Cyberbullying- no clear precedent

Heather Buechner

4/1/15

Cyberbullying can be anything from teasing texts to harassing someone online. Cyberbullying consists of willful and repeated harm inflicted through phones and computers. Since social media and texting has only really existed in the last few decades, there is no clear legal precedent for cyberbullying yet. The article, “WILL THE SUPREME COURT CONSIDER CYBERBULLYING?”, written by Thomas A. Jacobs, tells us that the Supreme Court has not yet granted certiorari in a case involving off-campus digital speech by a student, and it is not something that will happen anytime soon. There was, however, a bill in 2008, that was introduced by Congress after Megan Meier’s suicide in 2006, called Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. As we talked about in class, unfortunately, there was not enough support for the bill to become law.

            The article tells us that although the Supreme Court did not grant certiorari on any cases involving cyberbullying, the Supreme Court did address students’ free speech and expression in four distinct cases. The first case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, was also discussed in class. This case, from 1969, was about whether wearing symbolic armbands to protest the Vietnam War was protected speech or not. It was decided that it was protected, under what was called the disruption test. The disruption test says that student speech is not protected under the First Amendment if it upsets the educational environment or violates the rights of others. In 1986, an exception to this test was created in the case, Bethel School District v. Fraser. It was decided in this case that school authorities could regulate obscene or lewd student speech, and students could be punished. In this particular case, Matthew Fraser referred to what was considered sexually explicit content in a speech in front of an audience of teenage students, and got a three-day suspension. In 1988, in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, it was decided that schools could censor student speech that is “poorly written, biased or prejudiced, vulgar or profane, or unsuitable for immature audiences.” This specific case was about a student journalist that wrote about teen pregnancy and divorce. Lastly, in 2007, in Morse v. Frederick, it was ruled that schools could censor speech that is “reasonably viewed as promoting drug use.” This case was concerned with a banner that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus”.

            Since these 4 cases, Tinker, Fraser, Hazelwood, and Morse, serve as a foundation for future cases, the Supreme Court does not find it necessary to grant certiorari and create another exception for this new method of communication—computer mediated communication. This article goes on to talk about five cases that have been litigated in federal courts, which all used Tinker or any of the other cases I referred to as foundation. Each of these five cases actually filed a petition for certiorari, but were denied. 

            As well as these case precedents involving student free/protected speech that future cases can use for guidance, states have created laws against cyberbullying as well. Some states have created legislation addressing cyberbullying as “electronic harassment”. Every state has laws that cover stalking, intimidation, harassment, and threatening, which are acts that can be involved in cyberbullying.

Welcome to the Dark Side

It is no question that the internet has done us many wonderful things. The web has brought people across the world together and has given us a new way of doing many basic things in life, such as reading the newspaper. Although these benefits are not questionable, it is also unquestionable that the internet also has a dark side. Many aspects of the internet fall into here, like trolls and explicit material. One major dark component of the internet are the forums that allow people to learn crimes. People can search for videos on how to do anything from making a bomb to breaking open a safe. This can give many people an easier access to learn and participate in crime. Not only can the internet teach crimes but it also allows a new front for crime as a whole. This is commonly known as cyber crime. Hackers can break into people's computers and steal money and their identities and do many things to screw up their lives. This is more than just an annoyance but an actual harmful aspect of this dark side of the internet.

The website of computer security company Norton posted an article about this issue that concerns millions around the world. According to the article, about half of their surveyed participants had been affected by cyber crime in someway in the past twelve months. This suggests that around one in two people in the developed world will have an encounter with a cyber criminal in the coming year. That is many tens of millions of people being affected. This same survey found that the number of people affected was up from the previous year, about a 20% increase. Finally they found that the total monetary losses of these affected people came to about $110 billion for the year. These numbers show the prominence of this crime and how it affects a very wide spread amount of people. It is clearly a large part of this internet dark side.

Along with these statistics, Norton's survey also found that the area where this crime happens is shifting more to social networks and mobile devices. Two thirds of their surveyed group reported that their mobile phones were their primary units for accessing the internet. Most were unaware of the growing number of malicious apps available for download and many were also unaware of software to help protect their devices. This puts many people's phones at risk along with their computers. The survey also found that cyber crime is shifting a lot to social networks. About 15% of people on social networks found their account hacked, up four points from the previous year. The total rate on social networks was around 39% as well. This is more than simple hacks too, it includes hacking to cyber-bully and scam.

With this internet crime growing it is becoming and increased worry for many people. Without this rampant cyber crime, this internet dark side would not be nearly as strong.

Vulnerable Addicts

During class last Wednesday, Professor Jackson got my attention when she was talking to us about young teens being addicted to the Internet.  This got me to wonder if there was a specific group of people that could possibly be more vulnerable to Internet addictions than others? An article by Leslie Davis explains why there may be a Risk Of Internet Addiction Higher In Teens With ADHD & Depression based off a recent study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

            According to the research, professionals found children and teens who are diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and depression are more likely to become addicted to the internet because it’s constantly changing, updating, and mostly fast paced while allowing them to escape reality becoming whom ever they want to be via cyber world. For the non-ADHD, they can escape at their own pace.

From social networking to video games, the Internet provides an outlet for both groups of uneasy adolescence. The reason I use the term uneasy is because they don’t feel at ease (our sense of normal) as your stereotypical youth, specifically ADHD. ADHD more or less makes someone feel chronic, and sometimes constant, impulsiveness, hyperactivity (always wanting to move), or difficulties paying attention. ADHD has been found to have contributions to low self-esteem, troubled relationships, and work in general. It is commonly linked to anxiety and/or depression due to vast findings of similar symptoms and treatment. 

Although these two groups are highly vulnerable to what we perceive to be internet addicts, its highly beneficial to allot them the time they need whether its posting a blog venting about their day or running from the cops with 4 stars in Grand Theft Auto. Specialists have found that it is better that these youths are distracted, vent and act out in cyber worlds rather than bottling it all up or criminalizing themselves possibly putting them on a path to destruction in the real world.

Fraternity Covers Up With "Failure-Of-Proof" Defense.

In a recent article I found from January 23rd, 2015 the author exploits a Fraternity whom calls Michigan State home. The MSU Fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha as known as “Pike,” shared a viral video of a sex act with a "seemingly intoxicated girl" (Vargas-Cooper 2015).  This short clip shows what a reasonable person would believe to be an intoxicated woman giving oral sex to a man believed to be a Pike brother due to the fact that during the clip the man asks the woman “What’s the best fraternity at MSU?” And to her opinion, responds “Pike.”

Similarly while unfortunately, this headline seems all too familiar to the brothers of Kappa Delta Rho, The Pennsylvania State University Chapter. Recent buzz on campus revealed that brothers of KDR also took it upon themselves to post nude and obscene pictures of women passed out drunk on their private Facebook page.

The MSU video showed the apparent brother of Pike and the woman actively, voluntarily, and while intoxicated participating. (Which as an undergrad criminology major, is still recognized as ILLEGAL because by law, any decision (or contract) formed while under the influence of alcohol (or drugs) is irrelevant in a court of law due to the fact the victim was not in the rightful, sound, or conscious mind.

Subsequently, differences include that MSU made a video, whereas, PSU posted pictures. These pictures of the women that were taken clearly show it was done involuntarily and without consent or knowledge of as to what was going on. While the photos from PSU don’t show literal sexual acts like the video, its still sexual assault! As if the brothers of KDR weren’t already in enough trouble, an article from Philly.com brings to surface that there had been another instance where members of KDR had been asked to shut down the page for identical reasons by one of the girls whom was photographed. They honored her request, waited a while, then re-named and kept the Facebook page going.

Although PSU’s situation was entirely wrong, it makes me proud to say I’m a PSU student because of the way they handled it. Showing that some involved in the KDR fraternity still have their morals straight, an anonymous brother was named as a cooperating witness as well as some members whom are openly cooperating because they "want to do the right thing." Police were also being proactive with the victims offering legal and advocate advice as well as services. Ultimately, KDR was suspended for the remainder of the semester at PSU. Both the VP of student affairs and President of PSU are being very active in the case. Damon Simons, the Vice President of student affairs insists the allegations being held against the fraternity demands immediate attention and PSU needs to do more in order to address misconduct and sexual assault on campus. Meanwhile, Eric Barron the President of PSU, is working with KDR’s national leadership committee to determine if KDR will continue its presence on campus.

 Alternatively, at first the president of Pike’s Chapter at MSU seemed apologetic, sympathetic, and disclaimed any involvement with the production or distribution of the video.  He lost my respect when he further commented that nothing “clearly” shows it was an MSU student. Further, a marketing official from Pike’s national office also poorly handled the situation by addressing it as “an unfortunate attempt at defamation” and is apologetic for the “crude display and lack of respect to the woman in the video.” Not only does this show that Pike is unwilling to take responsibility for their brothers’ actions, but also trying to cover it up claiming they were framed seems to make me believe that they knew it was or could have been MSU’s chapter. Other than not being able to distinguish the origin of the video’s whereabouts as the abbreviation MSU isn’t clarified, the list of possible schools as follows : Massachusetts State University, MA ;  Michigan State University, MI ; Minnesota State University, MN ; Mississippi State University, MS ; Missouri State University, MO ; Montana State University, MT ; or Montclair State University, NJ etc.

Due to the fact that hiring an IT analyst may be a bit pricey in order to determine the origin of the slandering video it would definitely provide answers. Better yet, they could assign IT interns to trace and or analyze to find the state the video originated in.

Cyberbullying by Evann Specht

Cyberbullying is defined as the willful and repeated harm inflicted through phones and computers. In other words, cyberbullying is mediated bullying. The degree of severity ranges from teasing texts to harassing blogs and sites. Unfortunately, in the last decade or so, as the use of technology rapidly increases, so did the amount of cyberbullying cases.

            In the article, “When Bullying Goes High-tech” by Elizabeth Landau, she references researcher, Justin W. Patchin; he reported as many as 25% of adolescences have encountered instances of cyberbullying at some point. Patchin along with other colleagues studied 15,000 high school and middle school students throughout the United States and gained shocking results that reported more then 10% of those surveyed had been victims of cyberbullying in the last month.

            Cyberbullying has many commonalities with traditional bullying in school, sports teams, etc. Both behaviors include: humiliation, harassment, teasing, aggression, a victim and a predator. Online bullying poses unique challenges as it  allows the perpetrator to potentially go anonymous and attacks can happen at any time of the day/night. Often times people find that anonymity and the ability to not have to face the person face to face and hide behind the computer screen enables the attacker to say more harmful, demeaning and twisted things they might not normally say if they had to face the person they were attacking. Justin Patchin makes the claim in the CNN article that “technology isn’t necessarily creating a new class of bullies”, implying that often times those who bully inside the classroom or on the sports team etc. are also the ones who are most likely taking their negative, hurtful behavior online.

            Depending on the severity of the behaviors and bullying, lasting

consequences can vary for both the victim and bully. Both people in the situation can suffer from generalized anxiety and panic disorder, discomfort in public or around their families, forms of depression, thoughts or attempts of suicide and self-harm etc. Although cyberbullying has a digital footprint, since it is mediated online or via text, it is complicated to prove or take significant measures against the bullying and many times goes unreported by victims. Actions like disemvowling degrading and inappropriate posts on social media sites or blog sites have been attempted to be implemented in order to make the cruel messages less powerful, but the messages were still clear to others and it is hard to monitor posts and give sites the access to edit posts of their users.

I believe there needs to be a more focused conversation on teaching our teenagers between appropriate online behavior and damaging online behavior and how their actions can significantly affect others lives and well being as well as their own. We should also begin to deeply think and create innovative and affective ways to potentially limit the amount of online bullying instances and combat the odds of cyberbullying happening, even if the use of our technology is increasing only making it more likely to happen. Instilling confidence in victims of cyberbullying to bring their situation to an adult’s attention is a necessity, before harmful actions or words are taken to far.

Damned if I do, Damned if I don't.

A topic we recently discussed in lecture includes the question of whether men and women can be friends without there being a sense of sexual attraction or interaction. At first when Professor Jackson announced the topic the first thought that came to mind was of course men and women can be friends. Later that night it got me thinking about my friendships with the opposite sex. Growing up for me was a bit different from the average American Girl. I grew up with five friends, and I was the only girl. These friends weren’t friends that I had formed myself but rather were friends I had been given due to the fact our parents had been friends long before we were thought of. This might have some influence of why I have always thought as the opposite sexes being friends without sexual intention wasn’t a problem. As I got older I soon realized that the friendships I had formed at a young age wasn’t very common. The first time I experienced this was in middle school when one of the boys I grew up with was playing basketball with other boys in our grade. I waved him on trying to get his attention and he was clearly ignoring me. All I wanted was to play with them, not sit on the floor with the girls snickering about who was cute. After school I caught up with him on the walk home and he started explaining to me that it wasn’t cool for guys and girls to hang out during school and that he didn’t want me to tell any of his new friends that we hung out outside of school. Many years later we were in high school and I tried to rekindle our friendship seeing how we now went to different schools. The more we started to hang out the more our friends thought something else was going on. No matter how many times we’ve explained our friendship it didn’t matter, people thought what they thought and it eventually ruined a great friendship. I guess our culture and generation is partially to blame for the idea of men and women not being able to be friends without there being some sort of intention involved. The point of my story is to show at a young age innocence takes prevalence over us whereas, at the age of a teenager, our innocence fades and culture teaches us how to act, think, dress, and so forth. In Conclusion, I myself believe that men and women can be friends without there being sexual intentions involved because I have witnesses and been apart of friendships as such. However, if I hadn’t been apart of those friendships, I would think likewise because I didn’t know better and our generations culture wouldn’t allow it. In the article linked above I agree when the author concludes that feminism has something to do with the friendship links between men and women. However, I highly disagree with the statement that friendships between men and women are still disregarded in some societies.