The Current State of Cyberbullying Laws

No question Topix is the worst site on the internet.

It's not an issue of hanging out with who is like you. I mean if your a Drs. Kid and you go to Walla Walla a small University out in the middle of no where when you can pay to go to Stanford then your friend really didn't do anything to help your college choice (and wants you to hang out and be friends with them at the expense of smarter students) then by association you are a loser. The problem is that a cyberbully will try to get others to exclude other people so they can be more popular by spreading lies and threats to online to make sure there agenda is promoted over others.

Maybe your right though stupid people do tend to hang out together.

Hey Kurdistan, ever try NOT using myspace?

You know, there's more to life then websites created for the sole purpose of doing nothing more than making anonymous chit chat and posting profile updates. Facebook, myspace, Twitter, holy heck i've never seen a bigger waste of time, and WHY people takes thing so serious over them is beyond me.

The point is, if people harass you using the internet, your phone, ect. ect. Try turning them off, put some shoes on, walk outside and breath the rotting air we've created.

What about racial discrimination? At the school I went to they favored an Asian student to the extent that the students won't even associate with me on Facebook but they will with this Asian Student.

The attitude is it's ok to exclude 'x' but if it's the Asian guy it's preferred to associate with him on facebook. It's like I have way more creative abilities than this loser and they will associate with him and exclude me. Also, he will get together with other students and if he doesn't like you he might try to get the others to collude and exclude you.

The school had him give speeches and he got treated preferentially which I can't really explain. I mean where is the Academic record of invention and dialogue and Latin or Greek or College level reasearch in High School. I don't think he had any of that. When he went to college the local college allowed him to give a chapel AC speech which wasn't very intellectual. They gave him preferential treatment over much more qualified people I feel like the only reason he was allowed to give the Chapel Speech at the University was that the high school gave him preferential support and references. I never really thought he was that smart and relative to an "Intel Science Fair Contestant" or a "Westinghouse Science Fair Contestant" he really wasn't. When another student committed suicide who was a college teacher with professional papers the attitude of the students on Facebook was it's more important to suck up to the Asian guy even though he didn't have nearly the acumen of the College professor who killed himself. The high school has had a lot of bullying and backstabbing. One of the other kids went to a really loser College well below there socio economic status since I feel this guy didn't want him to compete with him. I mean he sure didn't help him get into a good University? I mean what a friend.

This is the same school that had a fire recently.

I always felt the high school shouldn't have been favoring him as much. He also would do things that promoted his own self interests above other students. There was almost no class spirit and 5 or six students left. I feel like the High School just sucked up to him because he was Asian and then gave him preferential treatment for the speeches which weren't really Ivy league level and then created a hostile environment for anyone else.

RE: perla

Try explaining that to the parents and family and children of the suicide victim. This doesn't excuse high school bullies who use harassment to get ahead.

Hey parents (of victim). "Grow up. Just because someone callls You Ugly and stuff

Doesn't give you a Reason to Commit Suicide."

Hey children (of victim). "Your dad just killed himself. Please grow up. Just because your ugly doesn't give you a reason to commit suicide."

Widow (of victim). "Your husband killed himself…."

Get real. I could argue the same thing. "Just because X was fired by the supervisor for being herassed…. Doesn't give them a right to blah blah…."

Hello. I am sending you a copy of a letter that I sent to almost every Democratic Senator. I also started a petition with the letter on Care2. The petition is entitled "Help stop online bullying in games".

Here is the letter:

This letter is concerning a form of online bullying and perhaps even theft.

The bullying referred occurs in online games and is commonly referred to as PKing. PKing is different from regular PvP. PKing stands for Player killing and PvP stands for player versus player. In regular PvP all parties involved in the fight are their of there own free will and should be aware of the consequences. PKing is where one or more parties simply attack someone without that person's consent. Most commonly they will attack someone that they know that they can beat. PvP would be like sitting at home offline playing a game of Madden football against a friend. Pking would be more like going into someone's home without their permission and kicking them off their own game then either taking it or playing it there. PKing is really, really messed up.

Before I continue, I should state that I have never nor do I desire to take part in PKing. As a matter of fact, I have only ever taken part in any PvP in an online game because the game required it to obtain certain items. I wasn't particularly happy about being forced to do it then.

That said, all PKing really does is allow players to hide behind their computers to screw over other players. This can not be a good example of behavior for the millions of children that play online games.

Before anyone says it is only a game, let me go further into what PKing allows people to do to other people. In almost every game that allows PKing the person that wins the battle gets to take the possessions that the other player's character has on them. Or at least some of those possessions. Those possessions take time to acquire. By that I mean that you generally have to spend your "real life" time playing the game to get to the point that you can get those in-game possessions.

Most of the online video games offer a subscription to get more access to parts of the game. These subscriptions are time based. Example would be say $19.95 for a 3 month subscription. So in turn if the victim of the PKing spent 3 months getting to where they could obtain the items then the PKer basically just stole $19.95 from their victim and also the 3 months that it took playing the game.

The people that make the games know this. They put it into the games on purpose to cause conflict between players and to get that extra subscription to replace the one that was wasted by the PKer taking someone else's items. It is a scam.

That is not their only scam either. A huge percentage of online games out now advertise that they are "free to play". Very, very few of them are actually free. It is false advertising just to get people to try the games. Once you actually get into the game you find out that you can not play most of the game without paying for membership or for in-games 'perks'.

A couple of examples would be Runescape and Nodiatis.

Runescape first. They advertise that you can play "totally free". When in reality you can only access a small portion of the game map and play only 15 of the 25 game categories as a free player. That wouldn't really be a problem if they didn't advertise it as totally free. So much for free and more if you subscribe with no more in-game items for 'real money'. Runescape also has a Pking system where it is only allowed in a certain part of the game 'world'. That may not be so bad, but they also tend to make you go into that part of the game to do certain things.

Nodiatis on the other hand, also advertises as a free to play game has a different set-up. Once you get into the game you find out that you can't do much of anything without first paying. The game offers a standard account which doesn't improve much on the free option. Then it goes into a premium account, which is a step up from the standard account and much more expensive. Then it also offers other in-game perks if you pay even more for them. Nodiatis has a Pking system that is called open. Open meaning that anyone can attack anyone else anywhere in the game other than in the towns. You can't do much in the towns and have to leave them if you want to play the game.

These issues need some serious consideration. It would be a good thing to pass legislation banning games that allow PKing and issuing some serious fines for the false advertising. If these games are in countries that will not co-operate with cleaning them up them just block the IP addresses of the games from the countries that will co-operate.

If you are wondering why so many kids are out of control these days, I suggest that allowing them to exhibit so much bad behavior online is not helping. The Internet is a public place and the behaviors of those on it need to have the same expectations as if they were in person. I realize that it would be somewhat of an impossible task to police the entire Internet, but starting with things like gaming, forums, message boards and anywhere else that there are large gatherings of people would be a good thing.

Another good piece of legislation would stop people from using computers that are paid for with tax dollars to play online games. That includes schools, public libraries, military computers, etc.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that there is some action taken on this issue.

My sister and I are being cyber bullied right now on facebook. My sister confronted him in some lies that he told us and he completely flipped out on us, turning other facebook friends against us and he has several fake facebook accounts that he's created to harass us as well. We befriended him as Galman Frederick Ferguson and he also has Tommy Anderson Essbjorn, Ivan Klasnic, Galman Ruben, Galman Ruben Manangin…BEWARE this guy is completely nuts!!

What organization did that survey you mentioned in the beginning?

Legal issues raise a lot of problems when it comes to cyber bullying because we have the freedom of speech. Many schools have had problems when trying to punish students who are cyber bullying because in the court room they are over ruled, the court often residing with the student not the school. In my opinion what school board is going to want to suspend a teen for cyber bullying but later be sued by the teen and have to pay $30,000 dollars like the case in the book. That is why there is so much cyber bullying because instances like that make people not want to say anything and pretend they not see what is happening because it is easier than having to face the court. Also being that a lot of times cyber bullying happens outside of the school campus it is hard for a school to have a say because if it is not hurting the school directly there is nothing they can do.

Wooww thats a stupd reason, someone made a fake fb account and wrote stuff about her.

adults are also being cyberbullied. Yes, I know that is not adult behavior but I guess some people just do not grow up! It is defamation of character and a form of harassment but It seems the officials don't really care . It is very hard to find a law enforcement official or government laws to take care of the bully .The victim has to search and search for help and then often spend lots of money to even get someone to prosecute. what happens if you win your case? Does the bully just go back to it again the next week? I think they deserve jail time!

I have been bullied multiple times(sometimes even by a the school counsler) and until about 10th or 11th grade i would tell my mom. but in 11th grade and up until now(i am 19) i would not only stand for myself, i would tell an adult. And anytime I see people being bullied, especially online, I speak up and tell them off, and I tell someone, especially a teacher at whatever school the person goes too… I quote Eleanor Roosevelt saying that basically the bully wont be happy no matter what people do. And then I use what they say almost against them, but not really…I form it in a question… But I am trying to get cyberbullying illegal in my state…Some of my friends have been cyberbullied, and I dont know who says it so I tell them, that no matter who says crap about them that the bully has it much worse because they feel insecure. And I tell them what it is that makes people like the victim and all the good times i and others have had with them…

http://noboundries503.blogspot.com/ is the worst cybe rbullying from adults he has been bullying and slandering for a year and facebook lets it continue.

I'm wondering if cyber bullying only pertains to kids in schools?
It seems like it should be wrong for adults to go online, worldwide and do this each other as well.
I see blogs and "review" sites that seem to allow people to blatanly insult individuals and business online and then walk away without taking any reponsibility for what they have wreitten online about someone else.

BULLYING HAPPEN EVERYWHERE 81% OF PEPEOLE SAY THEY BULLY BECAUSE ITS FUN ENTERTANING OR TO GET REVENGE. STOP THE BUYLLING JUST THINK OF THE END RESULT O IT………………. SUICIDE….. JAIL 4 LIFE