treated in schools and work areas: Zero tolerance. It's not a "crime", but should be treated without hesitation.
There are also different sides of cyber bullying. The lighter side of things are the trolls and flamers we can casually recognize here. They are strangers, they just like to cause trouble, and only the easiest to offend can be hurt by them. Then there are the more serious cases where they are people that know you and know where you are and who you interact with and their sole mission is to cause you pain. Victims, parents of victims, parents of bullies, and teachers and bosses should all be informed about what is going on between them and should enforce judgment as soon as possible.
Again, this is not something that can be enforced as a crime, because it is not effective that way.
Making it a crime means that it invokes a punishment, aka compensation for the victim and/or jail time. If anything, it should be taken care of immediately by an authoritative figure by a zero tolerance policy; if that doesn't solve it, then there may be other ways of dealing with the problem, one being a federal or civil punishment.
