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The issue of cyber bullying of school children goes to the zeitgeist of our age. It is a collision point between three competing forces: educating our children to be responsible, autonomous individuals; the intervention of the state; and the seemingly unfathomable reach of technology. This week the new Commonwealth Director of Cyber Safety Policy and Programs. begins sifting through the many submissions responding to the government's cyber safety discussion paper. Twenty years ago who would have even imagined such a position would need to exist?

The issue of cyber bullying of school children goes to the zeitgeist of our age. It is a collision point between three competing forces: educating our children to be responsible, autonomous individuals; the intervention of the state; and the seemingly unfathomable reach of technology. This week the new Commonwealth Director of Cyber Safety Policy and Programs. begins sifting through the many submissions responding to the government's cyber safety discussion paper. Twenty years ago who would have even imagined such a position would need to exist?

"A federal government discussion paper has proposed the creation of a children's e-safety commissioner to help protect children from cyber-bullying on social media. However not everyone agrees on the proposal, which opponents say is a slippery slope to government censorship, writes Damien Carrick."

"Cyber-bullying, update-addiction, sexting - from the perspective of a parent raising a ''digital native'' child, social media seems fraught with dangers. But new research suggests the risks inherent in social media use by younger generations might be overblown. danah boyd, assistant research professor at Harvard and principal researcher for Microsoft Research - like k.d.lang, she prefers the lower case - has completed a large-scale study on how US teenagers use the internet in general, and social media in particular. Her book is called It's Complicated, and is the result of in-depth interviews with scores of teens over an eight-year period."

A cyberbullying 'epidemic' has hit our shores and threatens to contaminate our children through emails, chatrooms, blogs, mobile phones and social networking sites. The Bullies are nasty, highly contagious viruses that lurk in cyberspace, infecting young cyber citizens with unacceptable online behaviours. And unfortunately, something seemingly innocent such as forwarding an unpleasant email to someone can cause instant contamination. But help is at hand. SchoolAid, in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, has launched a national campaign that identifies and personifies the different types of cyberbullying behaviours, and in particular, bystander behaviour, to raise awareness of this crucial issue, while encouraging open discussion among children and adults alike.

Great little video tutorials that show how to construct comics in comic life but also working with drawplus to rip characters from one cartoon and embedding them in the other. All neatly wrapped up in a cyber bullying theme for a token nod to e-safety.

At the risk of oversimplifying Kant's ideas, I'm suggesting that his categorical imperatives (unconditional requirements that are always true) be adapted as guiding principles for ethical technology use: 1. Before I do something with this technology, I ask myself, would it be alright if everyone did it? 2. Is this going to harm or dehumanise anyone, even people I don't know and will never meet? 3. Do I have the informed consent of those who will be affected? If the answer to any of these questions is "no", then it is arguably unethical to do it.

Interesting piece by Danah Boyd challenging the belief that we should track our children and wall their digital wall.