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

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What is cyber-bullying? “Cyber-bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, 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, www.cyberbullying.ca )

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

Cyber-bullying hurts Electronic or Cyber-bullying includes the use of email, cell phones, text messages, and internet sites to threaten, harass, embarrass, socially exclude, or damage reputations and friendships. http://prevnet.ca/Bullying/tabid/94/Default.aspx PREVnet

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

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

Vehicles for cyber-bullying Email 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 http://www.cyberbullying.ca/ Click on Examples on the left of the site

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

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

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

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

Direct cyber-bullying Direct attack to the victim via email, IM, blog Phishing email 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

Direct cyber-bullying Gang up against a player in a game Send spam to overload an email 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 )

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

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.

Technology can help win against the bullies! CBC News story: Students use the technology against the bullies The Power of Pink http://www.bullybeware.com/index.html Bully B’ware web site

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

Elementary School Cyber-bullying Examples Actual sent emails: 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!!!!!!!!!

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.

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

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

Tracking an email sender Cyber sleuthing tools for email from outside the EMSB http://member.dnsstuff.com/pages/tools.php WHOIS IP information Right-click on the header of the email 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

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.

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 email, 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) http://www.digizen.org.uk/cyberbullying/fullguidance/responding/investigation.aspx

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 emails 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

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

What Doesn't Work Telling the victim not to access the social networking sites or their email 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

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 264.1 (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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

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. http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

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 http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

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 http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

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

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 http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/CyberBullying.aspx

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

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

Resources http://www.cyberbullying.ca/ http://prevnet.ca/Bullying/tabid/94/Default.aspx http://www.bullybeware.com/index.html http://www.internet101.ca/en/educators_youth_presentations.php http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov http://www.bullying.org/public/frameset.cfm http://www.digizen.org.uk/cyberbullying/fullguidance/responding/investigation.aspx http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/tools/main_search/search_results.cfm Lesson Plans

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!