States Seek Laws to
Curb Online Bullying
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, February 21, 2007
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Ryan
Patrick Halligan was bullied for months online. Classmates sent the
13-year-old Essex Junction, Vt., boy instant messages calling him gay. He
was threatened, taunted and insulted incessantly by so-called cyberbullies.
In 2003, Ryan killed himself.
''He just went into a deep spiral in eighth grade. He couldn't shake this
rumor,'' said Ryan's father, John Halligan, who became a key proponent of a
state law that forced Vermont schools to put anti-bullying rules in place.
He's now pushing for a broader law to punish cyberbullying -- often done at home
after school -- and wants every other state to enact laws expressly prohibiting
it.
States from Oregon to Rhode Island are considering crackdowns to curb or outlaw
the behavior in which kids taunt or insult peers on social Web sites like
MySpace or via instant messages. Still, there is some disagreement over
how effective crackdowns will be and how to do it.
''The kids are forcing our hands to do something legislatively,'' said Rhode
Island state Sen. John Tassoni, who introduced a bill to study cyberbullying and
hopes to pass a cyberbullying law by late 2007.
But others argue that legislation would be ineffective. George McDonough, an
education coordinator with Rhode Island's Department of Education, concedes that
the Internet has become an ''instant slam book'' but questions whether laws can
stem bad behavior.
''You can't legislate norms, you can only teach norms,'' he said. ''Just
because it's a law they don't necessarily follow it. I mean, look at the
speed limit.''
The Internet allows students to insult others in relative anonymity, and experts
who study cyberbullying say it can be more damaging to victims than traditional
bullying like fist fights and classroom taunts.
Legislators and educators say there's a need for guidelines outlining how to
punish cyberbullying. They say the behavior has gone unchecked for years,
with few laws or policies on the books explaining how to treat it.
Cyberbullying is often limited to online insults about someone's physical
appearance, friends, clothing or sexuality. But some cyberbullies are more
creative. In Washington state, a bully stole a girl's instant message
username and used it to send out insulting messages.
In New York, two high school boys were accused of operating an Internet site
that listed girls' ''sexual secrets.'' Prosecutors decided not to charge
the boys because of free-speech concerns.
Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island branch of the American
Civil Liberties Union, said it will be difficult to draft a cyberbullying law
that doesn't infringe on free-speech rights.
''The fact that two teenagers say nasty things about each other is a part of
growing up,'' he said. ''How much authority does a school have to monitor,
regulate and punish activities occurring inside a student's home?''
In Arkansas, the state Senate this month passed a bill calling on school
districts to set up policies to address cyberbullying only after it was amended
to settle concerns about students' free-speech rights.
States are taking different approaches to the problem.
A South Carolina law that took effect this year requires school districts to
define bullying and outline policies and repercussions for the behavior,
including cyberbullying. One school district there has proposed
punishments from warnings up to expulsion for both traditional bullying and
cyberbullying.
Some of Oregon's most powerful lawmakers have lined up behind a proposed bill
that would require all of the state's 198 school districts to adopt policies
that prohibit cyberbullying.
Some local school districts aren't waiting for the state to take action:
The Sisters school district in Central Oregon adopted rules that allow it to
revoke cyberbullies' school Internet privileges, or even expel a student in
egregious cases.
Ted Thonstad, superintendent of the rural school district of 1,475 students,
said it was important to clarify by policy how to treat cyberbullying -- now
prohibited under strict school hazing rules. Previously, the district had
guidelines for what types of Internet sites students could visit, he said, but
no policy specifically dealt with cyberbullying.
Thonstad said no case prompted the policy, although there were some minor
incidents of cyberbullying before it went into place at the beginning of the
school year. Nothing has been reported since then.
''It's difficult to monitor if you don't have the right software,'' he said.
''So you rely on students to let you know when it's going on.''
Other schools are also being proactive. Rhode Island's McDonough sent both
public and private school superintendents information and resources on
cyberbullying. One school is designing lesson plans to help stop
cyberbullying and protect children from Internet predators.
''I think it would be a good idea if there was a law, but I really believe it
has to start at home,'' said Patricia McCormick, assistant principal of the
private St. Philip School in Smithfield, R.I.
McCormick said all the teachers in the school have been trained on Internet
safety, and students now receive at least 15 classes on the subject, which
includes cyberbullying. But she said stopping the problem will require
parental participation.
''Cyberbullying isn't going on in school,'' she said. ''It is going on at home,
and I think there needs to be more programs to educate parents about the
dangers.''
News Corp.'s social-networking site MySpace prohibits cyberbullying and tells
users to report abuse -- to the company as well as parents and law enforcement,
according to a statement issued by Hemanshu Nigam, the company's chief security
officer.
John Halligan, whose son's suicide has turned him into an advocate for broader
cyberbullying laws that would allow victims and their families to pursue civil
penalties against bullies, said something must be done to stop the problem.
''I didn't simply want it to be Ryan's school that agreed to do something,'' he
said. ''At the end of the day this wasn't just a problem in Ryan's
school.''
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