Is Cyberspace Safe?
http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/10/stories-of-cyber-bullying/
A big issue that is spreading is cyber bullying. Yup you heard it, you can get bullyed in online which is facing a lot of kids these days. One story most of you might know is the story of a girl who ended up commiting suicide since befriending someone on Myspace. The "friend" was a group of people wanting to humiliate her. This isn't accuring just in the America either. A similar story happened in South Korea when a girl refused to clean up her dog on a train and someone caught a picture of it. She suffered lots of harrasment and had to drop out from school and move. There are more forms of cyber bullyingbut they all lead to similar problems. If this bullying happens in their own home they'll feel insecure. Also, simply not going to these socail networks won't help, becuase it's an important place. Along with that bullies can be even more hurtful since they can't see their victom.
According to cyberbullyalert.com:
- 90% of middle school students have had their feelings hurt online.
- 75% have visited a Web site bashing another student.
- 40% have had their password(s) stolen and changed by a bully who then locked them out of their own account or sent communications posing as them.
- Only 15% of parents polled knew what cyber-bullying was.
Though for it's victims it seems impossible to prevent there are ways to escape. States are making Cyber Bulling Laws now such as allowing harsher punishments. Also having people explain the dangers of technology and also have parents more awar of them as well. Blocking sites and having communication with technology users is missing a lot of the times. Many people have never learned the proper or wrong use of technology so they never had much saftey or awarness. Having better understand and taking to the time to learn can greatly help prevent technology users from being hurt.
