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Among 50 U.S. cities studied for their vulnerability to cybercrime, Seattle came out on top as the riskiest place, followed by Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, according to the report "Norton's Top 10 Riskiest Online Cities," released Monday. Results are based on the number of attempted hacking attacks and infected systems.

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has compiled a database of statutes related to bullying, harrassment and hazing. They are sorted alphabetically by state and include information on latest updates and whether or not there is a state cyberbullying policy.

So far this year, at least 15 states have introduced or are considering bills or resolutions aimed at "sexting." The legislation generally aims to educate young people about the risks of sexting, deter them from the practice, and apply appropriate penalties to those who do engage in sexting. While some states are just encouraging programs to educate teens about the dangers of sexting, others are attempting to de-criminalize the act.

Florida State lawmakers Monday took up a bill that would, for the first time, create a separate penalty for the increasingly common, and risqué, practice among teens - sending naked or suggestive pictures of themselves via cell phone or e-mail.

tudents under 18 who use computers or cell phones to share nude photos of their peers would earn little more than a scolding under a measure the Illinois Senate approved Thursday to address the "sexting" phenomenon. Offenders would not face criminal charges, but would get juvenile court supervision that could result in counseling or community service. The bill doesn't address youths who send or receive racy photos if they don't distribute them.

Protocol developed by Lawyer/Educator Nancy Willard for school or district involvement in investigating, documenting and disciplining sexting incidents.

In the United States, there's no federal law against cyber bullying -- yet. A bill introduced to the House of Representatives last year would make it against the law to "transmit in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior." Anyone found guilty of this crime could face a fine or a prison term of up to two years.

If Phoebe was bullied to the grave, it didn't stop there. When some of her former classmates set up a memorial Internet site, it was defaced by insults and slurs. When a television crew came to the school to interview students about Phoebe, Rebecca Brouillard, a student who talked on camera about the bullying, was roughed up afterward by one of Phoebe's tormenters, her father says.

Since social-media use is so multi-faceted, no single approach will apply to all situations. Some schools may opt to place an outright ban on social-media access at school as well as prohibit "friending" parents, students and other employees. Other schools may simply prohibit employees from identifying their school online. As the use of social-networking sites for educational and community communication purposes increases, schools may need to adapt to the mainstream use of such sites and recognize that a blanket prohibition simply isn't practical. Regardless, your school should take action now to safeguard against social media mishaps.

Salt Lake City's Granite School District is expected to approve a new policy this month barring students and teachers from connecting on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The policy - the first of its kind in Utah - provides an exemption for teachers' sites that are educational, not personal. Officials said there was no specific incident that spurred the new guidelines. But with the popularity of social networking sites in schools, Granite wants to eliminate any gray areas when it comes to teacher-student interaction, district spokesman Ben Horsley said. "The reality is if someone is going to interact inappropriately with a student, there's certainly lots of technology out there that can help them get around those rules and guidelines in a very nonpublic way," Horsley said. "This gives us some tools to move forward on a disciplinary track."

Eight Smithfield State High School students who joined a cyberbullying social networking group that branded another girl a "liar" have been suspended. The Smithfield High students, all girls, were suspended for one day and the Facebook group, which had 11 members, was shut down after The Cairns Post was alerted to it before the Easter school holidays. It is understood the Facebook group was started after an argument between friends. Smithfield High acting principal Barry Courtney said the school took a tough stance against any form of bullying."Our response is students who join any cyberbullying site will be dealt with and it is a suspendable offence and parents are contacted about it straight away," he said.

The ABC NightLine story of an 18 year old student branded as a sex offender over sexting, possession and distribution of photos of his former 16 year old girl friend.

A spat on Facebook over a recent killing might have led to a fight at Knightdale High School last week. Dominique Royster's Facebook page erupted into expletives and insults after Royster called for the release of Mariah Wisdom from jail. After her Facebook posting and the angry response, Royster received death threats on her cell phone. She was kept out of school for several days until emotions cooled, and her parents had a chance to talk to school administrators about the situation. A member of the school staff who deals with disciplinary problems was assigned to shadow her as she went through the day March 26, her first day back at school after the killing. Four students were cited with misdemeanor assault and released to their parents in connection with the attack.

School bullying is nothing new. But since Prince's suicide, it has taken on a much darker significance, one that prosecutors are taking seriously. On Monday, criminal charges were brought against the nine students who allegedly led the harassment. And parents and school administrators in South Hadley are under intense scrutiny as well. They face tough questions about what happened to Prince and whether they could have done more to prevent her death.

The calls began coming in Monday. A horrified guidance counselor, a teacher, and then a student lit up Boston's new antibullying tip line, telling officials about multiple Facebook pages that featured pictures of female high school students with derogatory and sexually explicit captions beneath them. Students and city and school officials say they have found at least 15 Facebook pages over the last few days that use obscene or hateful language to target female students, as well as a handful of male students, school administrators, and teachers at schools in Boston and surrounding communities. Boston officials have been scrambling to have the pages removed and have been meeting to figure out how to address the apparent cyberbullying and find the culprits. But as the offending Facebook pages come down, new ones go up. School officials and police are struggling to identify the perpetrators, who have been using fake names when they register with Facebook to create the pages. Police say they could pursue criminal charges if they determine that perpetrators have violated victims' civil rights.

Adults need to be good role models. Politicians need to think about this the next time they consider demonizing (as opposed to criticizing) an opponent. Media personalities and talk show hosts need to think about the messages they're giving to children when they engage in name calling. We all need to be aware of comments we make in the presence of children and even people who comment on blogs need to think about the difference between legitimate criticism and derision. Children learn by observing our behavior, and there are plenty of adults who behave like bullies. Changing behavior isn't easy, but it's not impossible. I've been watching episodes of the TV show Mad Men, which is set in the 1960s when it was acceptable to smoke around other people, ride in cars without seat belts, leave trash everywhere, make derogatory comments about minorities, and treat women as inferior beings. We haven't yet completely eliminated any of those dangerous or antisocial behaviors, but we've come a long way. With concerted effort and national leadership, we can do the same with bullying.

I am sure that Vermonters don't like the idea of teens sending sexy pictures from one phone to another. Nor do Ohio and Utah parents want their kids using cell phone minutes to bare their bodies with their buddies. Nevertheless, their state legislatures are among the first trying to sensibly ratchet down the penalties for sexting. They are backing away from laws that currently treat a teenager with a cell phone the same way they treat a child pornographer. They know there's a difference between truly dreadful judgment and a felony.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is proposing a federal grant program to research and educate children about Internet safety. Menedez, D-N.J., said he is hopeful that educating teenagers, teachers and parents will stop children from sending explicit photos of themselves over cell phones and the Internet. The grant proposal would authorize $25 million to $35 million each year for Internet safety programs. The grants would be awarded on a two-year basis and administered by the Department of Justice.

In summer 2007, a music professor at BU was shocked to learn that he had a Facebook page - in his name, with a recent photo and a spot-on bio. But, the professor recalls, "embedded in the document were really scurrilous things that were reputed to have been said by me, and they were quite unpleasant and ugly and immature."

Parents, school districts, and law-enforcement officials have been grappling with what to do with teenagers who take sexually explicit photos of themselves with their cell phone cameras and send them to friends. Now, a handful of state legislatures are moving to get rid of one option: child pornography charges that result in lifetime listings on states' internet sex-offender registries.