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Cyber Bullying has gained national attention in the case of Phoebe Prince, an irish immigrant attending South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. Though this case has shed new light on the issues of cyber bullying, there are many cases of what has been dubbed "bullycide" where students bullied both on and off line have taken their lives. Regardless of where the bullying is taking place, it is still an issue that must be dealt with on every level in order to prevent further tragedies.

How do parents teach kids about internet morals and how to protect themselves at the same time? Hear some tips about being a good cyber-citizen Three-minute video from Gen Y Author, Vanessa Van Petten. See also: Dirt-E Secrets of an Internet Kid."

Olivia Gardner, a northern California teenager, was severely taunted and cyber-bullied by her classmates for more than two years. News of her bullying spread, eventually reaching two teenage girls from a neighboring town, sisters Emily and Sarah Buder. The girls were so moved by Olivia's story that they initiated a letter-writing campaign to help lift her spirits. It was a tender gesture of solidarity that set off an overwhelming chain reaction of support, encouragement, and love. In Letters to a Bullied Girl, Olivia and the Buder sisters share an inspiring selection of messages that arrived from across America-the personal, often painful remembrances of former targets, remorseful bullies, and sympathetic bystanders. Letters to a Bullied Girl examines our national bullying epidemic from a variety of angles and perspectives, and includes practical guidance from bullying expert Barbara Coloroso, author of The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander. Though addressed to Olivia, the letters speak to all young people who have been bullied, offer advice and hope to those who suffer, and provide a wake-up call to all who have ever been involved in bullying.

There is also a video interview with the Buder sisters on this site.

Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985, states that the intent of the Legislature in enacting its provisions is to encourage school districts, county offices of education, law enforcement agencies, and agencies serving youth to develop and implement interagency strategies, in-service training programs, and activities that will, among other things, reduce school crime and violence, including bullying. Existing law establishes the School/Law Enforcement Partnership and charges it with undertaking several efforts intended to reduce school crime, as specified,including bullying.

This bill would specify that bullying, as used in these provisions,means one or more acts by a pupil or a group of pupils directed against another pupil that constitutes sexual harassment, hate violence, or severe or pervasive intentional harassment, threats, or intimidation that is disruptive, causes disorder, and invades the rights of others by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment, and includes\nacts that are committed personally or by means of an electronic act, as defined.

Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the principal determines that the pupil has committed any of various specified acts, including, but not limited to, hazing, as defined. This bill, in addition, would give school officials grounds to suspend a pupil or recommend a pupil for expulsion for bullying, including, but not limited to, bullying by electronic act.

Ty Nordic understands the need to inform kids about the dangers of sexual predators on the Internet. But when his 16-year-old daughter was targeted during an assembly at Windsor High School on the first day of school Tuesday afternoon, Nordic was left with plenty of unanswered questions for the presenter whom he said used inappropriate language during the assembly and singled out specific students.

Just before midnight, an eMail popped into Robert Morris University professor Chris Davis' eMail box. It was from a student. When the student did not receive an immediate reply, another eMail arrived 30 minutes later. By the time Davis logged on the following morning, he had four eMails from this student. "A lot of our younger students using technology are used to that instant gratification when they reach out and ping somebody," Davis said. "But I tell students I'm not available 24 hours a day."

A group of eight Windsor High School parents will file grievances with Re-4 School district in the wake of an Internet safety assembly that saw one girl leave in tears. The eight parents came together feeling nothing has been done since several high school students and their MySpace pages were used in an Internet safety presentation by Cheyenne Police Department officer John Gay on Aug. 19, the first day of school in the Windsor-Severance Re-4 School District.

An impulse to help a Marin girl who had been bullied by her classmates has transformed the lives of two Mill Valley sisters and led to a paperback book being sold nationwide. Two years ago, sisters Emily, 18, and Sarah Buder, 15, read a newspaper story about the plight of Olivia Gardner, a then 13-year-old Novato girl who had been ridiculed by her classmates and subjected to an "Olivia Haters" Web site that drove her to change schools three times and eventually to drop out of school altogether.

Sony Creative Software Contest- Winner, School Video Category [Cyberbullyiing Public Service Announcement ]

Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary. Background info from Marvin Jiminez, Director. I decided to enter the contest for two reasons. First, being one of the poorest school districts in the city, I felt our students would greatly appreciate the software prizes to use in sharing their stories in a visual manner. Second, this project would be my directorial debut. I really enjoyed directing this project and seeing it come to life from an idea to film. The students who volunteered as talent really did an exceptional job and were very fun to direct. The project itself took approx. 20 pre-production hours, 6 production hours, and 8 post-production hours. The title I decided to use is "Words Sometimes Really Do Hurt".

Nancy Willard and Anne Collier offer eight ways to deal with cyberbullies in this article.
1. Identify and block.
2. Set boundaries.
3. File a complaint.
4. Contact the school
5. Send the parents a certfied "cease and desist" letter.
6. Call an attorney.
7. Contact the local police.
8. Talk with your kids about what's acceptable.

The Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative (Michigan CSI) is an Internet safety education program with customized presentations for kindergarten through eighth-grade students and a community seminar. There are many downloadable handouts for educators and parents, including an online safety contract, social networking discussion questions (parent dialogue with child), templates, slides and sample presentations.

New York City's Department of Health launched its Mindspace program last week, an attempt to reach at-risk teens by creating MySpace pages for kids battling common mental health issues.
Though many teens experience mental health issues, they are often reluctant to acknowledge them and seek help. When asked who they are most likely to talk with when they feel sad, more than 20% of teens NYC Teen said they talk to no one, one-third said they would talk to a friend only (31%), and just one-third said they would talk to an adult (32%). The Mindspace page responds to these issues with interactive features that raise awareness and combat stigma by helping teens identify with peers and prompting them to seek help.

Job characteristics and strengths at work at Google -
\n\n... analytical reasoning. Google is a data-driven, analytic company. When an issue arises or a decision needs to be made, we start with data. That means we can talk about what we know, instead of what we think we know.
\n\n... communication skills. Marshalling and understanding the available evidence isn't useful unless you can effectively communicate your conclusions.
\n\n... a willingness to experiment. Non-routine problems call for non-routine solutions and there is no formula for success. A well-designed experiment calls for a range of treatments, explicit control groups, and careful post-treatment analysis. Sometimes an experiment kills off a pet theory, so you need a willingness to accept the evidence even if you don't like it.
\n\n... team players. Virtually every project at Google is run by a small team. People need to work well together and perform up to the team's expectations.\n\n... passion and leadership. This could be professional or in other life experiences: learning languages or saving forests, for example. The main thing, to paraphrase Mr. Drucker, is to be motivated by a sense of importance about what you do.

Interesting perspective from a Berkman researcher on how our "memories" of events an are changing with use of the Internet and collaborative participation. Even rote memory of significant dates in History has changed because digital natives know they can find the info on the Internet so easily. Would be an interesting discussion to have with high school students.

MISSING, from Web Wise Kids, is designed to SHOW rather than TELL children about online safety. It's a fun and positive way to teach children how to avoid danger on the Internet. The interactive software adventure tells the story of Zack, a kid in Vancouver, Canada who forms an online friendship with Fantasma. This guy is so cool - he has an online magazine about beach life in California and he sends Zack great stuff, like graphic arts and software. Little does Zack know that he is a predator. After Zach agrees to go to San Diego to be with Fantasma, players work with a detective to find and rescue Zack and arrest Fantasma. Available both as a home edition and a school edition. [Windows and Mac OSX versions available]. Note: Local middle school science teachers have successfully worked this program into their science curriculum since solving the game involves researching and collecting clues.

This video from WebWise Kids tells Katie Canton's story and is excellent to use in class with students. When she was 15, Katie met a 22 year old guy in a chatroom and fell in love. Only after playing the game MISSING with her family, did she come to realize that "John" was an online predator. He is now serving 20 years in prison, after Katie worked with the police and turned in evidence against him. Katie has become an articulate spokesperson for Web Wise Kids and she speaks at school assemblies to advise other kids. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

You can download Katie Canton's story here. When she was 15, she met a 22 year old guy in a chatroom and fell in love. Only after playing the game MISSING with her family, did Katie come to realize that "John" was an online predator, who is now serving 20 years in prison. Katie has become an articulate spokesperson for Web Wise Kids and she speaks at school assemblies to advise other kids.

As tales of online cruelty mount, districts are trying a mix of prevention and punishment, incorporating internet safety into curriculum and tightening student conduct codes.Whether a pattern or merely an unfortunate streak, what's not disputed is the direction of the general drift in cyberbullying cases: upward. Once relegated to the playgrounds and back lots, the schoolyard bully now finds prey online. While the states are responding to cyberbullying by adopting legislation that mixes prevention with punishment, for school districts the issue quickly turns from educating the community about the threat of cyberbullying to crafting a response when an incident actually occurs. Districts are realizing that integrating internet safety education into curriculum isn't enough. They must also address cyberbullying in their conduct and discipline codes.

Web proxies are almost as old as the Internet itself as a means to route Web traffic through an anonymous domain name or circumvent content-filters, and they've long been the territory of corporate networks and the tech savvy seeking privacy. Nowadays, an increasing number of teenagers are setting up proxies on home PCs to sidestep school filtering traps, in addition to using free proxies set up on the Web, according to technologists at schools and at content-filtering technology providers.

This is why I don't share the photos of my children online in public places. After one pic of a child at school was favorited in this way, I took the pic down and am ridiculously vigilant about checking to see how many photos have been favorited and which ones to see if there is one that some sicko has looked at. This is an article I'm going to share with my digiteen dream team! It is an important one to share!

In January 2009, Alex Couros received an email notice saying that a few of his Flickr photos had been favorited. These particular photos were of his children, mostly of his daughter. Every time this happens, he goes to see who the Flickr user is, and most of the time, it is a family member, a close friend, or someone he know through Twitter (or other social network). He did not recognize the user in this particular case, and when he went to see their photos, the Flickr message alerted him that none of the user's photos were available. Seeing as his photos had been favorited, he went to see what other photos had been marked as favorites by this user.