Here Come The Laws Against Online Bullying

from the finally dept

Wed, Feb 21st 2007 12:36pm — Joseph Weisenthal

For years now, we've seen stories about online bullying, and the only real surprise is that there hasn't been a rash of legislation aimed at curbing the nasty practice. After all, politicians love to pass laws that appear to "protect the children". Well, the laws are finally coming. Several states are now considering laws to address the problem, though it's not clear what, exactly, the laws are intended to do. For the most part, they seem like rather vague directives aimed at encouraging schools to do something about the problem. Of course, most online bullying happens outside of school, which means that states are asking schools to get in the business of regulating speech, i.e. violating the first amendment. As objectionable as online bullying is, insults remain a form of protected free speech (oh, and there's no age requirement for having free speech). Of course, direct threats of harm are a different matter, but there are already laws against that. There's no easy solution to this problem, just as there's no solution to regular bullying, which has been going on for ages, despite many efforts to eliminate it.

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Former Survivor, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:09pm

bullying
You know what, people have been being bullied since time began, and we have lived with it. I was bullied plenty all through school, instead of whining about it and pissing and moaning and complaining about it I chose to ignore it.

Kids today are getting too soft, everytime something bad happens they run and tell mommy. The people getting bullied need to learn that it's going to happen their whole lives if they let it, if they do something to stop it then Yay for them they can see what it's like to move on. Otherwise get used to it, the more you complain about it the worse it will be.
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Justin Bateman, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:19pm

Your feet stink
I can almost see the over-weight/short/smelly(..etc) people in the world using these proposed laws against others - especially their doctors, for having told them that "you need to loose weight because you are fat", "you need to take some steroids to help increase your height", "you need this drug to help with your smelly feet"...etc

if it's truth, why be offended? if it's not truth, why worry what is said? if you worry too much....well, then you got insecurity problems - or even worse
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Dylan Klebold, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:19pm

I don't need their help
Eric Harris and I can handle the bullies ourselves.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:32pm

Thoughts from a Dumb American
We're creating a nation of weenies. Some schools districts aren't even assigning grades anymore. In 5-10 years our kids will be so dumb, we'll fail to be a superpower, and enevitably we'll be eclipsed by Japan, Korea and India. It's always someone else's fault, and priorities are all messed up these days. No parents at home to watch the kids, 80% of working women will go back to work within 6 weeks, when every shred of evidence says that the kiddos need as much time with their parents in those first four years.

Being involved in sports, and occasionally being bullied by others were the best lessons of my younger life. It helped me to understand that "the game of life" was all about other people jocking for positions, and for the most part, isn't personal.
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Overcast, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:38pm

It will be a reason to force ISP's to keep those Logs now...

Since it's the 'law'.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:43pm

Re: Thoughts from a Dumb American
I would like to see a study on "politicians who were raised soley by their mothers" or "politicians who had very little contact with their fathers".

Still, this best summery ever!:
"the game of life was all about other people jocking for positions, and for the most part, isn't personal."
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Another Survivor, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:50pm

Bullying
I was bullied in school, not severely, but nonetheless I was bullied. So what did I do? Did I get depressed, suicidal, turn into some sort of person seeking revenge as other people have? No, I ignored it, or even better (and this always succeeded in ticking people off) go with it.
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PhysicsGuy, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:55pm

ugh...
"online bullying" is not bullying. bullying usually involves physical harassment. "online bullying" is flaming and pranks. if someone can't handle flaming they shouldn't be on the internet and if they can't handle pranks then they should seriously look into home schooling, or some such thing, and end communication with their peers indefinitely.
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Sanguine Dream, 21 Feb 2007 @ 2:17pm

While...
I agree that some bully victims need to be helped I really don't a law or two is really gonna help. The big issue is gonna be enforcing them. How do you monitor every single possible bully situation in America?

Of course I can understand someone wanted to do something. I firmly think that if those boys that shot Columbine had been able to turn to someone that would have listened to them (its my understanding that they were bullied but the teachers ignored them when they tried to find help) that horrible even may have been prevented.
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Dim Future, 21 Feb 2007 @ 3:10pm

Bullies
If you were in sports you probably have no idea what bullying really is. You were either mutually teased or hazed (a different bizarre ritual). In either case it's not because you weren't accepted. If you think bullying begins and ends with name calling then you are sadly mistaken.

Spousal abuse, in many forms, is still a standard practice in many cultures. Slavery used to be a predominant part of this countries fabric. And so you should see that just because it has been that way doesn’t make it right.

If you were bullied and you are better for it, good for you. You now have a responsibility to help those who can’t rationalize this treatment. They spend their days trying to avoid confrontation and worrying about the next incident. They feel isolated and ashamed. For those same reasons they don’t talk about. Not to their parents and not to counselors who could potentially help. They feel helpless and desperate in a situation they are forced to be in. Yes Dylan, on rare occasions they take extreme measures to empower themselves. If they “survive” they either become bullies themselves or introverts still attempting to fix things inside.

So legislation has been drafted in an attempt to deal with a very public and potentially intense form of bullying (a picture is worth a thousand words). Do I agree with it in principle? No. Do I think it will help directly? No. At this point though, we must stop pretending that we really are doing something. Sentiments like “it makes you a better person” and “it’s just a part of life” underlie the notion that we are a concerned nation. Kids should be in an environment where they taught the difference between jocking and jockeying, not how to coerce, harass or embarrass other people. A place where a request for sanctuary will not result in a half hearted reprimand with repercussions to pay later. Coddling our kids is not something to worry about. Life will offer plenty of hard-knock lessons. When they are unencumbered by schoolyard violence then they are free to excel.
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TheDock22, 21 Feb 2007 @ 3:26pm

Re: Thoughts From a Dumb American
No parents at home to watch the kids, 80% of working women will go back to work within 6 weeks

Okay, first I have to rant about this line. Why are women obligated to stay at home with the kid? Men are just as capable of staying home. So instead of blaming women solely for abandoning their children to work and provide food and shelter, also blame the men that do the same thing.

Now, I agree that mild bullying needs to be taken with a grain of salt. This is a dangerous world we live in now though and true bullies that go unchecked can turn into viscous and violent offenders. I don't care who you are it is NOT okay to torture someone simply because you don't like them.

Oh, and the First Amendment right the article says has no age limit? It does, no one under 18 has full Freedom of Speech. That's why the local high school newspaper is supervised always by an adult.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2007 @ 3:27pm

Re: Bullies
I think you missed a key word in the article, "ONLINE".
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PhysicsGuy, 21 Feb 2007 @ 3:33pm

Re: Re: Thoughts From a Dumb American
"That's why the local high school newspaper is supervised always by an adult."

no, because it's the school's newspaper. name one newspaper that will print ANY article a journalist dreams up. there's always a person or people who moderate what is printed in THEIR newspaper. freedom of speech is about what our government can do about passing laws that prohibit speech, not what individual organizations can allow in their own product. as the article says, the first amendment does NOT have an age limit.
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dorpus, 21 Feb 2007 @ 3:34pm

Re: bullying
Kids today are getting too soft, everytime something bad happens they run and tell mommy. The people getting bullied need to learn that it's going to happen their whole lives if they let it, if they do something to stop it then Yay for them they can see what it's like to move on. Otherwise get used to it, the more you complain about it the worse it will be.

What's funny to me is that the adults who say kids deserve to get beaten up are not saying the same thing about adults getting beaten up. We do not see many people saying that adults deserve beatings and should just get used to it as part of adulthood.
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Moderation, 21 Feb 2007 @ 3:35pm

Re: bullying
Soft? Wow how clueless are you! Kids today live with more violence than you hippies and disco babies can imagine.

The problem with bullying today is that it escalates FAST. And it doesn't escalate to fist fighting, it can escalate to a glock to the back of the head... and we're not talking about the rare school shooting, we're talking about the far more common neighborhood voilence that doesn't make national news media coverage.

Soft... hehe you should become a teacher.
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dorpus, 21 Feb 2007 @ 3:51pm

Re: Re: bullying
I'm not convinced that violence today is worse than a generation ago. Plenty of kids used guns and knives back then -- gun ownership rates used to be higher, in fact. People used to have a casual attitude about shootings as well, that it was "just an accident" or a "local dispute". The media today makes a bigger deal out of it and would have us believe that civilization is coming to an end.
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mx_, 21 Feb 2007 @ 4:01pm

To all those yelling about the nation of weenies:
Think again which issue we're resolving -- American population being weak, or American population being stupid? Now, it seems to me the problem today is the latter one. Am I wrong? Then how is presence of bullying helping the education? Not only kids have no idea why they learn, hate going to school, waking up early, and are taught that they study to pass exams - they also are afraid of being bullied, come home completely distracted, and think of their hatred for school much more than of subjects and classes. On the background of the social life, actual classes seem irrelevant and unnecessary. How do you expect to resolve the education problem then? I think America has plenty of "tough" people who only know how to deal with things by the use of physical strength. There is no reason to PRESERVE what there's already PLENTY of.

P.S. I'm from Russia. Believe me, I've seen bullying. There's very little educational value in it. Almost insignificant. If you claim you've learned something, it's most probably not something that makes you more effective in your life. Most probably, it's an illusion of strength - a pride of going through something hard in your childhood, while actually having nothing else to claim as a "tough experience". It could be a lesson to deal with things by means, which produce the negative net outcome.

As for online bullying - screw it, who cares.
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Chris, 21 Feb 2007 @ 4:28pm

Online Bullying doesn't exsist.
You can't be bullied over the internet, it's just not possible. What you can do is allow yourself to read the stupid crap people say on a day to day basis and take it to heart. If you're at school and someone comes up to you and punches you in the arm every day that's being bullied. Reading is just that, and nothing more. So if you take offense to everything you read on a computer screen then you might as well go ahead and kill yourself, because there's always going to be something that offends you.
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Jack Sombra, 21 Feb 2007 @ 5:11pm

"Soft? Wow how clueless are you! Kids today live with more violence than you hippies and disco babies can imagine."
Sorry but you are wrong, when and where i grew up nearly every kid carried a knife (guns were/are rare though because it was a country where guns were/are illegal ).
Fights were common.
Hospitalization was common result of these fights.
Death sometimes happened, though thankfully was rarer

But no one went on about "bullying" because no one viewed it as such, it was "just life"

Where as these days this kind of stuff would be national headlines as "bullying out of control"

The only ones these days i would say that face equal or worse violence than we did are the ones living in gang neighbourhoods (which are a tiny miniroty in any country), but i would say for them it is not "bullying" but rather "just life"
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A Teacher's Son, 21 Feb 2007 @ 5:40pm

Get Real
#1 Parents Do YOUR JOB, Be PARENTS: that means be the adult, be a friend, and TEACH your kid Right Wrong and How to Deal with life.

#2 Politicians do what they think will get them the most votes more often than then they do what is right.

#3 If you're bullied on-line get a new e-mail or I don't use that Handy-Dandy block filter that most email providers give you.

#4 if the "bullying" is not true IGNORE it, if it is Live with it i.e. Someone calls you gay and you are not don't worry about it. the only reason they said it is probably cause they are so far in the closet it isn't funny. and if you are Big Deal, So What, Who Cares? It ain't the end of the world. If people would be honest about who they are we wouldn't have half the problems we do today.

Oh and by the way the entire world better pray these laws don't pass. cause there go the usefulness of threads to noobs. and it will be the US going in to other countries to get bullies just like we go after the child porn in Russia, that is that countries responsibility. Or the Communist Censoring of the Internet. I'm sorry that the man's son killed him self but If he had been a True Parent it Would Not Have Happened.
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Chris, 21 Feb 2007 @ 5:58pm

Re: Get Real
There's hope yet!

"If he had been a True Parent it Would Not Have Happened."

Suicides don't happen becauase of one single event, they happen due to many events that compund into one very large unchecked problem. This is more than likey why the kid killed himself. He probably put up with crap his whole life, had a deadbeat dad who didn't take the bullying seriously and wound up taking his own life because of it. Now the dad had somewhat of a reality check and goes about the same avenue of fixing problems he's probably always taken, letting someone else bare the resposibility for him.
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Mischa, 21 Feb 2007 @ 5:58pm

I think you missunderstand.
While you can't be physically bullied, you can still be threatened with physical violence. Online bullying is not about flame wars and other arguments strangers get into online, its about interactions between people who know each other in the real world.
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mx_, 21 Feb 2007 @ 6:00pm

Re: Get Real
"Someone calls you gay and you are not don't worry about it"

Someone calls you gay and you are not - reply "you wish".

And do the ; ).
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Chris, 21 Feb 2007 @ 6:04pm

no I think you're the one suffering for a sever ca

"...you can't be physically bullied"

So if I punch you in the face how is that not physically bullying you? What I think you were trying to say is that you can't be physically bullied over the internet, however people can still threaten you with physical violence.

No one here is under the assumption that some random kid in some state is going around IM'ing anyone he can. We acknowledge the fact these bullies are just finding a more thorough way to be an ass. But thankfully in real life as well as on the internet we have the ability to simply IGNORE them.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2007 @ 7:54pm

Is it bully'ing to take a photo of your classmate with you camera phone, and then photo-chop the person's head onto some other picture where that character is doing something awful or even holding up a sign when vicious words proclaiming that the persons is something horrible?

I think that this style of behavior might be more of what the article is based upon.
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lets save the Children......., 21 Feb 2007 @ 9:05pm

I think two simple solutions would take care of all of this,
1. ban children from the net, Duh! (no one under 18 allowed)
or
2. Don't have kids cause life is 100% fatal
I hope this offends some of you, but if you let the Govt regulate Morals, you offend me.

Bullying is natures replacement for the sabre tooth tiger, survival of the fittest, trust me, the Herd Needs thinning
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CanSav, 21 Feb 2007 @ 11:23pm

That is a joke
Ok, according to the all knowing Merriam Webster:

"One entry found for bully.
Main Entry: 3bully
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): bul·lied; bul·ly·ing
transitive verb
1 : to treat abusively
2 : to affect by means of force or coercion
intransitive verb : to use browbeating language or behavior"

No how the hell would they intend on enforcing or "tracking" this "browbeating language"? Like hell are they going to be able to monitor everything, people would never let that fly.
So would it be on the basis of complaints?.. thats how the system for reporting abuse (physical or verbal) works now... so whats new and improved and nessesary about this?...
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2007 @ 4:55am

Re: bullying
Amen brother
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2007 @ 5:07am

Re: Re: bullying
Or you can stop listening to the media like the lemming you are and realize that it really hasn't changed that much since the olden days. Last time i checked suburbia kids weren't dealing with wars between racially merging schools, being afraid of getting drafted, etc.
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diggo, 7 Mar 2007 @ 4:31am

football
safe yo whatyou on
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Dani, 11 Apr 2009 @ 10:57pm

Gosh makes me sick there is a woman onlline I caught bullying kids I reported her earlier so hopefully she'll get into somewhat trouble but bullying is because a kid or adult was abused or their homelife is not great 95 % of the time so they got a way to settle their problems and that's out on kids and others but makes me sick an adult would pick on kids....................
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ANONYMOUS, 6 May 2010 @ 1:43pm

ONLINE/CYBER-BULLYING
HOW CAN MODERATOR BAN YOU FROM A FORUM FOR TRYING TO DEFEND YOURSELF: IT HAPPEN TO ME SEVERAL TIMES, THAT A BUNCH OF GUYS GANGED UP ON ME & MADE FALSE COMPLAINTS ABOUT ME; AND, SITUATION GOT SO BAD THAT I EITHER HAD TO LEAVE THE FORUM OR THAT I WAS BANNED, FOR HAVING A DIFFERENT OPINION AND FOR TRYING TO DEFEND MYSELF: THERE OUGHT TO BE LAWS AGAINST UNFAIR MODERATORS THAT TAKE SIDES WITH THE BULLIES ON THE INTERNET.
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ANONYMOUS, 6 May 2010 @ 1:46pm

GETTING BANNED FOR USING CAPS: IS THAT ONLINE BULLYING ?
CAN A PERSON GET BANNED FROM A FORUM FOR USING CAPS, THAT I WAS BULLIED SEVERAL TIMES IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT FORUMS FOR USING CAPS: I WAS NOT SHOUTING, BUT THE BULLIES ALL ACCUSED ME OF SHOUTING, AND STARTED A FLAME WAR AGAINST ME FOR USING CAPS.
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ANONYMOUS, 7 May 2010 @ 4:51am

GIVEN [VERBAL] IMPLIED OR/AND INDIRECT DEATH THREATS FOR HAVING A DIFFERENT OPINION ON A SUBJECT MATTER.
THE ONLINE/CYBER BULLIES USE MY POOR GRAMMAR AS EXCUSE TO TRASH ME, NOT LIKE IT, & THE UNFAIR MODERATORS TAKES THE SIDE OF HIS OR HER FRIEND(S) OR/AND THE UNFAIR MODERATOR IS AN ONLINE/CYBER BULLY HIMSELF OR HERSELF & USES HIS OR HER FRIENDS TO BULLY TO ME, NOT LIKE IT: THERE OUGHT TO BE LAWS AGAINST BOTH UNFAIR MODERATOR[S] AND AGAINST THOSE THAT MAKE DEATH THREATS AGAINST THOSE WITH DIFFERENT OPINION ON A SUBJECT MATTER, & FOR WANTING TO WRITE IN CAPS, IS WHAT I LIKE TO DO, TO WRITE IN CAPS, IS NOT SHOUTING, BUR RATHER A CHOICE. &, HOW IS OR ARE DEATH THREAT(S)] JUSTIFIED TO ME, WHEN I DISAPPROVE OF IMMORAL LIFE-STYLE, FOR STATING THAT I DO NOT APPROVE OF NOR LIKE OF IMMORAL LIFESTYLE, & THE NEXT THING THAT I KNOW A GANG OF SEVERAL GUY(S)] TRY TO TRASH ME & START GIVING TO ME [VERBAL] IMPLIED & INDIRECT DEATH THREATS, HAPPENS TO ME ONLINE, EACH YEAR, & I'M GETTING VERY ANNOYED WITH THESE TYPES OF PERSONS, FOR HATING ME FOR HAVING A DIFFERENT OPINION ON A SUBJECT MATTER, FOR DISAGREEING WITH THEM, SUCH AS WRITING A MORE CONCISE OPNION, SUMMARIZING ALL THE NECESSARY FACTS IN 2 LINES, RATHER THAN TAKING 2 PARAGRAPHS OR 2 PAGES.
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ANONYMOUS, 7 May 2010 @ 4:54am

AND I'M GETTING HATE RESPONSES FOR SIMPLY SPELLING ERRORS, LIKE TYPING [BUR] RATHER THAN [BUT], A TYPING ERROR I MADE IN PREVIOUS POST.
AND I'M GETTING HATE RESPONSES FOR SIMPLY SPELLING ERRORS, LIKE TYPING [BUR] RATHER THAN [BUT], A TYPING ERROR I MADE IN PREVIOUS POST.
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ANONYMOUS, 7 May 2010 @ 4:59am

&, I AM GETTING HATE RESPONSES FOR TYPING & POSTING A MORE CONCISE OPINION, RATHER THAN VERBOSE, IN NINE PERCENT THE SPACE THAT THE OTHER POSTERS TAKE TO STATE AN OPINION, & GETTING HATE RESPONSE FOR MY POOR GRAMMAR & USE OF CAPS, & USING [&] FOR [AND]...
&, I AM GETTING HATE RESPONSES FOR TYPING & POSTING A MORE CONCISE OPINION, RATHER THAN VERBOSE, IN NINE PERCENT THE SPACE THAT THE OTHER POSTERS TAKE TO STATE AN OPINION, & GETTING HATE RESPONSE FOR MY POOR GRAMMAR & USE OF CAPS, & USING [&] FOR [AND]...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2011 @ 10:42pm

Listen folks..... This online bullying and RL bullying can fuck up your head.... render u incapable of living life normally for the rest of your existence... for those of you who say "suck it up, its life" you obviously have never experienced such horrible antics. Since when have we became a society to blame the victem rather than the provoker? This is rediculous, why is it ok to tell a woman " WELL YOU SHOULDN't HAVE WALKED DOWN THAT STREET AND YOU WOULDNT HAVE BEEN RAPED" rather than making an example out of the RAPIST....? Think about it people. Does 90 % of the shit yall are saying really make sense?
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