Category Archives: legal
One Third Of Teachers Have Been Bullied Online By Students And/Or Parents
A third of teachers have said they have been subjected to online bullying – including by parents who see them as ‘fair game’.
- Student harassment of teachers is growing
Facebook and Twitter have been used to intimidate teachers over bad grades or simply because they are not liked.
More than a quarter of those that admit they have been targeted say the abuse has come from parents with one headteacher was driven to the brink of suicide by a year-long online hate campaign.
One parent even set up a ‘Google group’ and asked others to join in their abuse.
Andy Phippen, professor of social responsibility in IT at Plymouth Business School who researched the matter, said: ‘You expect a little bit of abuse from children. But when parents launch 12-month campaigns of abuse you have to think “something has gone wrong here”.
‘Parents are saying “You gave my child a bad grade, I’m going to give you a slating on Facebook” – it is something that is growing and growing.’
On top of the abuse from pupils and parents, one in 10 said they had been a victim of another teacher’s cyber-bullying.
The report said: ‘It seems to a subset of the population the teacher is no longer viewed as someone who should be supported in developing their child’s education, but a person whom it is acceptable to abuse if they dislike what is happening in the classroom.’
One headteacher told the team: ‘A parent set up a Google group and devoted it to saying unpleasant things about me. It started off as “the Head” and then he started referring to me just by my surname. He invited other parents to join in but only one did.
‘I eventually had a mini breakdown in the summer holiday needing an emergency doctor to be called out – as I had become suicidal – a fact that none of my staff know as I was much better by the start of the term – greatly helped by him removing his children from school.’
The survey was carried out by academics working for the UK Safer Internet Centre and it found that the most common type of abuse was through Facebook groups that targeted specific teachers.
There was also evidence of pupils creating fake Facebook pages in a teacher’s name, posting videos of teachers in class on YouTube, and setting up whole websites to be abusive about a single or group of staff.
RateMyTeacher.com was also mentioned a number of times as a site where abusive comments had been posted. In some cases where teachers had complained, the comments still remained.
‘While some defenders of free speech have argued that such sites have a right to exist, we would question the role of a site where pupils can freely post slanderous and abusive material about a member of the teaching profession and threats of violence toward them,’ the team wrote.
Prof Phippen said it was important more training is provided to senior managers and others to help combat the rise of online bullying.
A Facebook spokesman said: ‘At Facebook we have worked hard to develop reporting mechanisms that enable people to report offensive content they are concerned about.
‘Having the tools to report content in this way gives people more control over what is said about them on Facebook than over the wider web where few such controls exist.’
Prison Inmates Lose Facebook Accounts
Please don't tell me facebook access will become a "human rights" issue.
Facebook has agreed to disable the profiles of prison inmates in California whose accounts have been updated while they are behind bars.
“Access to social media allows inmates to circumvent our monitoring process and continue to engage in criminal activity,” California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation secretary Matthew Cate said in a statement Monday.
“This new cooperation between law enforcement and Facebook will help protect the community and potentially avoid future victims.”
CDCR said prison inmates are allowed to have Facebook profiles created prior to their incarceration but “if any evidence shows the account has been used while in the facility, Facebook Security will disable the account.”
Facebook accounts set up or updated on behalf of an inmate will be reported to the Facebook Security Department and removed as a violation of the social network’s user policies.
CDCR said there have been “numerous instances in which inmates, using their Facebook accounts, have delivered threats to victims or have made unwanted sexual advances.”
Inmates are maintaining their accounts using smuggled cellphones or having someone on the outside do it for them, according to CDCR.
It pointed to a “massive influx” in the number of cellphones being used by prisoners. Some 7,284 cellphones were confiscated in the first six months of this year, up from 261 devices in 2006.
Man blames cat for child porn found on computer
After being charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography, a Florida man is blaming his cat for the 1000+ images found on his computer.
- “I swear, I did a Google search for kitty porn!”
“Griffin told investigators that his cat jumped on the computer keyboard while he was downloading music. He said he had left the room and found “strange things” on his computer when he returned.”
No more electroshock for internet addicts in China
After administering thousands of electroshock “treatments” to videogame and internet addicts, China has decided to ban the procedure because ” it has no foundation in clinical research or evidence.”
"Now hold still while I cure you of your videogame addiction"
“Patients are given psychotropic drugs as well as electro-shocks, at a cost of 5,500 yuan (805 USD) a month. Most of them were sent to the hospital by force, the China Youth Daily added.”
Forced hospitalization, ECT, and psychotropic medications (which have not been shown to be effective treatments) administered by people who are not qualified therapists at the cost of $800 per month?
Yes, I think we can agree that banning this practice is the right decision.
Sexting: Child pornography or self-expression?
A researcher at the annual meeting of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences argues that ‘sexting’ (sending nude or provocative pictures to a boyfriend or girlfriend via cellphone) is “is really just a modern variation on playing doctor or spin the bottle.”
“Technology does change things, and there can be very serious consequences,” Prof. Cumming said. “But that obscures the fact that children and young people are sexual beings who have explored their sexuality in all times, and all cultures and all places. A distinction has to be made between nudity and child porn,” he added.
“When a teenage girl knowingly sends provocative pictures of herself to friends or a boyfriend, is she guilty of child pornography or simply practising self-expression?”
Think twice before hitting "send"
A complicated issue – which side do you fall on?
