Is Mobile Bullying Worse?

from the the-enemy-you-can't-see... dept

Mon, Oct 18th 2004 1:18am — Mike Masnick

This isn't the first time people have been upset that online and mobile bullying seems worse than physical bullying. In fact, the story has been covered many times before. However, there is an interesting discussion on why the bullying seems so much worse. With mobile and online bullying, the victim often feels as though everyone is ganging up on him or her. They have no way to tell how many people are really taking part in the bullying -- or sharing in the results. Bullies are often taking information and posting it on the internet or sending it to plenty of friends, leading to a feeling of all against one. At the same time, unlike traditional bullying, mobile bullying can follow you everywhere you go. Also, the last resort to physical bullying, punching the bully back, isn't available. So is there anything that can be done? Should kids learn to virtually bully back the virtual bullies, or are their better solutions? Some people have said that cyber-bullying has allowed for a "revenge of the geeks," since it's often the geeks who are better able to cyberbully, compared to other kids who are better built for bullying on the playground. Of course, these days, with so many kids learning and understanding phones and computers, that's probably not as true any more.

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Oliver Wendell Jones, 18 Oct 2004 @ 8:49am

Paper trail
But if you're being cyber-bullied, isn't there a digital "paper trail" that leads back to the bully? Shouldn't the victim be able to simply show their phone to parents, the police, school officials, etc. and have the bully tracked down and punished?
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- thecaptain, 18 Oct 2004 @ 10:09am
  
  Re: Paper trail
  There's always a trail....BUT.
  
  Local police and/or school administrators are often too clueless to follow it. Even when presented with evidence you can still get "kids being kids" type thing and refer it back to the parents (who likely do NOTHING at all...), OR you will be told that the evidence itself isn't admissible if it was collected in the wrong manner.
  
  On the other hand, the target of the bullying likely is not savvy enough either to realize that he CAN fight back (either with evidence and going to the authorities, or simply using other tactics in cyberspace etc..) and so feels incredibly helpless.
  
  If the bully is both computer savvy and subtle, the bullying can go on for a long period with devastating effects without looking serious enough in the few cases that CAN be brought to authorities to warrant an arrest or sanctions.
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  - David Tramp, 19 Oct 2004 @ 6:35am
    
    How to bully online
    I've enjoyed bullying an idiot online now for years. A business competitor of mine chose to go online on Aohell with three different screen names. You know, one for business, one for emails from Mommy & one so he could get his cyber-freak on. ( A quick search for location & name as well as similarities in profiles provided me w/ the clues that all 3 were his email addresses ) Several weeks of watching him in my buddy list showed me that he was spending a LARGE amount of time in gay chat rooms under one specific screen name. Knowing that this guy is an idiot, I made up a screen name that I felt he might respond to. After two days of sitting in the chatroom he sent me an IM telling me he liked my profile. Long story short, after a few weeks I was able to con this dolt out of 3 pictures of him that showed him in full leather drag, tied up being spanked & in a dungeon. I had a field day. The first thing I did was go to e mail services and make up email addresses that matched his screen names. ( just at other domains ) Then I sent the pictures back & forth from one address to another. Then I sent the pictures to him at his business email addresses with cryptic messages like: " I know who you are and what your into ". The terrified responses I got were wonderful & provided much entertainment within our office. ( as the "victim" is not well liked by anyone in our industry ) I varied my responses, email addresses, etc so that each time I did not leave a consistent trail. I also used public computers and multiple locations. I even went so far as to set up a web page at one of those free porn locations that featured all 3 photo's with a .wav file of " Whip it " playing in the background. Changing the text and then sending notification to the victim provided hours of time wasting at the office,
    
    This went on for years and I still have transcripts of all of this saved to disk.
    
    For my piece de la resistance last year I printed out all three of the photo's in a lovely photoshop collage including all 3 email addresses he uses. I took the 50 copies and mailed them from another state to every customer of his I could locate. To seal the deal, I emailed the pictures to everyone in his office including his boss.
    
    To this day I suspect he knows it might have been me, but the fact is he has no proof AND he is the idiot that sent me the compromising photo's in the 1st place.
    
    and no, I have no regrets.
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    - thecaptain, 20 Oct 2004 @ 8:13am
      
      Re: How to bully online
      So basically you admit you're an *sshole and proud of it.
      
      Good job.
      
      (note the sarcasm)
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