1. Maureen Baron, M.A. mbaron@emsb.qc.ca
Cyber-Bullying
Maureen Baron, M.A.

2. Legal Disclaimer
The information and resources presented are for information purposes. Although the English Montreal School Board endeavours to provide accurate information, there can be no guarantee of the accuracy or completeness of the information available from the linked external sites.
All information provided is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. No one should act without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the facts of the particular situation.
Although the English Montreal School Board believes the information on this Website to be correct the English Montreal School Board does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information.

3. What is cyber-bullying?
“Cyber-bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies such as , cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.”
(Bell Belsey, )

4. Who bullies whom? Student student Students student Student teacher
Students teacher
Students school administrator
Employee employer
Employer employee

5. Cyber-bullying hurts
Electronic or Cyber-bullying includes the use of , cell phones, text messages, and internet sites to threaten, harass, embarrass, socially exclude, or damage reputations and friendships.
PREVnet

6. How is cyber-bullying the same as face to face (f2f) bullying?
It involves
human relationships
power
control
fear e.g. physical harm or social isolation
victim feels worthless, weak or unwanted
psychological pain
humiliation
Victims are afraid to disclose

7. How is cyber-bullying different from face to face (f2f) bullying?
Technology is the vehicle
24 / 7
There is no safe haven such as home or beside a teacher
It is ANYTIME and ANYWHERE
Bullies can hide behind anonymity
Bullying communications can reach a huge audience at great speed
The image is out there forever and keeps re-victimizing the person
Zero empathy for the victim

8. Vehicles for cyber-bullying
IM – MSN
Social networking sites – Facebook
Web sites
Bash boards
Chat rooms
Virtual learning environments – school work sites
Cel phones
Camera phones
On line and interactive games
Blogs
Wikis
Bashing site – Rate My School
Internet polling – Doodle
Webcams
Video hosting sites – YouTube
Game sites
Click on Examples on the left of the site

9. Characteristics of Cyber-bullying
Unequal power – technology divide
Hurtful actions
Repetitive behaviours
Bully can remain anonymous
Bully can pretend to be another person
Bullying can happen anywhere, anytime, given that cyber-space and cel phone access is everywhere all of the time
Capacity for instant and limitless dissemination of words and images
Kids Help Phone Cyber--bullying Study, April 2007

10. Why do they cyber-bully?
To right wrongs or defend others – knight on white horse syndrome
Anger, revenge or frustration
Boredom
Let’s see what happens
Impulsive response
Power
Revenge of the Nerd may start out defending themselves but they enjoy being the tough guy or gal
Mean girls do it to sustain their social standing
Social relationship problems
Gender based issues
15 minutes of fame
To be Jerry Springer and reveal or disclose: Outing
Control

11. But sir, we were just joking! But miss, we didn't mean it!
Cyber-bullying
Unwanted
Deliberately hurtful
Persistent
Power imbalance
Victim is socially excluded
Covert
Perceived threat
Deliberate pain or hurt
Joking
Target is in on the joke
Target also laughs
Ends
Everyone is on the same level
No discrimination
Overt
No fear or threat
Accidental pain or hurt

12. Cyber-bullying roles Victim Perpetrator / Bully Lurkers / Bystanders
Active accomplices
Technology providers
Unwitting participants / Forwarders

13. Direct cyber-bullying
Direct attack to the victim via , IM, blog
Phishing address or web site
Text war leading to huge bills and denial of service
Photoshop pictures sent or posted as real pics
Use a stolen password to lock out the rightful owner and then hijack the account for nasty purposes
Create a poll or survey to vote on who is hot, ugly, stupid, gay, sexy or a slut
Create a bash board to advertise who is considered to be sexy, ugly, stupid, gay or a slut

14. Direct cyber-bullying
Gang up against a player in a game
Send spam to overload an account - harassment
Post pictures without permission and ask others to rate who is fat or ugly or sexy
Publicly ridicule someone on web sites, blogs, IM
Pretend to be a friend, solicit secrets and publicize the secrets - trickery
Arrange to socially isolate or ignore someone
Create, share and use insulting code names for people (bb=big butt)
Post happy slapping videos (videoing and sharing acts of bullying and assault via camera phone )

15. Direct cyber-bullying
Tease or taunt
Impersonation (principal, student, Foundation)
Insult or dissing
Threaten the victim or a member of the victim's family
Outing
Create and spread rumours (true or not)
Post clips on YouTube out of context

16. Cyber-bullying by proxy
The bully instigates others by creating indignation or strong emotion, and then lets others do their dirty work.
The bully sets up the victim and then prints / publishes / shows the final explosion to peers, parents, teacher or principal while claiming innocence.
The “forwarding” accomplice
postings on YouTube, MySpace, and Photobucket. Girls are photographing each other doing things in their underwear at slumber parties and pictures are appearing on porn sites. Parents are horrified to learn that their daughter is now on a porn site indefinitely.

17. Technology can help win against the bullies!
CBC News story:
Students use the technology against the bullies
The Power of Pink
Bully B’ware web site

18. Real life stories Sarah’s Story Sharing personal pictures and videos
Personal webcams
Cyber-bullying

19. Elementary School Cyber-bullying Examples
Actual sent s:
theres no school u loser,crazy wommen!
hey u idiot shutup!stupid,loser!!!
ur stupiddd!!
paolina is cute
IMMA TELL THIS TO EVERYONE I DO NOT LIKE PAOLINA AND WE DO NOT NO WHO IS HACKING MY FILE ALTHOUG ME, MICHAEL, ANTHONY AND MILAN ARE TRYING TO FIND OUT WHO DID IT!!!!!!!!!

20. Secondary school, student to student cyber-bullying examples
Repeating what a person said, or commenting on what a person wore or did in school, leading to fear of being stalked
Use of cel phones, bash boards
Threats of violence to the student or the family
Blackmail for sexual or monetary favours
Impersonation of a person, teacher, school web site or organization – phishing site
I know where you live!
Teens transmit pornographic pictures of themselves or their underage peers, from their cell phones.

21. Student to administrator examples of cyber- bullying
Bash boards and phishing sites
Denial of service on cel phones
Threats against family members
Use of social networking sites or Craig's List to solicit people to help target the administrator
Facebook page to publish fake information, rumours or stories
Impersonation of the administrator to destroy their reputation: Manitoba criminal charge

22. When do they cyber-bully
Rarely from school computers
Cel phone use from school
Cel phone use anytime anywhere
Home computers
Outside of usual school supervised areas
Off-campus
Hallways or stairwells in school

23. Tracking an email sender
Cyber sleuthing tools for from outside the EMSB
WHOIS
IP information
Right-click on the header of the and choose the "Options". This will give you the IP address.
If the message comes from within the EMSB, forward it to David Verrillo and Maureen Baron

24. Legs into the classroom so report it
A grade 5 player, X, was playing his friend in Runescape. The friend, Y, wanted to trade game items and was friendly. When X refused, Y became nasty and started threatening and swearing. X did a ‘Print Screen’ of the abusive messages and blocked Y to prevent any further on screen contact. X forwarded Y`s name and copies of the messages to the game site administrator who then barred Y from the game.

25. Preserving the Bully's Message
On cels, keep / save all messages. Do not forward the messages to another cel as information from the original message, such as the sender’s phone number, will be lost. However, this may have been blocked.
On IM, some services allow the user to record all conversations or copy and paste, save and print these. When reporting to the service provider, or even to the police, copied and pasted conversations are less useful as evidence, as they can easily be edited. Conversations recorded / archived are better evidence. Conversations can also be printed out in hard copy or sections can be saved as a screen grab.
On social networking sites, video-hosting sites, or other websites, keep the site link, print page or produce a screen grab of the page and save it. To copy what is on the screen, press Control and Print Screen, and then paste this into a word-processing document.
In chat rooms, print the page or produce a screen grab of the page.
On , print the message; forward the message on to the staff member investigating the incident.  Preserving the whole message, and not just the text, is more useful, as this will contain ‘headers’ (information about where the message has come from)

26. Excuses: or: Whose Fingers Were on the Keyboard
12 inch rule: wasn't me
Someone hacked the account and pretended to be me: wasn't me
Shared password therefore it wasn't me
Website, phishing or bash board created with series of anonymous s or from a public wi-fi Internet connection: wasn't me
Lost my phone for a while or it was stolen and then returned: wasn't me
My daughter and her friends were at the computer, don't know which one typed or sent the message. wasn't mine

27. Why didn't you tell someone?
Didn't think it would help
Thought it would get worse
fear of retaliation
Was ashamed
Afraid people would find out
Called a rat
Parents cut off cel or computer access
Friends would get into trouble
Lose my job or promotion

28. What Doesn't Work
Telling the victim not to access the social networking sites or their
Social isolation from the peer group
Can't drop off the grid - always on generation
Denying technology access to the bully
Will always find a way to access
Can utilize accomplices or proxy sites
Victim blocking bully: bullying through proxies or forwarders or in public cyberspace continues

29. Cyber-bullying + Canadian Law
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, it is a crime to communicate repeatedly with someone if your communication causes them to fear for their own safety (physical or psychological) or the safety of others. Section (1)(a)
It is a crime to publish a "defamatory libel" - writing something that is designed to insult a person or likely to injure a person's reputation by exposing him or her to hatred, contempt or ridicule.
A cyber-bully is violating the Canadian Human Rights Act, if he or she spreads hate or discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status or disability.

30. Cyber-bullying + Canadian Law
Only the Police can force ISPs to divulge street address linked to IP address
12 inch rule as proof
Identity theft is fraud
Defamation / Cyber-libel

31. Current Canadian Cases
Brandon Manitoba teen criminally charged with Personification after he set up a Facebook profile impersonating a teacher including the teacher's picture and biographical details.
Edmonton Alberta junior high students expelled for posting fake profiles in the names of 2 teachers.
Montreal Quebec students set up a phishing school site asking for donations to support school building fund. They couldn't cash the cheques.
Quebec teacher entrapped to verbally explode in the classroom. Film of explosion was edited and posted on YouTube. Teacher is on extended sick leave.

32. Current Canadian Cases
Montreal Quebec student was physically bullied and cyber-bullied on cel phone. Bully threatened the student's mother who reported to the Police. Police visited the bully's parents at home.
Montreal Quebec, Sec.1V girls tried to disclose but administrators were out. They called 911 and Police speedily arrived at school.

33. When a parent says:
I don't tell you how to run your school, you don't tell me how to run my house!

34. YES I CAN! …said the principal
When there is a nexus, convergence, meeting or intersection between the school and the behaviour
Disruption of school environment
Negatively impacts the learning environment
Negatively impacts the mental or physical well being of others
Education Act Duty of Care in loco parentis
Eric M. Roher, LLP, Toronto, Ontario

35. Supreme Court of Canada Case #1
Robichaud v. Canada
Institutions are responsible for providing safe environments even if the harassment by a co-worker happens outside of the institution.
If the victim has to face the bully in the institution then the institution is responsible for correcting the problem
The institution has the authority to intervene even if the harassment happens outside of the institution
The school is an institution
Therefore if the student cyber-bullies a student or teacher from home, the school has the legal authority to intervene.
Shariff (2005)

36. Supreme Court of Canada Case #2
Ross v. New Brunswick School District #15
School board has a duty to maintain a positive school environment for all persons served by it
Students knew that Ross distributed anti-Semitic material outside of school.
The SCC ruled that the effects of Ross’ actions and behaviours poisoned the school environment
Therefore the school must teach that social responsibility does not end outside of or after school.
QEP: To socialize
Shariff (2005)

37. Case #3: Newman et al. vs Halstead, 2006
Canadian defamation case
Halstead, community education activist
Group of teachers
and web sites defamed teachers
Halstead found guilty
Plaintiffs awarded $626,000+

38. Stakeholder Concerns: Shariff 2007, McGill University
Sch. Bd.
Principal
Teacher
Parent
Student
Reputation Control
Balance demands
Angry Undermined
Learning & Safety
Need private spaces
Cater to media & parents
No time Reputation Quick fix
Want immediate action
Want fair treatment for kids
Need + env to learn
Must please Unions
Need teacher support
Don’t trust adminstrs.
Worry about kids’ reputn.
Need to vent
Have policies Done duty
Parents too demanding
Cynical with admin/parnt want suspen.
Concerned teachers will mistreat kids
Immature – need 2nd chance
Ban & Filter
Ban and Filter
Punishment for students
Don’t want to uproot kid
Feel Scapegoated

39. What educators can do
Educate your students, teachers, and staff members about cyber-bullying, its dangers, and what to do if someone is cyber-bullied.
Be sure that your school’s anti-bullying rules and policies include cyber-bullying.
Investigate reports of cyber-bullying immediately even if the cyber-bullying occurs off-campus
Notify parents of victims and parents of known or suspected cyber-bullies.
Closely monitor the behaviour of students at school for possible bullying.

40. What educators can do
Investigate to see if the victim(s) of cyber-bullying need support from a professional.
Cyber-bullying that occurs off-campus walks into the school with your students and affects how they behave and relate to each other, therefore the school must deal with this as though it happened on campus
Contact the police immediately if known or suspected cyber-bullying involves acts such as:
Threats of violence
Extortion
Obscene or harassing phone calls or text messages
Harassment, stalking, or hate crimes
Child pornography

41. What schools can do Be proactive and not just reactive
Make reporting cyber-bullying easy and safe
Promote and teach the positive use of technology
Implement prevention programs
Teach communication skills
Teach healthy relationship skills
Reflect the culture, needs and preferences of your school community.
Involve the students in proactive programs
Peer mediation
Development of strategies and solutions
Decide who within the school community is responsible for the coordination and implementation of cyber-bullying prevention and response strategies.
Be proactive and not just reactive

42. What schools must do Put cyber-bullying prevention in the curriculum
Educate everyone about the consequences and ethics of cyber-bullying
Address the content and not the technology
Enforce clearly and publicly stated consequences of cyber-bullying up to and including the pressing of criminal charges
Make the cyber bully accountable
Rethink the effectiveness of zero tolerance, suspension, restitution, restoration of trust
Include cyber-bullying in the school's code of behaviour

43. Teach the students to:
Never share passwords or log-in information except with their teacher or a parent
If harassed they should
tell a trusted adult
leave the harassment location
never respond to harassing messages
save the harassing messages for the ISP or school
report it to the police if necessary
Stop, block, save and tell
Take a stand against bullying of all kinds
Know and adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy

44. Heroes who help Scenarios to discuss
What would you do to stop the bullying?
As the student
As a fellow student
As the student's teacher
As the parent
As the school administrator

45. E.M.S.B. Resources Information Technology Services Student Services
Tracks the sender and receiver
Student Services
Project Harbour deals with the relationship and social causes and helps re-establish trust
Pedagogical Services
IT, RECIT and Portal Consultants for classroom programs to prevent cyber-bullying and support positive online behaviour
Legal Services
Time to involve the Montreal Police, or RCMP

46. Resources http://www.cyberbullying.ca/
Lesson Plans

47. Now: The bully is in front of you
The victim’s parents are in the office screaming for consequences
The teacher doesn’t want the bully back in class
The student body is watching to see what happens
The victim is afraid
WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT!