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 Tasmania, it is illegal to intentionally provide someone with offensive material (such as emails, photos or messages) or act in any other way for the purpose of causing them physical or mental harm, apprehension or fear. This conduct is considered to be stalking and may be punishable by a maximum of 21 years in prison (for serious offences) and a maximum of 2 years in prison for cases dealt with by a magistrate.

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, they will often get bored and stop the bullying if you don’t respond.
  • Leave a chat room or instant message service 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.

TAS Department of Education and Training contacts

Department of Education-School Education Division

Ph 6233 7281

Ombudsman contact

Telephone: 1300 766 725 (cost of a local call from anywhere in Australia)

E-mail: ombudsman@justice.tas.gov.au

 

Page updated October 2009

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