Technology

Pa. Taking Steps To Prevent Cyber Bullying

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― School bullies used to stick to the playground, but children today are now facing a new threat of attacks online. CBS 3's Stephanie Abrams reports there are ways to protect your children from "cyber bullies."

If you take a closer look at social networking Web sites like MySpace or Facebook, you can often find students taking aim at their classmates and teachers with vicious words.

Hateful messages can lead to tragedy, as in the much publicized suicide of Missouri teenager Megan Meier and Vermont's Ryan Halligan.

Serena Martin, who attends Philadelphia University, said she is familiar with cyber bullying.

"It gets back to school and everyone goes against each other because of what people say on MySpace or Facebook and they'll get into fights and teachers never took charge," she said.

Teachers were restricted in the past as the comments were made off-campus, but times have changed. A new measure signed into law over the summer by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell requires all schools in the state to put a cyber bullying disciplinary code in place by January.

The law allows for detention and even expulsion in cases of online attacks.

"Districts now have the option to discipline a child for something he or she initiated at home," said Marple Newtown School District Superintendent Merle Horowitz.

Horowitz became deeply concerned over the impact of cyber bullying on students and conducted a survey of 46 school districts in the area. She said she received over 1,400 anonymous responses from those who said they have been victims of the online abuse.

Technology attorney Dorothy Bollinger says sometimes school discipline does not go far enough.

"Sometimes it really involves getting an attorney involved because it's so harmful to the child that you then need to file a lawsuit of defamation, extortion, or harassment," she said.

So heads up Generation Tech, what you write online could send you to the principal's office or worse.

If you've been a victim of online harassment, you can eliminate hateful messages from appearing in searches by going to sites like reputationdefender.com or defendmyname.com.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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