CyberBullying
NYT > Cyberbullying
Updated: Sept. 30, 2010
Cyberbullying is an imprecise label for online activities ranging from barrages of teasing texts to sexually harassing group sites. The extent of the phenomenon is hard to quantify. But one 2010 study by the Cyberbullying Research Center, an organization founded by two criminologists who defined bullying as "willful and repeated harm” inflicted through phones and computers, said one in five middle-school students had been affected.
Its amorphous nature and the rapidly changing technological landscape have made it difficult for schools and even the courts to address the cyberbullying. Few families in Long Island, for instance, were aware of Formspring, a site where users invite anonymous questions or comments, until after the March 2010 suicide of a 17-year-old West Islip soccer player who had received many nasty messages.
Juicy Campus, a college gossip site, caused so much grief that some colleges blocked it, and some state attorneys general began consumer-protection investigations. The site shut down last year. And text messages remain a constant source of complaints, particularly now that the widespread use of camera phones has led to "sexting'' -- sending texts with nude pictures attached.
Unlike face-to-face bullying, inappropriate behavior online can be spread instantly everywhere. In September 2010, a freshman at Rutgers University died in an apparent suicide after his roommate secretly filmed him in an intimate encounter and then streamed the video over the Internet. His roommate and another classmate were charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image.”
The news of the death came on the same day that Rutgers kicked off a two-year, campuswide project to teach the importance of civility, with special attention to the use and abuse of new technology.
The tragic deaths of two teenagers raise questions about hate-crime laws and our urge to fix the human race.
Civil rights statutes are being stretched to go after teenagers who acted meanly, but not violently.
Lawyers said the verdict in the case against Dharun Ravi was a sign that a “jerky kid” defense may no longer hold as much sway.
A former Rutgers student was convicted on all charges he faced for using a webcam to watch his roommate having sex with another man, a verdict poised to broaden the definition of hate crimes.
Jurors asked a judge in Middlesex County, N.J., to restate the definition of “intimidate.”
The defense rested its case, which means the jury will soon consider Dharun Ravi’s fate.
The police video of Dharun Ravi’s interrogation was made the night after his roommate at Rutgers University, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide.
The day before Tyler Clementi’s suicide, the defendant Dharun Ravi told his friend Michelle Huang of capturing images of his roommate on a webcam.
The man who was with Tyler Clementi in Mr. Clementi’s dorm room has never been identified, and his testimony is considered crucial in the case.
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