Cyberbullying a major problem.
POLICE are investigating allegations an Australian mother has been harassed, stalked and bullied on the social networking site, Facebook.
The accusations coincide with the release of a new a report into cyberbullying, which found that social networking sites were the most common online vehicle for bullying - ahead of chat rooms and email.
The woman, from just outside Lismore, has become so distressed by the experience, she is considering taking her children and leaving.
She told The Northern Star she was approached in December through Facebook by someone using a pseudonym.
They tried to ingratiate themselves with her by sharing information they knew would interest her.
When she became suspicious, it turned nasty.
The woman blocked the person as a friend on her Facebook profile, but they had already identified all the people listed as her friends on the site and began sending messages to them.
“They said: 'I'm closer than you think' and 'I'm watching you'.
“Quite serious stuff, like everybody hates me and I should kill myself.”
She formally reported the matter to police on Friday.
The experience has been upsetting for her and her young children, she said.
“Facebook is going to be a huge vehicle for bullying and stalking because of the anonymity they've got and they can do this bullying on a massive scale,” she said.
“It needs to be made fairly clear, as far as policing goes, that it's not appropriate behaviour,” she said.
If the perpetrator was positively identified, she said she may be able to take out an apprehended violence order (AVO) against them.
Richmond Crime Commander Inspector Steve Clarke said it was difficult for police to take action in bullying cases, online or otherwise, until the actions constituted criminal behaviour.
“Bullying itself is not an offence,” he said.
“It's something that we're aware of.
“A lot of the service providers would have some sort of system in place that would allow you to change your contact details,” he advised.
NSW Youth Minister Graham West yesterday released a report by the state Youth Advisory Council which found that cyberbullying could be more damaging than face-to-face bullying.
“The fact that the insults, comments or footage can be preserved either by the person who was bullied or others means that the target may read or view them repeatedly, re-inflicting harm with each reading or viewing,” the report said.
It also found that the anonymity of cyberspace may embolden young people to bully where they may not have otherwise.
It recommended the government educate people about the issues and impacts, target existing services to deal with cyberbullying, and work with Internet service providers to create a central body for processing complaints.
“I don't know what drives bullies to do what they do, or how we can help defeat them but I do know one thing, we MUST do something to stop them and we MUST do it now!!”
“I've had all kinds of things - from text messages and abusive calls (which were private calls and so therefore could not be tracked) all the way to emails, comments, and other such basic bullying tactics … a friend from school … pretending to be me in several instances.”ORIGINAL ARTICLE
“Over the course of three years one girl has fueled the cyberbullying against me by writing defamatory blogs about my fiance and me… and by convincing her friends to send not only myself, but my other friend rude comments. There have been threats against me.”
1 comment:
Hi, i've had someone just last week take my photo from my facebook profile default photo's, they were photo's only viewable to friends, then use them to scare me by sending me threatening messages from a site i had joined on facebook, they are now still doing it to others on that site and three other sites similar to that as i noticed him on those too, but with different profile, same type of abuse and wording etc. First, i only saw the comment updates from that site come through to my email, the comments were directed at me, then when i wondered how that person knew what i looked like, i logged on and saw that the person had my photo as their profile picture and the photo was all over the site, i didn't respond but i was furious and shaken up etc, i blocked him/her and then warned everyone on the site what he had done. Next day he created a profile in my name with the new picture i was using just to intimidate me more. After that, he then created another profile, i got both his last ones deleted by reporting him (and am still reporting them whenever i see him doing it again), he created another false account and added me as a friend by creating a profile under my name with my picture again. Hopefully i've deleted all the ones he used my pic in by reporting him, i'm hoping it's the end of it as i had to close my Facebook account and start a new one in a false name this time, i know already he has now targeted others, probably 'cause he lost track of me and i have not re joined those groups, he is out of control already and no one can do anything, police don't do anything either. This is in Australia and to mostly Australian facebook users it seems, as they are the ones on that group mostly, there is no law to protect us here something must be done, facebook doesn't do enough, and to report the taking of your identity and property (pics etc) you need to fill out details which are then sent to the perpetrator that's bullying you, so they can then find even more details about you such as address, phone, email etc, if you don't fill it out, you can't make the complaint for someone unlawfully taking your property (photo's etc). In one message directed at me it was one of a phycical and violent threat. Don't put your real details people on facebook,ie full name etc, don't use your face as you photo or even store it as your other default pictures, anyone it seems can get them and copy them for their own use. Be wary of FACEBOOK!!
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