Cyberbullies, hackers and downloaders: technology makes it easy
for kids to get in trouble without parents knowing.
When kids are on-line, trouble doesn’t always come from the
other end of the modem. The ways that children find trouble on
their own are numerous. Techno-savvy teens hack into school
computers to change grades. They download music and movies
illegally. Gamers spend more and more time on line, to the neglect
of their schoolwork and real-life friends. But one activity that
has many experts on alert is cyberbullying. The instances of
bullying via e-mail and instant messenger are increasing as more
kids get on line and the technology continues to evolve.
Cyberbullies, hackers and downloaders: technology makes it easy for kids to get in trouble without parents knowing.
When kids are on-line, trouble doesn’t always come from the other end of the modem. The ways that children find trouble on their own are numerous. Techno-savvy teens hack into school computers to change grades. They download music and movies illegally. Gamers spend more and more time on line, to the neglect of their schoolwork and real-life friends. But one activity that has many experts on alert is cyberbullying. The instances of bullying via e-mail and instant messenger are increasing as more kids get on line and the technology continues to evolve.
Cyberbullying has been featured on countless television shows, such as “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Everwood.” Many parents don’t know when their children are engaged in this new form of bullying or how to tell if their son or daughter is a victim of it. And some parents don’t even know what it is.
“I’ve never heard of it,” said Ginger Potter, a mother of a 14-year-old son. “I really haven’t. But I wouldn’t think he does it because he’s not into instant messenger and e-mail.”
Like many parents, Potter doesn’t suspect her son of being a bully on line and never thought of him being bullied over the computer.
“It’s very serious and the reason why is a lot of parents don’t realize the Internet is anonymous,” said Erica Carlson, a spokesperson for iSafe America.
iSafe is a non-profit Internet safety foundation that works with schools, law enforcement agencies and individuals to teach Internet safety tips to children and parents.
Cyberbullying includes sending negative e-mails, instant messages or posting negative comments on websites such as myspace.com. The messages can be sent from computers and increasingly from cell phones with isntant messenger programs or Internet access.
In 2001, a study at the University of New Hampshire found that six percent of kids had been bullied while they were on line. By 2004, an Internet survey of fourth through eighth-grade students found that as many as 42 percent had been bullied over the Internet.
“Kids feel as though they can bully more and teachers or parents can’t see them,” Carlson said. “The consequences of bullying on line are more drastic than schoolyard bullying.”
Carol Baker, who is the director of the bureau of crime prevention and youth services for the LA county district attorney’s office, said the office has updated their “Protecting Our Kids” website since Spring 2004 as the use of blogs and concerns about cyberbullying are increasing.
“It’s a really big issue and what happens is the same thing they might do on a playground at school, but they are taking it off campus,” Baker said. “They pick on someone, send flames which are negative, nasty e-mails.”
While Baker said parents are more aware of the issue, but part of the reason they are taking notice is because it is becoming more serious.
“Among teenage girls, they seem to be relentless,” Baker said. “We have news stories about kids that become depressed and shut down…and they retaliate by taking matters into their own hands and often do it violently.”
One way that cyberbullying differs from schoolyard bullying is that in can follow a child anywhere they go.
“We had one teenager who was bullied. She couldn’t eat, her grades failed so she transferred to a different school,” Carlson said. “But it didn’t help because the bullying followed her on line.”
iSafe spokesperson Carlson said the organization sees communication between parents and children as a major factor in solving the problem of cyber bullying. She suggested parents encourage children to tell them if they are being bullied on line. If children receive a negative message, they should notify their parents, but keep the message so that it can be tracked to the sender.
“Parents need to be involved in what their kids are doing and set up rules as well as ethical rules,” Carlson said. “Parents need to do their job as parents. There are consequences down the road. Schools can get involved. Law enforcement can get involved.”
Cyberbullying isn’t the only way kids can get themselves in trouble on line. The list of on-line crimes for which parents can be held liable is a long one. Some of the crimes include hacking into servers, downloading copyrighted music or movies and stealing identities from other people on line.
“We are seeing more cases, very sophisticated cases, where kids are getting involved in illegal actions,” Baker said. “They might make a game of hacking and they can really get in trouble.”
In 2002, a 15-year-old San Juan Bautista student showed how easily he could hack into the school’s computer system – with the permission of school administrators. Reid Ellison hacked into the grade database and changed his straight-A grade point average to a D+ as part of a school project. Ellison had permission for his hacking, but he showed school administrators that other kids could get into their system without it.
“These are generally good kids. They get good grades,” Baker said. “But they come home from school and go straight to their room. They are on the Internet for hours and hours.”
While hacking is something only the most knowledgeable kids might get involved with, downloading illegal music or movies is still a common computer crime among kids, Carlson said. The music industry started to put pressure on downloaders in 2003 by filing lawsuits against them and in many cases parents were charged along with minors.
“We teach kids about intellectual property and that its not just consequences for the band or singer,” Carlson said. “Everyone else involved with that actor or singer is hurt. Everyone that works with them.”
Though Potter admitted she was clueless about cyberbullying, she stayed on top of the ball when it came to tracking the websites her son visited.
“I set up the computer when we got it and I created an account for him,” she said. “With MSN, I got a weekly e-mail with a list of the websites he went to and how long he was there.”
Keeping track of the sites kids visit is not only important to keeping them out of trouble on line, but also in the real world. Baker warned that more and more children are seeking out sites that offer harmful advice that fosters such problems as eating disorders.
Potter used her MSN software to set up a filter that allowed her son to visit only sites that are appropriate for his age-range. The program also notified her if any new programs had been downloaded on the computer, so she knew he wasn’t downloading software that could be used to download music.
Potter isn’t concerned that her son will get into trouble with cyberbullying or other illegal activities on line, but she does have another legitimate concern about her son’s time on the computer. Her son spends most of his time with role-playing games where the players interact with people of all ages from round the world. So far, his gaming habit hasn’t affected the schoolwork of the eighth-grader. But his mother is concerned that he doesn’t socialize enough with people in real life.
“I’d rather have him home where I know what he’s doing and he’s staying out of trouble,” she said. “But at the same time I worry he doesn’t get enough of other social activities. I don’t think he has as many friends as he should.”
Next week: Part 3: So now that they know the risk to kids and the problems they can get into, what resources are out their to help parents take back control? Plus: Who is keeping track of kids on-line visits at schools and public places?
