Cyber Safety Unit (2011-2012)

This year, we 7th graders have learned about safety online, which is also called cyber-safety. We learnt that bullying online can cause people to commit suicide, depression, or also harassment.

We learnt that in cyber-bullying, there are eight ways in which a victim can be cyber-bullied. The eight ways in which a victim can be cyberbullied are:

• Flaming
• Denigration
• Exclusion
• Outing
• Trickery
• Impersonation
• Harassment
• Cyber-stalking

In flaming, online fights, through emails, IM’s, chat rooms, etc. were angry, rude, or even offensive messages are exchanged.

In denigration, the bully often posts mean comments online through emails, IM’s, etc. Also, the bully sets up a website so the public could view the mean comments written to the victim.

In exclusion, the bully and some others exclude the victim from groups or friend online.

During outing, the bully shares secrets about the victim which might include private information,embarrassing pictures, or videos.

In trickery, a person acts like being friends with the victim and gets all of his/her personal information. Then the “so called friend” shares the secrets online.

During the cyber-bullying of Impersonation, the bully pretends to act like the victim and posts mean comments that might get the victim into trouble.

During harassment, the bully sends the victims malicious messages to someone online repeatedly.

In cyber-stalking, the victim is continuously harassed and denigrated. This type usually also includes threats or harms.

We also learned that when a person is the victim in cyber-bully, it is the best choice to not hide it from elders who could help in many ways. If a person hides this information from their guardians or any trusted adult, the victim could be led to serious disturbance during his/her lifetime.

It is best to tell the situation to a trusted adult because the adult could help the victim by reporting to the police. For example, some students dealt with cyber-bullying by telling a trusted adult the situation. The trusted adult could call the police and inform the police of the act done by the bully. In such cases, the bully might need to pay to the victim and/or leave the school.
Other ways to deal with cyber-bullying is to ignore the person. This can make the bully bored of what he is doing and eventually stop bullying the victim.
Another way to deal with cyber-bullying is to talk to the bully in a kind manner asking him questions that would make him into the victim’s position. In this manner, the bully would understand what it feels like to be a victim in cyber-bullying. This could lead to friendship and the stop to the cyber-bullying of the victim.
If a person doesn’t seem to stop, the best way to deal with this is to ask a trusted adult what to do next.
During the cyber-bullying unit this year, we also acted out a skit on how a person can be cyber-bullied, even if the victim is minding his or her

business

.
We also watched videos’ from NSTEENS.org for examples of cyber-bullying cases that are real around the world.
The best part of this year’s’ cyber-bullying unit was the story which we wrote on a topic that we were assigned to do. I liked this assignment because we could use our imagination to write a fictional story which could occur in real life.

Thank you Ms. Thompson for the amazing year in technology. Have a great summer.

Cyber-Bullying in Y.I.S.

Our school, Yanbu International School, has a cyber bullying policy noting in the 2011-2012 student handbook;

Derogatory, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate e-mail exchanges, instant messages, digital images, or web postings are prohibited.

The possible consequences for cyber-bullying in our school is maybe that the freedom to use the computer will be taken from you, or you will not be allowed to bring or use electronic devices in the school campus. The victim might get detention for break and lunch times and have to sit with the student counselor or school principal. The counselor and principal can talk about the actions the victim took and also talk about what could have happened if the victim did the action online with some stranger. In the 2011-2012 school handbook it notes;

g. Appropriate use of the Internet.

As a mission driven school, technology users may not access portions of the Internet that do not promote the instructional mission of Y.I.S. Although the Internet can provide access to information (e.g. pornographic materials, vulgarity, gambling, militant/extremist material, hate speech, and the like) that is inconsistent with Y.I.S.’s mission, any school technology user may not access, store, share, or display such information.

h. Monitored Use

Please understand that email and any other use of the electronic communication systems by students shall not be considered confidential and may be monitored at any time by designated staff to ensure appropriate use of educational or administrative purposes.

i. Consequences

Deliberate attempts to violate Y.I.S.’s acceptable use guidelines, or compromise, degrade, or disrupt system performance will result in restricted use of computers at school or other appropriate consequences.

 I would like to change the current policy a little bit by adding the consequence of contacting the victim’s parent for a meeting discussing the consequences of cyber-bullying online. Also, the counselor and principal should advice the parents to monitor the victim if he goes online at all times.

 

Fiction cyber-bullying article: Exclursion

Example of Exclursion

Bob was excluded from all his classmates, groups, and also his classmates stoped replying to his IM’s online. Some of his classmates created a website called “IgnoreBobTheBuilder.ignorehim.com”. On the website, his classmates started posting mean, malicious comments on Bob. All his friends blocked and reported abuse on Bob on Bob’s social networking sites. Bob was feeling excluded and lonely. Bob showed his parents what the bullies online were doing, and Bob’s parents filed a complain to the police. The action was taken immediately by the police as they disabled the internet connection for all the bullies from the internet provider and the bullies had to pay a fine of $500 each. Bob’s parents transferred Bob to a new school.

Cyber-bullying senario #10

Summarize.

 

2. What kinds of cyber bullying was it?

The types of cyber-bullying were dnigration, harasment, and cyber-stalking.

3. How did being cyber-bullied make the victim feel? What are the physical, social, and emotional effects of this kind of cyber-bullying?

The victim, Juliane, was very scared and frightened of the bullies. The effect was emotional.

4. Did the victim follow the rules for dealing with cyberbullies? What could they have done?

Yes, the victim did follow the rules because she printed the conversations and showed it to her father.

5. What steps, if any, were taking by trusted adults to stop the cyber-bullying? What could they have done?

Juliane’s father filed reports against the bullies to the pollice.

6. Were there consequences for the bullies? If not, what do you think should have happened to them?

The article does not tell.

Cyber-bullying senario #9

Fifteen year-old Ghyslain was cyber bullied by millions of people when his home movie was posted on th internet. Ghyslain was a Star Wars fan; he videotaped himself using a golf ball retriever as a light saber and making his own sound effects. Some of his classmates found the video at school and posted it online to make fun of him. Millions of people downloaded the video and Ghyslain became known as the “Star Wars Kid.” His video was even shown on several television shows. Ghyslain was so humiliated by the video that he had to have counselling; he also transferred to another school. Ghyslain’s parents filed a lawsuit against his classmates and Ghyslain recieved $351,000 in damages.

Questions:

Summarize.

A fifteen year old Gyslain was cyber bullied by classmates because they uploaded a video that humiliated Ghyslain. Millions of people downloaded the video, the video was also being shown on several television shows.

2. What kinds of cyber bullying was it?

The type of cyber-bullying in this real life situation is Outing.

3. How did being cyber-bullied make the victim feel? What are the physical, social, and emotional effects of this kind of cyber-bullying?

The victim, Ghyslain was humiliated and was transferred to another school.

4. Did the victim follow the rules for dealing with cyberbullies? What could they have done?

Ghyslain reported the news to his parents and immediate actions was taken by the trusted parents by filing lawsuits against the classmates and transferring Ghyslain to another school.

5. What steps, if any, were taking by trusted adults to stop the cyber-bullying? What could they have done?

The parents of Ghyslain filed a lawsuit against the classmates and Ghyslain received $351,000 in damages.

6. Were there consequences for the bullies? If not, what do you think should have happened to them?

The article did not state the consequences. But, Ghyslain’s parents did file a lawsuit against them.

Types of Cyber-Bullying

Types of Cyber-Bullying

Flaming– online fights, usually through e-mails, IM’s (instant messaging), chatrooms where angry, rude, or offensive messages are exchanged.

Denigration– posting mean comments online through e-mails, IM, chat-rooms, social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, Twitter), or websites set up to make fun of someone.

Outing– sharing secrets about someone online, including private information., pictures, and videos.

Trickery– tricking someone into revealing personal information and then sharing it with others online.

Impersonation– pretending to be someone else when sending or posting mean or false messages online that makes someone look bad, get someone into trouble, or puts someone in danger.

Harassment– repeatedly sending malicious messages to someonw online.

Cyber-Stalking– continuous harassment and denigration, including threats of physical harm.

Source: http://www.NetSmartz.org

Introduction

Welcome to FKhan security online guaranteed, we provide you with the best information to help prevent cyber-bullying, denigration, harassment online, cyber-stalking, impersonation, outing, and other forms of cyber-bullying.