A Sidebar Response on My Space Cyber-Bullying, Suicide and Etiquette
05.16.08 (6:40 pm) [edit]
What are the rules of online chatting? Are there rules that a user strictly follows once they enter the stream of millions of online users? Do we train ourselves or our children on who to avoid, when to stop, and how to treat other users?
The freedom the internet offers us makes it hard to set up any rules that apply to everyone. The internet has become a public space where people from all walks of life intersect and collide. It welcomes a global audience that is diverse and multi-cultural. Thus, rather than set-up any rules that might step on anybody else’s toes, there aren’t any.
Rules only apply in certain rooms and communities where people of the same interests join. Still, the rules are not as encompassing or thorough. Social networks, online communities, and groups can only do so much to monitor activities and regulate them. This is quite problematic, especially for sites or spaces that children can access, explore, and even fall victim to abusive online users.
The internet comes as a double-edged razor which everyone must know. It is a virtual world that allows anyone to become who they would want to be without consequences. They can be as good and as bad as they want to be. They can assume identities that of another or one that does not exist at all. And they can easily come and go as they please.
The most recent and disturbing way one can use the internet is illustrated in the case of the 13-year old girl Megan Meier who committed suicide; who through her MySpace account, encountered love, loss, and of course, bullying. Lori Drew and her co-conspirators drew up their own MySpace accounts, the former even created a false account and identity by the name of John Evans, a 16-yearl old high school student.
The girl who had, supposedly, an online relationship with John was harassed and humiliated. At one point, they even addressed a message to Megan saying the world would be a better place without her.
The FBI and other authorities are looking into the case but might not have anything to charge Lori Drew and her co-conspirators with except for some penalties. The reason? There aren’t any laws applicable to the said case.
This incident could have been prevented by both parties – the neighbor Lori Drew and Megan’s parents. Both should have known better.
Then again, were there any canvas prints , handbooks or guidebooks on chatting, social networking, cyber-bullies, online predators and so on?
There are online rules I observe in order to attract the right kind of people and deter the ones who are simply up to no good. And if you have children, there are ways to make internet a safer place for them by understanding and knowing certain measures.
1. Ignore users who PING you just to initiate chatting. This is a rude gesture and should never be done.
2. Immediately ignore users whose on-screen names are just way beyond dubious. These are the ones with long numbers, random letter combinations, and of course, sexually explicit names.
3. Understand online language, lingo and abbreviation. If you know what LMAO stands for, then you wouldn’t want your young child to use that expression. Moreover, there are coded messages that seek to evade your monitoring like the simple word POTS – parent over the shoulder.
4. Report bots. These may not always solicit information from you or your children, but they only seek to do one thing – direct you to a site which is not secure or appropriate for children.
5. Report spam mail.
6. Report people who really violate the terms and conditions generally agreed upon when becoming a member of an online community or social networking.
7. To render your reports more effective, know how to provide proofs or evidence. Know how and what Print Screen can do.
8. If you experience any form of verbal abuse, harassment, hate mail and so on, it is best to just close your chat window, delete your files, and create a new and different account. You don’t have to put up with any crap from people you don’t know.
The freedom the internet offers us makes it hard to set up any rules that apply to everyone. The internet has become a public space where people from all walks of life intersect and collide. It welcomes a global audience that is diverse and multi-cultural. Thus, rather than set-up any rules that might step on anybody else’s toes, there aren’t any.
Rules only apply in certain rooms and communities where people of the same interests join. Still, the rules are not as encompassing or thorough. Social networks, online communities, and groups can only do so much to monitor activities and regulate them. This is quite problematic, especially for sites or spaces that children can access, explore, and even fall victim to abusive online users.
The internet comes as a double-edged razor which everyone must know. It is a virtual world that allows anyone to become who they would want to be without consequences. They can be as good and as bad as they want to be. They can assume identities that of another or one that does not exist at all. And they can easily come and go as they please.
The most recent and disturbing way one can use the internet is illustrated in the case of the 13-year old girl Megan Meier who committed suicide; who through her MySpace account, encountered love, loss, and of course, bullying. Lori Drew and her co-conspirators drew up their own MySpace accounts, the former even created a false account and identity by the name of John Evans, a 16-yearl old high school student.
The girl who had, supposedly, an online relationship with John was harassed and humiliated. At one point, they even addressed a message to Megan saying the world would be a better place without her.
The FBI and other authorities are looking into the case but might not have anything to charge Lori Drew and her co-conspirators with except for some penalties. The reason? There aren’t any laws applicable to the said case.
This incident could have been prevented by both parties – the neighbor Lori Drew and Megan’s parents. Both should have known better.
Then again, were there any canvas prints , handbooks or guidebooks on chatting, social networking, cyber-bullies, online predators and so on?
There are online rules I observe in order to attract the right kind of people and deter the ones who are simply up to no good. And if you have children, there are ways to make internet a safer place for them by understanding and knowing certain measures.
1. Ignore users who PING you just to initiate chatting. This is a rude gesture and should never be done.
2. Immediately ignore users whose on-screen names are just way beyond dubious. These are the ones with long numbers, random letter combinations, and of course, sexually explicit names.
3. Understand online language, lingo and abbreviation. If you know what LMAO stands for, then you wouldn’t want your young child to use that expression. Moreover, there are coded messages that seek to evade your monitoring like the simple word POTS – parent over the shoulder.
4. Report bots. These may not always solicit information from you or your children, but they only seek to do one thing – direct you to a site which is not secure or appropriate for children.
5. Report spam mail.
6. Report people who really violate the terms and conditions generally agreed upon when becoming a member of an online community or social networking.
7. To render your reports more effective, know how to provide proofs or evidence. Know how and what Print Screen can do.
8. If you experience any form of verbal abuse, harassment, hate mail and so on, it is best to just close your chat window, delete your files, and create a new and different account. You don’t have to put up with any crap from people you don’t know.