Technology evolves and advances as the times change. It has the potential to improve the lives of people by being a powerful communication tool - the Internet. However, when the Internet is misused and abused, it is flawed with frequent cyberbullying. It is a form of bullying with the use of technology and has been increasingly common. It is a moral imperative for Canada to deal with this phenomenon as it can greatly impact individuals. In fact, 81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person, according to DoSomething.org. Bullies use technology to harass, threaten, embarrass or target another person and can devastate the victim with lifetime consequences. Bullies are often protected by anonymity …show more content…
In the Canadian Civil Law, defamation is closely related to cyberbullying. Defamation is harm caused to a person’s reputation because the cyberbully spreads false information. Separated into two different kinds, they are slander and libel. Slander is a temporary, not-recorded kind of cyberbullying, such as threatening and harassing on the phone. This type of defamation is extremely hard to prove as there is often lack of proof. Oppositely, libel is a permanent and recorded cyberbullying, such as publications on websites, social media or text messages. On the other hand, the Criminal Law has categorized cyberbullying in harassment and defamatory libel. Harassment is the crime when a cyber bully makes another person feel threatened for his or her safety and safety of others. If convicted, a prison sentence up to ten years can be given. The latter is charged against a person when an authority is attacked and their reputation is severely harmed. However, the freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Section 2 is balanced against the Section 7 right to life, liberty and security of the person. The balance determines whether a conviction for criminal defamatory libel is made. For this type of crime, a prison sentence up to five years can be given. There are different types of cyberbullying, different consequences and punishments can be given if cyberbullying is
The internet provides an opportunity for individuals all around the world to communicate with one another; although this privilege has created the major issue of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is the use of social networking sites to harass, threaten or embarrass someone (Rouse, 2015 ). Well regarded author Richard Webster, asserts that over 80% of teenagers use social media regularly, (Webster, 2015 ) giving the notion that teenagers are major stakeholders. Queensland parliament offers a variety of laws in attempt to maintain order with cyber bullying, however Victoria offers fewer laws which are more specific to cyberbullying such as Brodie’s law. The following essay will analyse the strengths and limitations of both state’s laws to determine
Cyberbullying includes anything from making threats, to sending malicious messages and making derogatory comments (Karklins, 2012). Threatening another under Queensland and Victorian Law is illegal and is subject to a criminal penalty pursuant, as of Queensland Criminal Code Act 1899 (the Code) and the Victorian Crimes Act 1958 (the Crimes Act). Although provisions in both the Code and the Crimes Act make cyberbullying illegal – there are differences in their applications and outcomes. This paper compares the Victorian and Queensland legislation, attempts to provide an evaluation of the laws and makes recommendations to improve Queensland cyberbullying law considering the Victorian legislation.
“Cyberbullying is a willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices,” stated by the Ophelia Project. Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media. One reason individuals should be prosecuted is because of physical consequences to the victim. Another reason is because of mental effects that cyberbullying can have on the victim. Even though some people believe that free speech allows them to say what they want to but individuals should be prosecuted because the first amendment does have a limit on what you can say.
Bullying has occurred for many years and via the internet is a new form of bullying, giving higher chances for bullying to occur more often due to technology.
The Defamation Act 2013 was passed to help regulation on defamation to deliver more effective protection for freedom of speech, while at the same time ensuring that people who have been defamed are able to protect their reputation. It is often difficult to know which personal remarks are proper and which run afoul of defamation law. Defamation is a broad word that covers every publication that damages someone's character. The basic essentials of a cause of act for defamation are: A untruthful and offensive statement regarding another; The unprivileged publication of the statement to a third party; If the offensive situation is of public concern, fault amounting at least to carelessness on the share of the publisher; and Injury to the plaintiff. Slander and libel are both kinds of defamation, which refers to statements that hurt another person's name. While there are connections, each concentrate on different forms of defamation approaches. Normally, this will include not only the use of certain words to harm a reputation, but also activities such as finger signals or facial expressions in order to emphasize the fabrication that is being dispersed. If the statement is made in writing and published, the defamation is called "libel." Libel deals with printed matter, TV and radio broadcasts, movies and videotapes, social media sites, even blogs, emails, even drawings on a wall. An unpleasant statement is verbal; the statement is "slander." Slander explains defamation that you can overhear, not see. It is commonly spoken statements that distort someone's reputation. The government can't jail someone for making a defamatory statement since it does not break the law. Instead, defamation is considered to be an infringement of a person's ...
Technology plays an important role in cyberbullying. According to Hinduja and Patchin, “The primary means through which it can occur include the Internet-enabled
The problem with Canadian law is that it doesn’t always protect bullying victims, it’s a grey area within the criminal code that needs to be changed. Canada’s legal System in regards to bullying, to help victims and rehabilitate bully’s. Bullying doesn’t just effect an effect on the victim, it also has a large effect on the bully as well. Many people wonder “why do bully’s bully?”.
The term “defamation” is a term that refers to any statement that hurts an individual’s reputation and or personhood. If the statement is made in writing and is published, it is called “libel”. If the hurtful statement is spoken aloud, the statement is then considered “slander”. It gets tricky because the government cannot imprison someone for making a defamatory statement because it is not a crime to express one’s opinion. Instead, defamation is considered to be a civil wrong. A person who
For libel and slander, there are three main criteria which are needed to prove defamation. Firstly, the words in used or expressed must be proven as defamatory. Word are defamatory when they in use to lower the reputation of the person. Words are predicted as defamatory or not also depend on the manner they were spoken or published. T...
As we are living in the age of technology, we are seeing our youth being victimized by a new phenomenon of bullying, called cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is defined as the use of information and communication technologies such as email, cell phones and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate repeated and hostile behavior by an individual or group, which is intended to harm others. Cyberbullying can also employ media such as PDAs, blogs, and social networks (Beckstrom, 2008). This form of bullying is progressive because it can happen instantly due to the technology involved, whereas traditional bullying tends to take longer to evolve and happens
Imagine being personally targeted and bullied by another individual constantly. Maybe never seriously injured but verbally abused in person and possibly online. The issue of cyberbullying can be quite pivotal in this new generation. Cyberbullying is a controversial matter that the world must address because of how it can occur anywhere at any time, causes harm to targeted people, and affects all associated parties.
Cyberbullying should be a criminal offense because whether it’s bullying or cyberbullying, it still damages a person emotionally and physically. Admittedly, many will argue that it is crossing the line to force perpetrators behind bars when it is not even bullying, but some foul words thrown in social sites. However, there is no difference between cyberbullying and offline bullying when it is still an issue that constantly eats away at its victims, abusing them with hurtful words and messages. “The United States Department of Health and Human Services calculated the percentages of bullied victims, where 37% of teens have been physically bullied, while 52% of teens have been cyberbullied” (Cyber/Bullying Statistics). Studies shown indicate that there have been more cases of cyberbullying than offline bullying, whereas people believe that “cyberbullying is not real bullying” and “it is to speak out in what...
Stutzky suggests that cyber bullying is the use of modern communication technologies to embarrass, humiliate, threaten, or intimidate an individual in the attempt to gain power and control over them. Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. These days however, bullying isn’t just happening on the playground, it’s happening on the internet and mobile phones, making it possible to bully a child 24 hours a day. Cyber bullying follows children around the clock and into the safety of their own bedrooms. A recent survey by MindOh!, an educational company that follows youth trends, reported that nearly 80% of the 5,500 teens that were surveyed said that they had been exposed to cyber bullying. Cyber bullying affects the mental health of so many young adolescents around the world, and the issue is steadily increasing as more and more ways to bully are created.In extreme incidents, cyber bullying has led teenagers to suicide. Most victims, however, suffer shame, embarrassment, anger, depression and withdrawal. While technology continues to evolve, new means of communication enable today’s bullies to become more effective in terrorizing and tormenting their victims. The aim was to increase awareness and decrease the prevalence of cyber bullying- Year 9 at Meridan State College being the stakeholders (people involved).
With technology progressing, students are moving past face to face hectoring, and are verbally bullying other through social media. Cyberbullying can sometimes become more harmful than verbal, physical, and emotional bullying due to victims, not feeling like they have an escape route because they are threatened repeatedly through text messages, e-mails, social media, etc. The worst part about cyberbullying is that the things posted can be anonymous; therefore, there is no blame for who posts what. A victim can suspect that someone is to blame for the actions done, but there is no proof to solve a possible ongoing issue. Cyberbullying and bullying are actually considered a crime when someone: physically assaults another person, gender or racism is talked about, violent or deadly threats are made, sexually texting, inappropriate photos, stalking,
The online bully’s goal is to make their target feel weak; these online bullies can be referred to as a cyber bully. Cyber bullying is the exercise of using technology to embarrass, threaten, harass, or target another person; according to its definition it occurs among young people (New, 4). It is usually performed by a child’s peers and surprisingly occurs early as the second grade (Jacobs 1). Cyber bullying can even be unintentional, especially through the use of emails, IMs, and text messages because the tone of the sender may be hard to depict. However, recurring emails, online posts, and texts are hardly ever unintentional (124). As the number of youths increase that have the availability to technology, cyber bullying is likely to continue to rise and continue to take its toll on youth. Due to its excessive effect that it has on children today, Cyber bullying should be taken more seriously.