Cyber Bullying

What is cyber bullying?

Cyber bullying is intentional and repeated cruel or hurtful behaviour that is carried out over SMS, e-mail, blogs, chat rooms, discussion boards, instant messaging, and social networking pages such as Facebook and My Space.

Some examples of cyber bullying include:

  • sending cruel and threatening messages or material;
  • putting embarrassing photos of people on the web;
  • creating fake profiles that are mean or hurtful; and
  • sending unwanted messages online, teasing and making fun of others.

Is cyber bullying illegal?

Cyber bullying is illegal when:

  • it becomes harassment that is illegal; or
  • someone makes threats against a person that are illegal.

In Queensland it is illegal for a person to stalk a person. Stalking occurs where one person engages in the following conduct on at least 2 separate occasions:

  • Telephoning or otherwise contacting a person (such as via email, SMS, web postings etc);
  • Leaving offensive material where it can be found or brought to the attention of another (such as posting messages or pictures on the internet);
  • Giving offensive material to another person; and
  • Harassing, intimidating or threatening a person.

The maximum penalty for stalking is 5 years imprisonment.

Using text messaging, emails or telephones to make a threat or to harass or menace someone can also constitute a range of other crimes. 

Where cyber bullying involves:

  • comments that injure the personal and professional reputation of an individual; or
  • exposing that person to ridicule or causing other people to avoid them,

it may amount to defamation. A person who has been defamed may be able to sue the other person.

How to stop bullying

  • Don’t give out your private information such as passwords, names, addresses, phone numbers, school names, photos or family information etc online to people you don’t know or don’t trust. This information can be used by bullies and others to harm you.
  • Don’t exchange pictures or give your email address to people on the internet that you don’t know and trust.
  • Don’t send messages when you’re angry. Don’t reply to messages from a bully as they will often get bored and stop the bullying if you don’t respond.
  • Leave a chat room or instant message service immediately if you are feeling harassed.
  • If you are being bullied through chat or instant messaging you can often block the person.
  • Consider using caller ID blocking to hide your phone number when making calls. Similarly, don’t leave your name on your voicemail.

Take a stand against cyber bullying.Speak out whenever you see someone being mean to another person online. Most young people respond better to criticism from their peers than to disapproval from adults.

For more information, see the Help and advice on cyber-bullying section on the Think U Know website.

What should I do if I am being cyber bullied?

Tell someone about it.Nobody should have to deal with bullying alone. Tell a trusted adult, whether it’s a parent, a teacher, a family friend, even an older brother or sister.

There are also people you can talk to here:

Leave the area or stop the activity.People who bully get their kicks from knowing they’ve upset their target. Don’t let them know they’ve upset you, and you’ve taken away half their “fun”. Easier said than done when it’s face-to-face, but if it’s on your mobile or the Internet — easy!

Block the sender’s messages. If you are being bullied through e-mail or instant messaging, block the sender’s messages. Never reply to harassing messages.

Don’t erase the messages; keep them as proof of the bullying and record the time and date that you received them.

Tell the school.If you are being cyber bullied by someone in your school let a teacher or counsellor know. Schools should have discipline policies or codes of conduct to ensure that the bullying or harassment of students is not tolerated at school. These policies should be made known to students and enforced by teachers to ensure that reports of bullying are investigated and dealt with appropriately.

Report any incident of online harassment and physical threats to your local police and your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

If you are being bullied over the phone, report the problem to your phone service provider. If it’s a persistent problem you can change the phone number. In almost all cases, the cyber bully will be able to be traced.

What do I do if my school has not been able to stop the bullying?

You can contact or write a letter of complaint to the Regional Manager of the Department of Education and Training. Your school must give you the Regional Manager's details if you ask for it. If the school does not provide you with this information, contact the Department of Education and Training in your state and ask to speak to the Manager responsible for your school.

If the Department of Education and Training does not do anything, then you can make a complaint about the Department and the School’s inaction to the Ombudsman.

Getting legal advice

You can seek legal advice. Fixing the problem yourself is probably going to be quicker and make you feel better. But sometimes if nothing else seems to work the law can help. In many cases people engaging in cyber-bullying can be sued for defamation and can be sued for inflicting emotional distress. They may also be charged with various computer crimes. Receiving a letter from a solicitor or a query from police will often bring an end to the bullying and bring parents (and schools) into line by encouraging them to take complaints seriously and more closely supervise the activity of bullies.

Some good websites which deal with cyber bullying

Also see our counselling page for information about people you can talk to. You don’t have to deal with the problem on your own. 

Queensland Department of Education phone contacts

Darling Downs and South West Queensland

Roma  4622 9711

The Downs 4616 9111

Toowoomba 4616 9111

Warwick 4661 0500

Far North Queensland

Cairns Coastal 4046 5222

Tablelands-Johnstone 4091 0800

Torres Strait and Cape 4069 1282

Fitzroy Central West Queensland

Central West 4658 4599

Central Queensland 4938 4661

Central Coast 4971 3600

Greater Brisbane

Brisbane Central and West 3350 7866

Brisbane North 3350 7866

Brisbane South 3422 8333

South East Brisbane 3422 8355

Mackay Whitsunday 4951 6900

Moreton

Moreton East 3280 1773

Moreton West 3280 1666

North Queensland

Mt Isa 4744 8222

Townsville 47263111

South Coast

Logan Beaudesert 3804 9666

Gold Coast 5562 4844

Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast North 5470 8900

Sunshine Coast South 3881 9600

Wide Bay Burnett

Wide Bay North 4154 0300

Wide Bay South 4121 1633

Wide Bay West 4162 9500

Ombudsman contact

Telephone: 07 3005 7000

E-mail: ombudsman@ombudsman.qld.gov.au

This page updated October 2009

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