"Cyber-Bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others."

What are the forms that cyber-bullying might take? Here are some potential examples:

E-mail - Short for electronic mail, the transmission of messages over communications networks. The messages can be notes entered from the keyboard or electronic files stored on disk. Most mainframes, minicomputers, and computer networks have an E-mail system. Some electronic-mail systems are confined to a single computer system or network, but others have gateways to other computer systems, enabling users to send electronic mail anywhere in the world.

Cyberbullies can and do use E-mail to send harassing and threatening messages to the targets of their hatred and dislikes. Those who are bullied often ask themselves "What have I done to deserve this?" and the usual answer is that they have not done anything to deserve such awful messages.

It is often possible to trace which E-mail account the message was sent from, however, it is almost impossible to prove who actually used this E-mail account to send the offending messages. Messages sent from accounts with local/regional Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can be more easily traced and acted upon than messages sent from large Web-based E-mail accounts such as Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail etc.

Most E-mail programs allow you to use E-mail filters that will block or automatically delete messages from undesirable senders. This does work to a limited degree, but as most E-mail users now know, it is almost impossible to stop unwanted E-mail messages such as advertisements, SPAM etc.

Instant Messaging (IM) - A type of communications service that enables you to create a private chat room with another individual. Typically, the instant messaging system alerts you whenever somebody on your private list is online. You can then initiate a chat session with that particular individual. There are several competing instant messaging systems such as ICQ, AOL Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger etc. Unfortunately, there's no standard, so anyone you want to send instant messages to must use the same instant messaging system that you use.

Cyberbullies can and do use IM to send harassing and threatening messages to the targets of their hatred and dislikes. IM has become a very large part of the social lives of our young people today. The relationships they form with others in school and in other facets of their lives are extended and maintained through IM-ing. The conversations and conflicts that arise online often give rise to behaviors that are acted out in person during school or at the local shopping mall.

Prevention - Sit with your child when they are signing up for an IM account. If you are not careful, you can give others a great deal of access to your personal contact information.

Users of IM should create a buddy list of only people you know and trust well. Most IM programs allow users to create a list of others that users may wish to "block" from sending them messages or contacting them for the purposes of chatting in real time (while the users are both online together at the same time).

Chat Rooms/Bash Boards - Real-time communication between two users via computer. Once a chat has been initiated, either user can enter text by typing on the keyboard and the entered text will appear on the other user's monitor. Most networks and online services offer a chat feature.

The "bash board" is the nickname for an online bulletin board, or virtual chat room, where teenagers can go anonymously and write anything they want, true or false, creating or adding mean-spirited postings for the world to see.

People are not always who they appear to be or who they say they are in chat rooms. Chat rooms can be places where some strangers may try to "befriend" others, especially young people. They may attempt to lure them into meeting in person. Young people should NEVER arrange to meet someone in person whom they have been in contact with online.

Young children shouldn't be in chat room unless a trusted and responsible parent or guardian is sitting with them at the computer. Older children should be allowed only to enter moderated chat rooms and even moderated chat rooms can lead to compromising, embarrassing and harassing situations. For safety's sake, no child should exchange E-mail with someone from a chat room or arrange to meet someone from a chat room without a parent or guardian present.

Small Text-Messages (SMS) - Short for Short Message Service Similar to paging, SMS is a service for sending short text messages to mobile phones.

SMS: The Short Message Service (SMS) is the ability to send and receive text messages to and from mobile telephones. The text can be comprised of words or numbers or an alphanumeric combination.

EMS: -Enhanced Messaging Service (text messaging with more bells and whistles)

MMS -Multimedia Messaging Service, (MMS) is the ability to send messages comprising a combination of text, sounds, images and video to MMS capable handsets.

PDAs: PDAs stand for Personal Digital Assistants. You might recognize these better if we used names like Palm Pilot, RIM Blackberry, Handspring Visor/Treo, Sony Clie, iPaq, Pocket PC etc. Most of these are not only personal information organizers, they can now connect to the Internet, receive and send E-mail and browse the World Wide Web.

Web Sites - A site (location) on the World Wide Web. Each Web site contains a home page, which is the first document users see when they enter the site. The site might also contain additional documents and files. Each site is owned and managed by an individual, company or organization.

Cyberbullies can create Web sites that mock, torment and harass others. If these are published on a local/regional Internet Service Provider (ISP), you should copy and print out these Web sites and then contact the ISP. Give them a chance to respond and address the situation. For most responsible ISPs, this is likely a violation of the Terms of Use or Acceptable Use Policies (AUP). Better ISPs will post a copy of their AUP in an easily accessible place as well as appropriate contact information where you can report any such abusive situations with an E-mail account such as abuse@isp.ca (example).

Unfortunately, some ISPs are not as responsible, and you may have GREAT difficulty in not only finding their AUP or abuse reporting options, but even in getting them to acknowledge your concerns, let alone having the defamatory Web site taken down. Equally unfortunately, some ISPs may not respond or take action unless you tell them that you are contacting the police, the media and/or a lawyer.

Defamatory Web sites posted on large Web hosts such as Yahoo!/Geocities, Tripod, Homestead etc. may be even harder to get the attention of, let alone see action from, so this is why the most effective efforts that can be made with respect to the issue of cyberbullying is based upon PREVENTION.

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