Ad4dcss/Digital Citizenship

This article is part of an online symposium on the First Amendment Center Online titled Cyberbullying & Public Schools.

This article, by John Palfree, is part of an online symposium on the First Amendment Center Online titled Cyberbullying & Public Schools. The author concludes that there is no easy answer to the problem of online bullying and that the most effective approach - education, with a view toward establishing positive social norms - is the hardest to accomplish. John Palfrey chaired the Internet Safety Technical Task Force in 2008. He is the co-author of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives\n\n

Currently, student non-compliance may result in confiscation of the device and other disciplinary action. But, says Superintendent Dave Jeck, that policy is about to change to keep pace with growing student non-compliance. "Cell phone usage issues were at one time exclusively a high school-middle school problem," says Jeck. "Now there are issues on all levels. We need ... a division-wide policy that makes it very clear that usage during the school day is not acceptable and violations will be dealt with sternly."Jeck is working on an addendum to the current policy -- even though legislators say the school district doesn't have to allow electronic devices on school property at all.

Steps parents can take to help kids avoid being victims of cyberbullying.
Kids have always been challenged by bullies, particularly at school. But in a high-tech age where the Internet, a personal cell phone and social networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace have become an integral part of young lives, there's a new kind of bully on the block.\n\n

These tips were written in April 2009, after several reported cases of teens being prosecuted for taking, distributing and possessing pictures of themselves or friends. While we are aware that such activity is inappropriate and risky, we do not feel that - in most cases - law enforcement should treat sexting as a criminal act. Except in the rare cases involving malice or criminal intent, law enforcement should play an educational role, along with parents, community leaders, school officials and other caring adults. "Sexting" usually refers to teens sharing nude photos via cellphone, but it's happening on other devices and the Web too. The practice can have serious legal and psychological consequences, so - teens and adults - consider these tips!

This site provides a detailed account of states that have begun taking legal action against cyberbullying. Many states are just in the process of introducing legislation. For updated information on new laws and legislation, you can go to your local senate website and search cyberbullying. Most legislation includes "cyberbullying", though the focus of the campaign was "bullying" in general. Many states require the local district to enact a policy. For specific rules and regulations, you should contact your local PTA.

Kids Being Asked To Take Photos Of Themselves Naked

You can print this list out and distribute it at your next PTA meeting - or provide a link for parents from your school or district web site.

A schoolboy who announced his imminent suicide on Facebook was saved when a friend across the Atlantic in America read his threat and raised the alarm. The 16-year-old, from Oxford, sent a late-night message on the social networking website to a girl sitting 3,400 miles away at her computer in Maryland.

A U.S. judge on Monday barred a Pennsylvania prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against three teenage girls caught with sexually suggestive pictures of themselves on their cell phones.

Attendees at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) will examine what it means to live in a digital world, and will discuss the best ways to prepare students to become global citizens.

If Wikipedia is to be believed, cyberbullying involves "the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others." Cyberbullying has eclipsed sexual predators on the Internet as the number one concern of policymakers, parents and kids themselves

As high school students flock to social networking sites, campus police are scanning their Facebook and MySpace pages for tips to help break up fights, monitor gangs and thwart crime in what amounts to a new cyberbeat.

Rumors had been flying at Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia that students were distributing nude pictures of each other on their cell phones. It's a phenomenon, known as "sexting," that's become increasingly worrisome to educators across the country, and Ting-Yi Oei, a 60-year-old assistant principal at the school, was tasked with checking it out. The investigation was inconclusive, but led to a stunning aftermath: Oei himself was charged with possession of child pornography and related crimes

Four teenagers were arrested last week in Brown County after they were accused of having nude photos on their cell phones

The worrying extent of the use of technology to bully school and college staff was revealed today with the release of survey results by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and Teacher Support Network. One in seven respondents said they had experienced cyberbullying and almost one in five said they knew of colleagues who had become victims.

This Is Me project aims to look at ways of helping people to learn more about what makes up their Digital Identity (DI) and at ways of developing and enhancing it. "Digital Identity" is made up of multiple parts - it isn't just what we have published about ourself on the web, but also includes things other people have published about us.

In a recent incident in which local teens "cyberbullied" a fellow Palo Alto student, school district officials said they helped remove the offending website and notified the parents of "six or eight" perpetrators who are students at Gunn and Palo Alto high schools. The bullying occurred over the weekend of Feb. 28, when some students created a Facebook "I Hate..." group targeting another student. The Internet group quickly gained up to 100 members and included vicious comments against the student as well as some posts in the student's defense. School district officials, who learned of the activity over the weekend, helped remove the Facebook group early on Monday, March 2.

Did you know that 42% of kids have been bullied while online? Did you know that 35% of kids have been threatened online? Did you know that Palo Alto is home to the most popular Social Networking site in the world, Facebook? Did you know that the Palo Alto School District DOES NOT have a cyber-bullying policy? Surprised? Me too.

The FBI-SOS Internet Challenge is an internet safety program designed to help students recognize potential dangers associated with the internet, email, chat rooms and social networking sites. The program addresses and defines topics serious in nature such as seduction, child pornography, solicitation, exploitation, obscenity and online predators. Students take web-based quizzes and review specific web sites aimed at promoting online safety.