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The Current State of Cyberbullying Laws

It is imperative that everyone who works with youth, but especially law enforcement officers, stay up-to-date on the ever-evolving state and local laws concerning online behaviors, and equip themselves with the skills and knowledge to intervene as necessary. In recent survey of approximately 500 school resource officers from around the United States, we found that…

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Parent’s Response to Cyberbullying: What to do when your Child is Victimized

In a recent New York Times article, reporter Jan Hoffman aptly and comprehensively articulated the challenges associated with responding to cyberbullying incidents.  Schools don’t want to overstep their legal authority by responding to off-campus behaviors that don’t directly impact the school; law enforcement officers aren’t going to get involved unless there is a clear violation…

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Humor Limits and Cyberbullying

I have recently been chatting with Dr. Linda Young – whose work I greatly respect – about the topic of “humor limits.” In our trainings to youth-serving professionals, Justin and I discuss how teaching adolescents when comments made cross over a line and no longer are “funny” but are “abusive” and harmful. For example, the…

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New Report: “Youth Safety on a Living Internet”

The Online Safety and Technical Working Group just released their comprehensive report “Youth Safety on a Living Internet” detailing the current state of knowledge, practice, and tools regarding safeguarding our youth while they explore technology.  The Report focused primarily on identifying industry efforts to promote online safety through education, technology, content, and other measures.  In…

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Should Parents Ban Access to Facebook?

Our colleague Anne Collier from NetFamilyNews made us aware of an email that Anthony Orsini, a middle school principal from New Jersey, sent to parents a couple of weeks ago imploring them to prohibit their children from participating in social networking sites. As reported on CBS and elsewhere, the letter Orsini sent to parents included…