Group items tagged

Israeli soldier posts the details of an operation on Facebook, and the operation is called off. Ironic: the Internet, originally a military tool, causes trouble in the military. Like with potential victims for kidnapping in Mexico posting personal details online: should basic media literacy education be provided for the use of social media among groups with potential risks?

In Mexico and other Latin American countries there have been some questions raised on how kidnappers can get precise information of potential victims and their spending power: friends, lifestyle, travels. If social networks like Facebook are a potential tool for criminals, should they be regulated by the government? Is it the media or the government's fault if such a use is being made? I am looking for references in English regarding this problem. 

This article is dealing with the recent disclosure by Google that it had fallen victim to a cyber attack. It renews the growing sentiment that a global response to the issue of cybersecurity is needed with particular emphasis on the cooperation between the government and business sectors.

Interesting comparison was made in this article regarding President Obama's priorities. It stated that "Obama has made cyber security a top priority for his administration, and has listed the threat from cyber weapons along with other weapons of mass destruction - such as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons." Is it fair to make a comparison between the threat of nuclear weapons and threats which exist within the world of computers?

There is a call for specific cyber bullying laws to be introduced on Australia.  A recent case that led to the suicide of a 17 year old boy led to the sentencing of a man to a community service order. The Government has agreed that more needs to be done to empower and protect victims.

This article discusses the repercussions and impacts of threatening text messages that resulted in a teen suicide. Although the bully expressed remorse, the tragedy clearly marks how words are simply devastating, even if they seem trivial to others. Prosecution and Cyber bullying laws should examine the severity of the crime, and provide adequate justice.

A group of teenagers in the US have been charged after months of bullying led to victim committing suicide. The district they live in has since passed a law requiring anti-bullying to form part of the curriculum.  

This article discusses how 42 states in the United States now have some sort anti-bullying laws. Despite these laws, and EULA agreements of social networking sites being in places, victims of cyberbullying do not often come forward for fear of not being taken seriously. One of the suggestions for combating cyberbullying is the real life "comeback", although it is warned that this may backfire, which needs to be scripted and rehearsed. Though there are no studies that indicate this is an effective method to combat cyberbullying, this should be exercise with caution. Cyberbullying appears to be one of those case-by-case situations, as the victims reactions - type of person they are - how they handle the situation - whom they come forward to tell to seek help, may be the biggest factors in how an ordeal of this nature should be considered. Sadly it appears that cyberbullies - like in the offline world - like to try and collect followers in the online world, and perhaps one of the better practices is to inform people that they should not be participating in the act of cyberbullying another, and hopefully reducing the motivation to continue.

This article discusses how cyberbullying is not limited to strictly school children, or students rather teachers are also victims of cyberbullying. As students create social network hate groups, secretly film or photograph their teachers, and post embarassing moments online. identities of the victims are stolen, and then are used for either harassment, or illegal activity online. Though Facebook has mentioned that they will remove any content regarding teachers if reported, it brings to light a new issue. If laws need to address how we conduct ourselves online, should we compromise our freedom of speech (any jurisdiction that has constituted it) because the content is online?

Most hacking activities are not reported by the websites that are victim to it, most probably so as not to scare the public. In this article, filmmaker Phillip Mora looks at the activities of hackers and cyber terrorists, likening the potentialities to the Holocaust and 9/11.

Looks at the recent proposed amendments by the federal government to the 25-year-old Sex Discrimination Act which aim to give greater legal protection to victims under 16 of online sexual harassment and cyber-bullying. Critics say the proposed changes are "too little to late."

This is my blog post on the rise of cyberbullying, with thoughts on who is responsible and what needs to be done to prevent it.

The website was designed by a University of Technology Sydney student named Chris Webster, the website examines the effects and severity of cyberbullying, and offers a wide array of information (types of cyberbullying, Internet safety, mobile phone tips, examples of cyberbullying etc) and surveys on cyberbullying and Internet safety. Cyberbullying causes incredible distress to those who fall victim to it. Cyberbullying does not leave physical scars, however the cruelty of others becomes evident through web pages, social network sites that exist on the Internet, as taunting does not only persist during school hours; but extends to time at home where cruelty is displayed through online text messages, posts, and other outlets that leave an extensive amount of emotional damage.

An article about cyber bullying via Facebook groups. Notes that it doesn't just happen between peers, but adults can be the victim too, citing an example of a Facebook group created by students to bully a teacher. The article outlines the procedure that it taken to deal with this kind of bullying and the applicable laws on place to curb it.

My third blog post regarding online safety of victims of black hat hackers.

How on earth can he guarantee that this will be 100 percent accurate - with no overblocking, and no underblocking!?!?! And in this interview, he advises that this is not a limit on freedom of speech and that the internet should not be considered a special platform.

This article discusses how the Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has dismissed the Internet as a special medium, claiming that it is nothing more than, "just a communication distrbution platform." Which, is quite short sighted, as the notion of open source, crowd sourcing, collective/collecting intelligence, collaborative intelligence is achievable because of the Internet. Conroy also claims that his filter is 100 percent accurate..." which begs to question, according to who? Filtering, content only prevents access, it does not prevent those individuals from crimnimal acts offline, nor does it address how to protect victims from their predators.

A document that explores the difficulties of Iranian Cyber Activist to fight against the regime. Explain how Web Pages, Blogs and other internet initiatives like Radio Zamaneh, Jaras and Kalameh have been victims of persecution, filtering, and jail.

This article discusses how in the state of Ohio lawmakers are looking to have schools discipline cyberbullies. Cyberbully victims have a higher chance of being depressed, and according to this article they are approximately 8 times more likely to bring weapons to school. Though the bill will help a lot of schools monitor children's conduct online, there were no clear outlines as to the means of how to schools will be able to discipline bullies. A lot of information and rules and regulations will have to be in place to inform parents of how the school will extend their boundaries beyond a physical realm, and into the online world. Though there is much work to be done on the specifics of cyberbullyin, setting school boundaries regarding cyberbullying is a good step towards, thwarting possible cases of cyberbullies, as school jurisdiction may no longer necessarily be within bounds of a school yard.