Is your kid safe from cyber bullies?

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20071202101730178C232203

US researchers warn that bullies are taking their hurtful ways from real-world schoolyards to the "cyber" world by targeting teens with nasty email, text messaging, and online chat. The number of children ages 10 to 17 that say they were abused by "cyber bullies" climbed 50 percent, from six percent in 2000 to nine percent in 2005, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instant messaging, including text messages sent to mobile telephones, is the most common way to send taunts, teases, threats, insults or other bullying messages, according to report co-author Marci Hertz.

A 13-year-old Missouri girl hanged herself with a belt in November after exchanging insults via her profile page at MySpace.com with a person she was tricked into thinking was a 16-year-old boy named "Josh". The final message sent by Josh, who flirted with the girl for weeks online, was reportedly: "The world would be a better place without you." It turned out Josh was an online persona created by the mother of a former friend of the girl. The woman told investigators she played the charade to find out what the girl really thought of her daughter, who was the jilted friend. After finding out the mother's behavior didn't break the law, local politicians made it illegal to harass people on the Internet.

I wish they could retroactively convict this woman of child endangerment and assisted suicide; to think that an adult, a mother at that, would taunt a young teenager to make her feel bad about herself. I don’t think that she expected the girl to kill herself, but that the thing about the internet, and text messaging: you often don’t know how your message is being perceived on the receiving end. Every city and state should have a anti bullying law with the sanctions increasing in severity depending on the age of the offender. Bullies just create a cycle of victimization in which those who were previously victimize lash out on others weaker than themselves, or even harm themselves. As far as cyber bullying, those laws should be on the federal level, as often times people engage in conversations with others from different states.