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Cyberbullying Cyberbullying or online bullying is repeated, unwanted or cruel behavior against someone through computers, cell phones, gaming consoles, or other Internet-based means. The Internet is always “on,” opening the door for 24-hour harassment. Cyberbullies can be anonymous. They never have to confront their victims, they don’t have to be physically stronger and cyberbullies may be virtually invisible to parents and adults.

Look for warning signs your child may be the victim of cyberbullying – depression, lack of interest in school and friends, drop in grades and subtle comments that something may be wrong. If your child is the victim of cyberbullying, take action. By filtering email, instant messages and text messages, you can cut off many of the ways the cyberbullies contact your child. By having your child avoid the sites and groups where the attacks occur, he/she can ignore the bully. If harassment continues, change your child’s email address, user names and Internet account. If these steps do not stop the cyberbullying, contact the parents of the child who is behind the bullying, contact the school, and if the situation is not resolved, involve the police. It’s important to compile copies of harassing emails and postings to have evidence for authorities or the school, so they can take action. Look for signs that your child may be the cyberbully themselves – if they sign onto the Internet under someone else’s name, if they use someone else’s password without their permission, if they posted rude or mean things about someone else online, if they use bad language online, or if they changed their profile or away message designed to embarrass or frighten someone. Talk to your kids about cyberbullying and why it’s wrong and hurtful.

A greater proportion (than in the West) of Chinese users get online via Internet cafes or from work. China's Internet environment is much different than the American one. The Chinese Internet is heavily policed, with over 30,000 cyber cops blocking content that is considered hostile to the communist dictatorship that has run the country for the last 60 years.

Chinese who say the wrong thing on message boards, chat rooms or email, are subject to detection and punishment.

ot so much for cyber criminals. Some 52 percent of the Internet based criminality can be traced to China (versus 21 percent to the United States). It is believed that the Chinese government tolerates the cyber criminals, as long as these black hat geeks do espionage, and Cyber War tasks for the government.