This story is shocking.  Instead of taking the opportunity to highlight and commend a bullying victim for her actions, Caitlin’s school reprimanded her for the positive reaction she chose.  It is disappointing to think that school officials, whom arguably have first-hand as well as daily front-line experience in dealing with these issues, opted not to support a victim.  

This young girl should be commended for standing up and showing her school and inevitably the unidentified bully she was strong.  Kudos to the other students and the community for supporting her as do we.  Good on you Caitlin, we hope your acts will inspire other victims to stand up against bullies. 

Read the full story here.

Cyberbullying knows no limits and it isn’t just about teens victimizing other teens.  Many adults are victims of harassment online as well as the perpetrators of online abuse.  This story brings to light how important it is to ensure you or your child is not in fact a ‘cyberbully’.   Our website offers a quiz to find this out, take the test.

The article demonstrates how new technologies are developed everyday that increase the opportunities weaker people choose to put down the strong.

The App that was used in this case, one of dozens online or on mobile phones creates an environment that facilitates this kind of harassment aimed at school settings:  Streetchat

Don’t forget, you nor anyone else has to be subjected to online abuse or harassment, nobody stands alone.  Report cyberbullies.

Despite the attention it gets, cyberbullying seems to only to be mentioned in casual conversations until a story gets mainstream or social media attention.  It then fades away into the horizon awaiting the next “breaking news” story.  Yesterday was that day, a series of articles appeared as a result of one story and then branched out into several topics of discussion on the issue.  Will it still be in the forefront of most people’s thoughts tomorrow or Friday?  The victims and the families of the victims will tell you, for them it’s in their mind everyday.

Yesterday there was a guilty plea for one of the perpetrators in an infamous Halifax, Canada case.  Publication bans prevent the disclosing of any names but simple research could tell you what the case was about.  You can read some perspective on the case and others like it here.

That case and the media attention it got did a number of things to trigger conversations yesterday.   Privacy pundits used it to bolster their opposition to the current government’s Cyberbullying Bill.  You can read one of those articles here.

Internet Safety promoters used it on social media channels to promote their favourite web resource on cyberbullying including the Government’s page.

And social network companies used the opportunity to promote what they are doing to combat cyberbullying in their networks for their users.  Facebook launched an anti-cyberbullying campaign in Australia, a country that has strong laws to handle these cases.  Read more here.

Speaking about social networks, there was a small movement to violate the publication ban by social media users, to give the victim a name.  Justice should be served for someone after all.    A hash-tag was created on Twitter with comments like: “Publication ban a joke #RehtaehParsonsishername The system should be ashamed of itself by trying to silence this injustice #JustMyTwoCents” 

All in all cyberbullying made the news yesterday, for one victim and her family in Halifax, a small relief in the name of justice for their daughter.   Despite the noise, more needs to be done to prevent the victimization of mostly teens at the hands of their peers.

Now that summer has past, school brings new challenges for kids.  Bullies take advantage by seeking out new victims such as first year students or newly transferred students who came from other places.  Don’t let them make you a target, if they do, stand up to them.

Here are a couple of new initiatives launched over the late summer to look at.

An interactive video produced by the Government of Canada; #wordshurt.  Give it a try.

The Ontario Provincial Police launched a new app to help with how to manage situations when someone is asking you to send inappropriate pictures.  Using the app, you could send them one of the sample photos instead.  You get to laugh at and embarrass them as well as show them that you are not going to fall prey to their trickery.

Click here to learn about and download the free app.  Sendthisinstead.