California Looks At Cyber Bully Law, Will it Help?

Technology has always left the laws of the land playing catch up when it comes to regulating new things. A new law under consideration in California would allow cyber bullies who use text messages or the Internet to harass their fellow students to be suspended or expelled under a bill that is close to passing the state Legislature. The bill applies to bullying through messaging, cell phones, pagers, computers or other electronic communication devices.

Almost from the very beginning the internet has had it’s own form of bullies in the shape of Trolls and other jerks that feel brave based on the sense of anonymity (real or perceived) that being online gives them. Whether these Trolls are ‘griefing’ a multiplayer games or flaming a forum it has been up to the admins of these services to police their domain which boils down to cleaning up the Troll dung and banishing them by whatever means at their disposal.

This type of behavior in recent years has begun to see overlap with the more traditional schoolyard type bullies. Advanced cell phones with photo and video capabilities and text messaging and internet access make it all too easy for embarrassing situations to become immortalized online forever. This can make life hell for these kids at an age when they are most vulnerable.

Perhaps the first real warning of how big the problem of cyber-bulling could get started back on November 4, 2002 when Ghyslain Raza, a 14-year old student made a video of himself swinging a golf ball retriever around like Darth Maul using the school AV equipment. A pretty typical kid thing to do. Unfortunetly, he didn’t erase the tape and when another kid found the tape and shared it with friends they thought it would be funny to post it online. The video went viral and “Star Wars Kid” was born. This 14-year old found himself a laughing stock on the internet and the world at large and of course a social pariah at school, all for just doing what kids do.

Since then a number of other items have cropped up. Text messages sent through carrier websites to children’s cell phones with harrassing or even frightening comments. Videos or photos of fights or embarrassing situations that were threatened to be put online or in some cases, actually were.

More recently a group of six girls and two boys in Florida lured a another teenage girl to a house for the express purpose of beating her up and posting it on My Space and YouTube. That was an example of something starting online and moving into the real world. Kids often don’t think before they type or consider that there are real people on the other side of the screen that they are communicating with.

Perhaps most tragically is the case of Megan Meier the 13-year old girl who committed suicide after Lori Drew, the mother of a friend of Megan’s, befriended her on MySpace as a 16 year old boy and then used the site to post bulletins about Megan before breaking off the relationship. Drew was charged on the federal level with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. This is the case most often cited for the need for cyber bulling laws.

The really unfortunate part about all of this is that it is not the fault of the internet, or that there was no law to stop these kids (or parent) from doing this stuff, but rather it's the fault of the parents that didn’t teach their kids the right or wrong of how to use the internet (or even basic common sense in some cases). While laws may help with cyber bullying they won’t stop it. Your anonymity on the internet is only limited by the fiscal budget of the law enforcement entities looking for you (if you are technically apt, otherwise it becomes much easier for them to locate you). Is law enforcement really going to subpoena ISP records for a case of bullying? Are they going to go to other jurisdictions to prosecute a case? Will they go to other countries for the records of a proxy server? Unlikely.

Prevention needs to start with education. Parents need to know what kids are facing online and what they are doing there as well. Kids need to be taught the consequences of their action and just how far reaching these things can be. While this can be put forth in schools, it is best coming from their parents and that means taking personal responsibility in real life for your kids.