As you know, today is the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre. It was a horribly tragic but markedly defining event in the history of American public schooling. You can research it on your own, but evidence pointed to school administrators condoning bullying and harassment among students rather than dealing with it strictly…
We have been discussing the issue of cell phones in classrooms a lot lately. Most schools have a clear policy prohibiting the use of cell phones in classrooms and standard practice seems to be “if I see it, you lose it.” Some policies specify that the phones will be confiscated for the day, others say…
You’ve probably heard about the proposed law in New Jersey that would require social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to police their users. This is so frustrating for me to hear, as well-intentioned but oft-misguided legislators propose solutions to overblown online fears. Social networking sites are not responsible for actively surveilling and censoring the…
This article from British Columbia refers to a high school principal who bought a cell phone signal jammer from an online dealer in China in order to thwart students from using their phones at school in violation of district policy. First off, hats off to the resourcefulness of the principal in this situation – even though…
Here’s a recent query I received from an educator who I have worked with in the past. I thought her question and my response would be of interest to others so I am posting both here. Does your school district have a policy regarding cyberbullying or Facebook? How about cyberbullying on Facebook? Question: “The reason…
Recently, we’ve received calls and inquiries about “sexting” and the Jesse Logan case, and so I thought we’d discuss the matter here. For those looking for an official definition, we characterize “sexting” as “the sending or receiving of sexually-suggestive or explicit text or pictures via one’s cell phone.” Anecdotally, it seems that the phenomenon is…
A teenager from New York has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, four high-school classmates who used the site to harass her, and their parents. Specifically, two boys and two girls created a Facebook group called password-protected “90 Cents Short Of A Dollar,” in order to “hold [her] up to public hatred, ridicule and disgrace.” Content…
More and more school districts are passing policies that forbid teachers from interacting with their students via social networking web sites. We have written about this before, but the movement seems to be gaining traction. This is a slippery slope and a challenging issue for all involved. A policy recently adopted by the Elmbrook School…
One of our good friends and fellow Internet Safety advocates Anne Collier (co-author of MySpace Unraveled) recently did a presentation on Second Life. By that, I don’t mean the topic was Second Life (an online virtual reality world in which people interact with each other via avatars), but she, through her avatar, gave a presentation…
One of the questions we field sometimes involves how private schools differ from public schools in their response to instances of cyberbullying and student misuse of technology. A case from a private Michigan college illustrates the general distinction that we’ve seen. In this situation, a 19-year-old male was placed on six-month probation after being accused…
One of my colleagues, Forrest Collier, over at InternetSafety.com, has just released a sweet new app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that helps parents protect their children from objectionable and problematic content on their mobile device. The program is called “Safe Eyes Mobile” and works just like the built-in iPhone browser with pinch and…
As you may know, Facebook recently altered its Terms of Service, essentially stating that they own all of the content that you (the user) upload to their site. This includes content that you’ve uploaded but then later removed, and your content after you have chosen to delete your account. The Terms of Service in other…
Our colleague Mike Donlin, over at the Seattle Public Schools District, recently headed up a comprehensive project to create an initial set of Internet safety curriculum materials focusing specifically on cyberbullying. His state of Washington has been very progressive in creating and promoting anti-cyberbullying legislation (see RCW 28A.300.285 for more information), and has realized that…
There was an article published in the New York Times last week which discussed the case of Katherine Evans. Katherine was displeased with her high school English teacher and posted about this displeasure on Facebook: “To those select students who have had the displeasure of having Ms. Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her…
After a year and a half operating as an unregulated college gossip site, juicycampus is calling it quits. This is a victory for cyberbullying advocates because we received a number of complaints about this site from those who had been victimized through it. You can find a press release here, posted by juicycampus discussing the…
This story out of New Berlin, WI, reports about very extreme case of cyberbullying. It is reported that an 18-year-old male student posed as a female student on Facebook and tricked other male students into sending him nude pictures or videos of themselves. There were at least 31 male students who apparently did so, and…
According to this article, one Texas school district is now allowing for the confiscation of cell phones from students who display or use them at school, and is considering levying a retrieval fee. I had mentioned in a comment to a previous post by Justin that other districts are definitely requiring a fee of either…
As many of you know, we became interested in social networking web sites (MySpace and Facebook) several years ago when we had heard examples of cyberbullying occurring in those environments. Since then, we have done quite a bit of research looking at the kinds of information adolescents post on their public profiles. We published one…
As many of you know, we became interested in social networking web sites (MySpace and Facebook) several years ago when we had heard examples of cyberbullying occurring in those environments. Since then, we have done quite a bit of research looking at the kinds of information adolescents post on their public profiles. We published one…
We’ve been chatting with other Internet safety professionals about different conceptions of “cyberbullying.” I’d like to talk a bit about the concept of power, and get some thoughts from readers of this blog. Traditional bullying (in the schoolyard, lunchroom, on the bus, etc.) typically involves a clear power differential. I always think of Biff and…
It goes without saying that youth are exploiting new technological developments (even though everyone is saying it). I wondered if you all saw the story from Maryland over Christmas break discussing how teenagers are punking their peers by impersonating their vehicles while flying past speed cameras. This is done by taking a digital photo of…
As anticipated, the Final Report released yesterday by Berkman Center’s Internet Safety Technical Task Force summarizing the state of knowledge concerning child safety online has come under fire by some state Attorneys General and others with an interest in advancing public fear about the risks inherent in online social networking. In my view, much of…
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University released the final report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force entitled “Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies.” The Report was commissioned by the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking which is made up of the 50 state Attorneys General who asked the Task Force…
Findings from a new content analysis of MySpace profiles were released yesterday – something of keen interest to us as we’ve written empirical articles and presented extensively on the use of that social networking site by youth. The study is methodologically sound and well done, overall. The researchers found that over half (54%) of 500…