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As teens across the country head back to school this year, far too many of them are facing the entrance doors to their schools with feelings of fear, trepidation and dread. For an increasing number of students across the nation, schooldays are filled with the never-ending cycle of taunting and abuse from their bullies. But this year, in an unprecedented display of solidarity, thousands of strangers who have been through the same harrowing experiences, are sharing their private tales of torment with these teens for the first time ever because of the story of Olivia Gardner.

A bill passed earlier this year makes it mandatory for Pennsylvania school districts to have a written anti-bullying policy in place beginning next year.

One in five of the nation's wired "tweens" -- kids ages 8 to 12 -- has posted personal information on the Internet, and more than a fourth have been contacted online by strangers, a poll released Tuesday found.

Teens use MyYearbook.com as an online confessional. Can its founders make money from the freewheeling chatfest without turning users off?

China now has the largest Internet population, with 253 million users. The U.S. is second with 223 million users. While 70 percent of Americans are online, only about 20 percent of Chinese are. Current growth trends indicate that, in the next few years,

Diane Hillas considers herself illiterate when it comes to technology, so she was surprised to hear her 12-year-old son's PlayStation Portable game console can be used to download Internet pornography. The 51-year-old Modesto mother of three was at a cyber safety seminar at Modesto's Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation on Saturday afternoon, and said she would check every portable communication device her family owns once she got home.

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.

With its evidence room overflowing with cell phones, the Richmond County school board is wanting to give away what it has taken 15 years to collect. The board decided to give the phones back to students when it changed its policy for cell phones in June. The policy replaces the often-criticized rule to seize phones for 365 calendar days when a pupil is caught with one. In 15 years, 5,725 phones were taken from students, according to the public safety department. Of those, 4,566 were still being held by the department this summer. Under the new rules, a parent has 10 days to claim a phone before it is turned in to public safety on the first offense. For a second offense and any phones not claimed at the school on the first offense, public safety takes the phone for 30 days.

Last year, the Court ducked an opportunity to determine in Morse v. Frederick whether public schools have authority to restrict student speech that occurs off of school grounds. The Court's refusal to address this issue was unfortunate. For several decades lower courts have struggled to determine when, if ever, public schools should have the power to restrict student expression that does not occur on school grounds during school hours. In the last several years, however, courts have struggled with this same question in a new context -- the digital media. Around the country, increasing numbers of courts have been forced to confront the authority of public schools to punish students for speech on the Internet. In most cases, students are challenging punishments they received for creating fake websites mocking their teachers or school administrators or for making offensive comments on websites or instant messages. More often than not, the lower courts are ruling in favor of the schools.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed a bill Monday outlawing cyberbullying, just miles from where a 13-year-old girl committed suicide nearly two years ago after being harassed on the Internet.\n\nThe bill updates state laws against harassment by removing the requirement that the communication be written or over the telephone. Supporters say the bill now covers harassment from computers, text messages and other electronic devices.

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.

Video interview with Olivia Gardner on the Today Show. Fourteen-year-old Olivia Gardner gets encouragement from other teens. People around the world are pouring their hearts out and offering words of encouragement and sympathy to a Northern California teenager who was taunted and teased so mercilessly that she stayed up nights thinking of ways she could kill herself. Thousands of letters have arrived already since word spread in the media and in cyberspace about the plight of 14-year-old Olivia Gardner.

A St. Petersburg teacher is accused of sending pornographic pictures of herself to a 14-year-old boy. Police say 32-year-old Christy Lynn Martin admitted she used a cell phone to exchange naked pictures with the boy last weekend.

From Qwest Communications. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America with 18-29 year olds being the largest group of victims. Educating 13-18 year olds about how and why they are being targeted is critical in preventing new victims. Clean credit and a low level of identity theft awareness are two top reasons teens are targeted. A new survey from Qwest Communications Teen Council Program shows that an alarming number of teens are making it easier for thieves to steal their identity. With answers from more than 1,600 students about their online habits, the report identified the top 5 ways teens are compromising their identities.\n

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.

A quarter of UK internet users aged eight to 12 had profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace last year, research has found, although the lowest minimum age set on any of the sites is 13. Ofcom's annual Children's Media Literacy Audit for 2009 also had bad news for the music industry, finding that 44% of children between 12 and 15 thought downloading shared copies of films and music for free should not be illegal.

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.

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.

They came from pretty much every sector-nonprofits, government, wireless executives, and think tanks-to a day-long conference in Washington D.C. on how to respond to the panic du jour over kids, mobile phones, and sex