Facebook launches safety tips as part of anti-bullying week

The Guardian
The theme of this year’s National Anti-Bullying-Week, which starts today, is cyber-bullying. In fact, after name calling cyber-bullying is the most common type of bullying, as a recent study for the Department for Children, Schools and Families revealed. It is an issue has to be taken seriously: 47% of 14-year-olds in the survey reported bullying. Its impact continues as kids get older: 41% of 15-year-olds and 29% of 16-year-olds report facing the problem.

Half of teens are bullied; most tormented on computer, mobile phone

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
LONDONG, ENGLAND — Nearly half of 14-year-olds nationwide have been the victim of bullying, research found today.

‘Cyberbullying’ – where children face taunts, threats and insults via the internet and mobile phones – is now the most common form, along with name calling, the study of 10,000 teenagers showed.

Study: 47% of 14-year-olds ‘are bullied’; boys more so

BBC
Nearly half of 14-year-olds in England have experienced some sort of bullying, a study of 10,000 teenagers for the government suggests.

Name calling and cyberbullying – where the victim faces threats and insults via mobile phones and the internet – were the most common forms.

Cassia Co., Idaho schools crack down on cyber-bullying

Times News
Twin Fallas, Idaho — CHEERS: To the Cassia County School District for its enlightened new policy on sexual harassment and cyber-bullying.

The new rules proscribe bullying someone over sexual orientation and crack down on “sexting,” the transmission of sexually explicit messages or photos electronically – primarily between cell phones.
Students and staff at Cassia County schools who engage in these behaviors could find themselves expelled from school or fired.

Kevin Kaneta: Cerebral Palsy made vulnerable to bullying

By Jane Slater
Denver 7NEWS
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Kevin Kaneta, 15, said walking is hard enough but school is a nightmare.

Kaneta, who was born with cerebral palsy, said he has been the target of bullying since third grade and each year, it gets worse. When asked, “Why?” Kaneta said it had to do with his disability.

“They go after me because they see me as a vulnerable target,” said Kaneta.

Troy, Mo. student disciplined for website bullying

By Jessica Bock
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A ninth grade girl in the Troy, Mo., school district has been disciplined after authorities said she created a website to bully another girl.

School officials would not comment on what kind of discipline she received, but under the district’s bullying policy it could range from loss of privileges to expulsion.

Google fights to keep 4 execs out of prison over video clip

By Lucy Bannerman
London Times Online
An Italian court is to decide whether four senior Google executives should face prison, over the broadcast of a video clip showing a boy with Down’s Syndrome being bullied by his classmates.

The long-running trial, which centres around a three-minute clip showing four schoolboys making fun of the teenager and hitting him over the head at their school in Turin, in 2006, is being seen as a test case for the control of content on the internet.

NCPC’s “Circle of Respect” aims to stop bullying

BY CARMEN GONZALEZ CALDWELL
SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD
Iwant to share a new program that the National Crime Prevention Council recently kicked-off, and we are very proud that our YCW will be part of this new initiative in the schools and community.

The information below was taken from an article written by Angela Sivak about the Circle of Respect campaign, the National Crime Prevention Council’s (NCPC) newest initiative to address bullying and cyber bullying.

Palfrey testifies on cyberbullying to House subcommittee

Harvard News Service
Harvard Law School Professor John Palfrey will testify before the House subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security today regarding two pieces of legislation designed to address cyberbullying and other online safety issues for children. A live webcast of the testimony will be available beginning at 3 p.m.

Cyberbullying bill gets chilly reception from Congress

By David Kravets
Wired
Lawmakers gave Rep. Linda Sanchez’s cyberbullying bill a cool reception
Proposed legislation demanding up to two years in prison for electronic speech meant to “coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person” was met with little enthusiasm by a House subcommittee on Wednesday.

Holly Grogan, 15, leapt to death ‘after abuse from Facebook bullies’

By Steve Bird
The Times online
The parents of a 15-year-old public schoolgirl who jumped 30ft to her death from a road bridge blamed her suicide on the “huge pressure” and “modern complexities” of social networking websites.

Holly Grogan died last week after she fell on to a busy dual carriageway and was hit by passing traffic.

Bullied girl’s parents warn: Facebook’s ‘huge pressures’

By Helen Carter
Guardian.co.uk
The parents of a 15-year-old public schoolgirl who jumped to her death after being bullied on Facebook have spoken of the “huge pressures” placed on young people by social networking sites.

Holly Grogan died after plunging 30ft from a road bridge near her home on to a dual carriageway, where she was hit by passing traffic. She was found at 11pm on Wednesday under a bridge in Churchdown, Gloucestershire, two miles from her home.

Cyber-bullying warning: Halligan shares son’s tragic story

By Dan Berrett
Pocono Record
POCONO, Penn. — Four months ago, a presentation on the personal effects of bullying left many Stroudsburg students and parents teary-eyed and deeply moved.

Tonight, that speaker is coming back to the district, and this time, everyone from the area can come hear him.

Idaho’s Hartgen to try again on cyber-bullying bill

By Jared S. Hopkins
Times-News writer
Rep. Stephen Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, says he plans to re-introduce legislation at the 2010 Legislature targeted at prohibiting harassment on the Internet, including social networking sites.

Hartgen, a former newspaper publisher, still wants to expand harassment laws so they apply to online communication including e-mails, text messages and posted comments on personal blogs and related Web sites. Hartgen has cited the 2006 case in Missouri in which a 13-year-old girl committed suicide after receiving online taunts from a woman posing as a teenager on MySpace. The incident prompted that state to update its laws.

They’re back and they’re bad: JuicyCampus, Campus Gossip

By Jeffrey R. Young
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Students have more ways than ever to post anonymous attacks on classmates, thanks (or rather, no thanks) to new and expanded online forums promising to be bigger and juicier than the infamous JuicyCampus, which drew fierce protests from harassed students before it shut down earlier this year.

Educator: Parents’ role is vital to stop cyber-bullying

By Leanna Landsmann
Detroit Free Press
Dear Leanna: My daughter Karissa, 12, was “cyber-bullied” by girls just before school ended, so I didn’t report it. I reduced her computer access this summer, and she became less upset. School’s starting and she’s emotional again. Should I alert the school?

Answer: Yes, but don’t assume the problem will disappear without your involvement. Schools are concerned about cyber-bullying, but the counselor’s caseload and the time since the incident will make it hard to get to the heart of this case.

Acquitted “cyber-bully” Lori Drew a victim of online tormenters

By Keegan Hamilton
Riverfront Times
​Technically this is old news — the judge in the case said way back on July 2 that he had “tentatively” decided to overrule the LA jury’s three guilty verdicts and acquit Lori Drew on misdemeanor charges of violating MySpace’s “Terms of Service” agreement. But, as of last Friday, the judge’s ruling became official and the (mostly positive) long-term implications warrant a little discussion.

Ryan Halligan’s story: School bullying talk hits home

By William Croyle
Cincinnati.com
WARSAW – As John Halligan talked about the suicide of his teenage son, senior Tyler Mullins reflected on the bullying that happens here at Gallatin County High.

“I really didn’t think we had a bullying problem, but the more he talked, the more it stood out,” Tyler said.

Kids need bully-free sites like SafeWave.org

By Kelly Combs
Examiner.com
Is your child safe on the Internet? Friday I shared some ways to protect your child on the Internet, with the number one way to be with your child while they’re on-line. Brenda Preston contacted me after that article ran.

Bullies present back-to-school problem

By Michelle Goetz Grahl
The Grand Traverse Herald
For many of us, back to school is an exciting time of new beginnings but for too many of our students they dread returning to school because they will be bullied.

Bullying is real, the effects are long lasting and it takes many forms. It’s not just kids being kids, and it’s not OK. All too often adults are part of the problem, either they don’t see the problem or they assume it will go away on it’s own. Studies show that between 15-25 percent of U.S. students are bullied with some frequency (“sometimes or more often”) while 15 20 percent report that they bully others with some frequency (Melton et al., 1998; Nansel et al., 2001).

Outed blogger Rosemary Port blames model Liskula Cohen for ‘skank’ stink

By George Rush
New York Daily News
Sorry seems to be the hardest word for the blogger who anonymously scorned a model as a “ho” and a “skank,” igniting a legal and media maelstrom.

Speaking out for the first time since a court order forced Google to reveal her identity, blogger Rosemary Port tells the Daily News that model Liskula Cohen should blame herself for the uproar.

“This has become a public spectacle and a circus that is not my doing,” said Port, whose “Skanks in NYC” site branded the 37-year-old Cohen an “old hag.”

UK school girl: Facebook bully affected my every moment for 4 years

By GARY O’SHEA
The Sun
A girl tormented by a Facebook bully told how the abuse affected her “every waking moment”.
Victim Emily Moore, 18, was hounded for four years by Keeley Houghton — who ended up threatening to kill her.

And after Houghton became the first person in Britain to be jailed for internet bullying, Emily said: “I am so relieved. My blood used to run cold reading her comments.”

British teen is country’s first jailed for Facebook bullying

By Helen Carter
The Guardian
Malvern, Worcestershire — A teenager who posted death threats on Facebook has become the first person in Britain to be jailed for bullying on a social networking site.

Keeley Houghton, 18, of Malvern, Worcestershire, has been sentenced to three months in a young offenders’ institution after she posted a message saying that she would kill Emily Moore. She pleaded guilty to harassment.

Google forced to reveal blogger id of Canadian model’s bully

By Matt Hartley
National Post
Punch the name Liskula Cohen into Google and the search engine turns up more than 130,000 hits.

Unfortunately for the Canadian-born fashion model, thousands of those results relate to offensive postings made about her by an anonymous cyber bully on a now defunct blog called “Skanks of NYC.”

Now, after emerging victorious from a high-profile lawsuit against Google Inc., she knows the identity of that formerly anonymous blogger, and can begin planning her next move.

Elizabeth Thrasher in Missouri charged with cyber-bullying

By Steve Pokin
Suburban Journals
St. Peters, Mo. — A 40-year-old St. Peters woman was charged Monday under Missouri’s new cyberharassment law for allegedly harassing a 17-year-old girl by posting the girl’s photo, workplace, e-mail and cell phone on a Craigslist forum where people go to pursue sexual encounters.

Elizabeth Thrasher is accused of posting the information May 1 to harass the daughter of her ex-husband’s girlfriend.