What can be done about it? How can it be stopped?
There are many things that can be done to combat cyber bullying. The first and most essential thing a victim of cyber bullying must do is NEVER RESPOND TO THE BULLYING. Do not answer emails, do not respond to posts, to not reply to texts, do not engage in a chat room or IM exchange, and do not post a fake profile of the bully in retaliation for the one they post about you. But while you’re ignoring the bully be sure to save the evidence so that school officials, ISP providers and even the police can properly deal with the bully. If the cyber bullying involves fraud, such as in the posting if false profiles with real email addresses, the crime is even easier to prosecute.
Dealing with email bullying:
Save the threatening emails in a specific file. You can set the preferences in your email client so that you never even have to see the email messages by making a rule that automatically sends the messages to the specified folder when they are downloaded so you never have to see them. While it may be tempting to just block the sender this is usually ineffective since cyber bullies will just start sending messages from a different email address. Also, by saving multiple messages from one address your case for harassment is made stronger. You don’t want to do anything to drive the bully to use many different freemail accounts. Even though most freemail accounts can eventually be traced to the user it is another step that law enforcement will have to navigate while looking to prosecute. Go to parents and school officials immediately. You may want to consider having your principal and parents set up mirror files for your harassing emails and automatically forward those messages to them as part of your email download preferences. This gives you a back up and makes the school aware first-hand of how serious the harassment is.
Dealing with forum and chat room bullying:
Do not ever respond to the bully. Ignore them without putting them on ignore. In a chat room the fastest way to end the bullying is to leave the room. Consider setting up private invitation only chat rooms for you and your friends, that way if a bully gets in you will have a very easy time identifying them. On a bulletin board you should immediately alert the board monitor or owner (sometimes called wizard, moderator or master). Forward a copy of the post and any replies to yourself using the bulletin board’s ‘email this message’ feature or save a copy of the post using a web page capture program. After you have done this ask that the moderator remove the offensive posts immediately. If they do not remove the posts within a reasonable time, say 48-72 hours (2-3 days), go to the board host or server and ask that the bulletin board be closed or suspended until the posts are removed. Once again be sure to alert your parents and/or school officials if the bullying persists, escalates or is an extension of schoolyard harassment.
Dealing with web site bullying:
This is the most heinous form of cyber bullying as all too often the victim is unaware of what has been done using their name and/or image and has no idea where to go to make it stop. In some cases the victim isn’t even sure where the fake profile has been set up or what user name they have been given by the bully. This can make it difficult, but not impossible, to fight. If you know web site where the profile is listed there are two things you can try. First use the website’s password forgotten system to try to get the profile password. If the bully has used your email address to set up the profile this should be relatively simple; most password retrieval systems email the new password to the address listed in the profile. Once you have the password you can delete the file yourself. Some websites only allow one profile per email address, if this is the case you may want to consider keeping the profile active but changing the relevant fields and/or removing any photos and listing it as a private or no-contact profile, this will stop the bully from opening a new one once you have removed the old. Oh, and don’t forget to change the password! If this doesn’t work or if you can’t get the password contact the website administrator and ask that the profile be removed and that no new profiles be permitted with your email address. If you are under 18 inform the web administrator that you are a minor, this usually prompts a faster response. You may also want to consider having your parents make the request as well. Again, make sure you save a copy of the profile before making changes or having it removed, preferably with a web page capture program or by saving it to your hard drive, and document all communications with the web administrator. Unlike other forms of cyber bullying which can be hard to prosecute criminally, this type of bullying involves fraud and aggravated harassment, which are crimes in most jurisdictions.
