[House Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ENSURING STUDENT
CYBER SAFETY
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTHY
FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
COMMITTEE ON
EDUCATION AND LABOR
U.S. House of Representatives
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JUNE 24, 2010
__________
Serial No. 111-69
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
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COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
GEORGE MILLER, California, Chairman
Dale E. Kildee, Michigan, Vice John Kline, Minnesota,
Chairman Senior Republican Member
Donald M. Payne, New Jersey Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin
Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon,
Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, Virginia California
Lynn C. Woolsey, California Peter Hoekstra, Michigan
Ruben Hinojosa, Texas Michael N. Castle, Delaware
Carolyn McCarthy, New York Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan
John F. Tierney, Massachusetts Judy Biggert, Illinois
Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania
David Wu, Oregon Joe Wilson, South Carolina
Rush D. Holt, New Jersey Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington
Susan A. Davis, California Tom Price, Georgia
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona Rob Bishop, Utah
Timothy H. Bishop, New York Brett Guthrie, Kentucky
Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
David Loebsack, Iowa Tom McClintock, California
Mazie Hirono, Hawaii Duncan Hunter, California
Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania David P. Roe, Tennessee
Phil Hare, Illinois Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania
Yvette D. Clarke, New York [Vacant]
Joe Courtney, Connecticut
Carol Shea-Porter, New Hampshire
Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio
Jared Polis, Colorado
Paul Tonko, New York
Pedro R. Pierluisi, Puerto Rico
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan,
Northern Mariana Islands
Dina Titus, Nevada
Judy Chu, California
Mark Zuckerman, Staff Director
Barrett Karr, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTHY FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
CAROLYN McCARTHY, New York, Chairwoman
Yvette D. Clarke, New York Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania,
Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, Virginia Ranking Minority Member
Carol Shea-Porter, New Hampshire Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon,
Paul Tonko, New York California
Jared Polis, Colorado Brett Guthrie, Kentucky
George Miller, California David P. Roe, Tennessee
Judy Chu, California Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on June 24, 2010.................................... 1
Statement of Members:
McCarthy, Hon. Carolyn, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Healthy
Families and Communities................................... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Additional submission: Willard, Nancy, M.S., J.D.,
director, Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use,
prepared statement of.................................. 61
Platts, Hon. Todd Russell, Senior Republican Member,
Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities........... 3
Prepared statement of.................................... 4
Statement of Witnesses:
Aftab, Parry, Esq., the Kids Internet lawyer, author, and
child protection and cybersafety advocate.................. 28
Prepared statement of.................................... 30
Finnegan, Dave, chief technology bear, Build-A-Bear Workshop,
Inc........................................................ 43
Prepared statement of.................................... 45
McGraw, Phillip C., Ph.D., syndicated daytime television talk
show host and best-selling author.......................... 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 8
Napolitano, Dominique, on behalf of Girl Scouts of the USA... 11
Prepared statement of.................................... 13
Paris, Barbara-Jane ``BJ,'' board of directors, National
Association of Secondary School Principals................. 22
Prepared statement of.................................... 24
Srabstein, Jorge C., M.D., medical director, clinic for
health problems related to bullying, Children's National
Medical Center............................................. 15
Prepared statement of.................................... 17
ENSURING STUDENT CYBER SAFETY
----------
Thursday, June 24, 2010
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities
Committee on Education and Labor
Washington, DC
----------
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in
room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Carolyn McCarthy
[chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives McCarthy, Clarke, Scott, Shea-
Porter, Platts, Guthrie, and Thompson.
Staff Present: Andra Belknap, Press Assistant; Calla Brown,
Staff Assistant, Education; Daniel Brown, Staff Assistant; Jose
Garza, Deputy General Counsel; David Hartzler, Systems
Administrator; Liz Hollis, Special Assistant to Staff Director/
Deputy Staff Alex Nock, Deputy Staff Director; Director;
Alexandria Ruiz, Administrative Assistant to Director of
Education Policy; Melissa Salmanowitz, Press Secretary; Dray
Thorne, Senior Systems Administrator; Bryce McKibben Staff
Assistant, Education; Sadie Marshall, Chief Clerk; Kim Zarish-
Becknell, Education Counsel, Subcommittee on Healthy Families
and Communities; Mark Zuckerman, Staff Director; Stephanie
Arras, Minority Legislative Assistant; Kirk Boyle, Minority
General Counsel; Barrett Karr, Minority Staff Director; Brian
Newell, Minority Press Secretary; Susan Ross, Minority Director
of Education and Human Services Policy; Mandy Schaumburg,
Minority Education Policy Counsel; and Linda Stevens, Minority
Chief Clerk/Assistant to the General Counsel.
Chairwoman McCarthy. A quorum for taking testimony must be
present by House and committee rule, two members constitute a
quorum for this purpose. No bipartisan requirement, two members
of the same party will suffice. A quorum is present for the
hearing for the House Committee on Education and Labor,
Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities on Ensuring
Student Cyber Safety will come to order.
Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to make sure
that everybody has their BlackBerrys, their cell phones, put
them on silent or turn them off, appreciate that.
Before we begin, without objection, the subcommittee is
joined today by our colleague, Representative Judy Biggert, who
will be here soon to participate in the hearing and to ask
questions.
I now recognize myself, followed by the Healthy Families
and Communities ranking member, Todd Platts. I would like to
welcome our witnesses to this hearing on ensuring student cyber
safety. As a nurse for over 30 years, I have seen firsthand the
damage and the loss families can experience from bullying. The
emerging world of cyber-bullying is taking a toll on our
students in ways we couldn't even imagine just a few years ago.
Traditional acts of bullying extend beyond the halls of our
school buildings and have found a new home on the Internet.
Through this hearing we will explore areas of concern related
to cyber-bullying and how it is compounded by additional forms
of bullying.
While the overwhelming number of our students are safe, it
is a parent's worse nightmare to learn that their child has
become a victim of crime or other incident. Acts of bullying
can quickly escalate into cyber-bullying which, as we know, is
far reaching and can lead to outbreaks of violence.
According to a February 2010 Pew report, 73 percent, 73
percent of wired American teens now use social networking Web
sites. A significant increase from previous surveys.
Another recent Pew report found that daily text messaging
among American teens has shot up in the past year and a half.
Thirty-eight percent in February of 2008 to 54 percent in
September 2009. It is not just frequency, teens are sending
enormous quantities of text messaging every single day. Half of
our teens send 50 or more text messages a day, and 1 in 3 more
send more than 100 text messages a day.
For a parent, knowing your child has been a victim of any
form of bullying can be heartbreaking. So too can learning that
your child is a bully.
These days, cyber-bullying can have dire consequences, the
emotional and physical impacts to cyber-bullying have become
more severe than ever, and we need to be proactive in dealing
with this serious problem. Students cannot learn and teachers
cannot teach in environments that are unsafe and frightening.
Students ought to be able to focus on learning and gaining the
tools they need to succeed in life, not worrying about physical
or emotional violence.
Another theme that I think is important that you will hear
running throughout this hearing is that effective cyber safety
efforts must include coordination between all interested
parties, especially the students. The students know what is
happening to them and to their peers and often way before
adults do. They are critical partners in any cyber safety
efforts. I look forward to hearing ideas on this. Students'
cyber safety is necessary for a successful academic career.
We cannot legislate morality, nor insist on kindness and we
cannot criminalize meanness. Awareness and education hold the
key to any solution. As the committee continues our work on
reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act we
must give serious consideration to the testimony before us
today and determine how Congress can best move forward to
prevent further tragedies.
I want to thank you all for being here, and I look forward
to your testimony. I now recognize the distinguished ranking
member of the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee,
Mr. Platts, for his opening statement.
[The statement of Mrs. McCarthy follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Carolyn McCarthy, Chairwoman, Subcommittee
on Healthy Families and Communities
I'd like to welcome our witnesses to this hearing on ensuring
student cyber safety.
As a nurse for over 30 years, I have seen firsthand the damage and
loss families can experience from bullying.
The emerging world of cyber bullying is taking a toll on our
students in ways we didn't imagine just a few years ago.
Traditional acts of bullying extend beyond the halls of our school
buildings and have found a new home on the internet.
Through this hearing we will explore areas of concern related to
cyber bullying and how it is intertwined with and compounded by
traditional forms of bullying.
While the overwhelming number of students are safe, it is a
parent's worst nightmare to learn their child has become the victim of
a crime or other incident.
Acts of bullying can quickly escalate into cyber bullying which, as
we know is far reaching and can lead to outbreaks of violence.
According to a February 2010 PEW report, 73% of wired American
teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from
previous surveys.
Another recent PEW report found that daily text messaging among
American teens has shot up in the past year and a half, from 38% in
February of 2008 to 54% in September 2009.
And it's not just frequency--teens are sending enormous quantities
of text messages a day.
Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, and one in three
send more than one hundred texts a day.
As a parent, knowing your child has been the victim of any form of
bullying can be heartbreaking, so too can learning that your child is a
bully.
These days, cyber bullying can have dire consequences.
The emotional and physical impacts of cyber bullying have become
more severe than ever and we need to be proactive in dealing with this
serious problem.
Students cannot learn and teachers cannot teach in environments
that are unsafe and frightening.
Students ought to be able to focus on learning and gaining the
tools they need to succeed in life, not worrying about physical or
emotional violence.
Another theme that I think is important and that you will hear
running through this hearing is that effective cyber safety efforts
must include coordination between all interested parties, especially
the students.
The students know what's happening to them and to their peers, and
often before adults do.
They are critical partners in any cyber safety efforts and I look
forward to hearing ideas on this.
Student cyber safety is necessary for a successful academic career.
We cannot legislate morality, nor insist on kindness, and we cannot
criminalize meanness.
Awareness and education hold the key to any solution.
As the Committee continues our work on reauthorizing ESEA, we must
give serious consideration to the testimony we have heard today and
determine how Congress can best move forward to prevent further
tragedies.
Thank you all for being here and I look forward to your testimony.
______
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning and
welcome to our witnesses and all of our guests here today.
Today we join together to discuss the important issue of cyber
safety issue related to our Nation's children. As a parent of
two school age children, and I am delighted to have my soon to
be 6th grader middle schooler, my son Tom just 11 this spring,
with me. He will keep me in line if I misbehave, I think. But
as a parent of two school age children, the issue of cyber-
bullying is very troubling and certainly very personal as a
parent. With the growth of technology that has included social
networking sites, instant messaging, and texts and picture
messaging on cell phones, bullying is no longer combined to
brick and mortar classrooms or school playgrounds or after-
school bus rides. With children growing dependence on computer
technology and other forms of technology, it is ever important
that we address the changing face of bullying one often
anonymous.
Given how rapidly technology changes, the frequency of
cyber-bullying is not easily determined. However, certain
studies have shown that up to 53 percent of kids are victims of
cyber-bullying, and up to 23 percent of children have committed
a bullying act through the use of technology.
Most importantly, as parents, we must make it our priority
to be cognizant of what our children are doing on line and to
equip them with the proper tools to identify, report and
effectively react to instances of cyber-bullying.
The most severe cases, such as Vermont teenager Ryan
Patrick Halligan, who committed suicide as a result of
persistent abuse on line by classmates who questioned his
sexuality, and 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who earlier this year
also took her own life after relentless bullying about her
peers are heart wrenching reminders of why our Nation must
become better educated on cyber-bullying and better prepared,
or helping our children become better prepared with this issue.
Fortunately, action is being taken nationwide by school
administrators, teachers, parents, students, non profit
organizations and the technology industry itself, all are
working on developing both innovative and practical approaches
to identify, prevent and curb the prevalence of cyber-bullying.
As such, I very much look forward to the testimony of all of
our witnesses.
I want to especially pay tribute to our Girl Scout
Dominique, we are delighted to have you here to have
representing the Scouting program and your peer group, because
it is your peers that we are trying to do right by and those to
come. So again, we appreciate all of you being here and being
part of this hearing. With that, I yield back, Madam Chair.
[The statement of Mr. Platts follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Todd Russell Platts, Ranking Minority
Member, Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities
Good morning. Welcome to our hearing. Today we have joined to
discuss the important issue of cyber safety related to our Nation's
children.
As a parent of two school-age children, the issue of cyber bullying
is one that is both troubling and personal. With the growth of
technology that has included social networking sites, instant
messaging, and text and picture messaging on cell phones, bullying is
not longer confined to brick and mortar classrooms and afterschool bus
rides. With children's growing dependence on computer technology, it is
ever important that we address the changing face of bullying--one that
is often anonymous.
Given how rapidly technology changes, its frequency is hard to
determine. However, certain have studies have shown that up to fifty-
three percent of kids are victims of cyber bullying, and up to twenty-
three percent of children have committed a bullying act through the use
of technology.
Most importantly, as parents, we must make it our priority to be
cognizant of what our children are doing online and equip them with
proper tools to identify, report, and effectively react to instances of
cyber bullying.
The most sever cases, like Vermont teenager Ryan Patrick Halligan,
who committed suicide as a result of persistent abuse online by
classmates who questioned his sexuality, and fifteen-year old Phoebe
Prince who earlier this year also took her own life after relentless
bullying by her peers are heart wrenching reminders of why our Nation
must become educated on cyber bullying.
Fortunately, action is being taken nationwide by school
administrators, teachers, parents, students, nonprofit organizations,
and the technology industry itself. All are working on developing both
innovative and practical approaches to identify, prevent and curb the
prevalence of cyber bullying. As such, I very much look forward to
hearing the testimony from our esteemed witnesses today. Thank you
Chairwoman McCarthy, and I yield back.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mr. Platts and thank you
for your opening statement.
Pursuant to committee rule 12(a), any member may submit an
opening statement in writing at this time which will be made
part of the permanent record. Without objection, all members
will have 14 days to submit additional materials of questions
for the hearing record.
I want to just explain the lighting system that we have in
front of you. When you start speaking, you will see a green
light that basically gives you 5 minutes. You will see a yellow
light, that is kind of a warning. We don't cut people off in
the middle of their statements or anything like that and to be
very honest with you, I am probably more of a lenient chairman
because you all have come from all over the country and we
appreciate what you are hearing--what we will be hearing. So
when I give a little tap, if you could finish your statement
up, I would appreciate it.
Our first witness is Dr. Phil C. McGraw, someone who we all
know as simply Dr. Phil. Dr. Phil is the host of the Dr. Phil
Show and is the best selling author with six of his books going
to number 1 on the New York Times best seller list. Dr. Phil
holds a PA from Midwestern State University and an MA and Ph.D.
in clinical psychology from North Texas State University, with
a dual area of emphasis in clinical and behavioral medicine.
On his syndicated show, he has focused on the issue of
cyber-bullying numerous times and has been called upon by the
media as an expert voice, raising public awareness on this
issue. I welcome you, Dr. Phil, and thank you for gracing us
with your testimony.
On our second witness is Ms. Dominique Napolitano--I have
learning disabilities by the way, just so people know that and
I'm not ashamed to say that I have that because I know a lot of
young people have it and I think they should be encouraged to
do what they can anyhow. Dominique is a rising junior at St.
John the Baptist High School and was among a core group of Girl
Scouts who helped develop Let Me Know, LMK, a leading on line
safety Web site developed by Girl Scouts in cooperation with
Microsoft Windows division. The site is unique because it is
designed to cover such topics as cyber-bullying, on-line sexual
predators, cyber security from the perspective of young people.
Welcome, and I want to thank the Girl Scouts of America for
leading us to you. And I thank the Girl Scouts of America for
the work that they have done over the years on addressing
cyber-bullying for their young ladies.
Our third witness is Dr. Jorge Srabstein, he is a child
psychiatrist, at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. At
Children's Hospital, he is the medical director of the clinic
for health problems related to bullying. He is an emeritus
fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a
distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association
and clinical associate professor of psychiatry at George
Washington University School of Medicine. Welcome, Doctor.
Our next witness who came all the way from London this
morning is Barbara Paris, principal of Canyon Vista Middle
School in Austin, Texas. Ms. Paris has been in public education
for 30 years. Educated both in Europe and the U.S., she has
been served as a teacher in grades pre K through 12, and as a
principal at the secondary level. Currently serving as the past
president of the Texas Association of Secondary School
Principals, Ms. Paris has recently taken up office on the Board
of Directors of the National Association of Secondary School
Principals.
Our next witness is Ms. Parry Aftab, executive director of
WiredSafety. She is an attorney who has represented many of the
entertainment, Internet and consumer industry. She recently
founded Wire Trust, a risk management consulting firm to advise
industry and policymakers and an award winning columnist for
Information Week Magazine.
Finally, we will hear from David Finnegan, welcome, the
``Chief Information and Logistics Bear'' of Build-A-Bear
Workshop. Mr. Finnegan joined Build-A-Bear Workshop in December
1999 and we will hear from him the efforts of Build A Bear to
educate kids and parents about cyber-bullying using a multiple
of media for parents that may or may not be Internet savvy.
I want to welcome all of our witnesses, and again, I thank
you for the time that you have taken out of your busy lives so
with that, Dr. Phil.
STATEMENT OF DR. PHIL MCGRAW, SYNDICATED DAYTIME TELEVISION
TALK SHOW HOST AND BEST-SELLING AUTHOR
Mr. McGraw. Thank you. Madam Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking
Member Platts, members of the committee, I am really honored--
--
Chairwoman McCarthy. Um--yes.
Mr. McGraw. Am I on now?
Madam Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking Member Platts, Members
of the subcommittee I am really honored and delighted to speak
about this because it is something that I am very passionate
about, and I really hope that we will have cyber-bullying
language added to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The times they are a changing, as we say in the south. When
I grew up as a boy, all of our fantasies were about the Wild
Wild West and everybody running around and gun slingers
everywhere with no law west of the Pecos. Now we are dealing
with the wild, wild Web. And the gun slingers are keyboard
bullies. They are these people that can, with anonymity, attack
other students in a way that can completely destroy their
reputations. And it is something that has changed and we have
to change with it.
In the past, you know, the bully had size, they had words,
they could intimidate someone at school, but as Representative
Platts comments with MySpace and Facebook, e-mails, chat rooms,
there are so many of these things with so much power that they
constitute Weapons of Mass Destruction when it comes to
communication with these kids. And the problem is the bullies
are anonymous now. So you get even more aggression from them
because they don't have to look their target in the eye. And
this wild, wild Web is completely unbridled. There is no
checks, there is no balances, there is no accountability. Even
if they are caught, there are little consequences.
And when I grew up, I suspect when a lot of you grew up,
bullying took place by people writing on the bathroom wall or
snickering behind somebody's back. And even then you could move
schools if necessary. Somebody could say I just don't want to
put up with this anymore, I am going to move schools. You can't
do that now. Even if you leave, the bullies and you go to
another school, all they have to do is Google that person's
name and here it comes again.
If there was a rumor she stuffed her bra in the 5th grade
or somebody wet their pants at lunch, something that happened
that really was humiliating and embarrassing, they pick it up
at the new school and here we go again. They photoshop pictures
in humiliating poses, ways that can just be so traumatic to a
child. And believe me, it is impossible to unring the cyber
bell, you just cannot unring that bell. Once it is out there,
it is out there. And children that have been impacted by cyber-
bullying are 1.9 times more likely to attempt suicide than the
general population. We have seen it. Phoebe Prince, Alexis
Pilkington, Megan Meier, on and on.
I get tens of thousands of letters at the Dr. Phil Show of
kids asking for help about this. It is a serious crisis. Forty-
two percent of kids say they have been bullied on the Internet.
Thirty-five percent say they have actually been threatened. And
it is more for minorities, gays, and particularly girls. This
is an epidemic and the problem is there is no place to hide.
You know, used to, at least when the child got home, they would
be around people who loved and care about them and they would
be safe at home.
Now that bully can silently come inside the home. You think
your child is back doing their homework, but on their desktop
or their laptop they are getting bombarded by these people that
are saying ugly things about them, telling them they wish they
would kill themselves and they are going to beat them up the
next day. Isolation is the number 1 tool of an abuser. And you
can never be more isolated than when someone is cyber-bullying
you and you alone with that screen are looking at everything
that is being said.
Children won't talk to their parents about this, they feel
shame and embarrassment. They don't want to tell mom and dad,
hey, people don't like me so parents don't necessarily know it.
Eighty-five percent of the time this goes completely unabated
because there is no official crime. We have to give educators,
administrators, teachers the tools that they need to prevent
this, to intervene once it happens, to break the pattern and
both the bullies and of the targets need counseling.
The bullies don't understand the gravity of what they are
doing, they just simply don't get that. So we have to help them
understand, develop empathy to realize when I do this, it is
destroying someone's life.
I see so many people in their 20s, 30s and 40s that were
bullied, it still affects them. It affects the way they parent
their children, it leaves scars that run deep. It may end in
the 7th grade, but the residual is there for the rest of their
life. And I really hope we add language to address cyber-
bullying to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act because
teachers in particular are dedicated professionals. Look, you
don't go into teaching for the money, you go into teaching
because you care.
You go into teaching because you want to impact young
people's lives. We need to give them the tools to do that, and
I am so proud that the committees starting what I think is a
long overdue dialogue about this, so we can give them the tools
that they need. And frankly, all of us adults aren't nearly as
literate on the computer as our kids are. We need to close that
information gap. We need to Google our children's names. We
need to know where their name pops up, who is talking to them,
what they are saying and how they are doing it.
I am so convinced that by putting this language in the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we can raise the
awareness and give these people the tools to bring this about.
And I want to tell you that I am going to continue to focus on
this on my platform, and I invite everyone in the media to use
their platform to raise awareness about this, to educate
parents about this and put them on alert. So I commend you all
for taking the time to do this. Thank you very much.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you very much.
[The statement of Mr. McGraw follows:]
Prepared Statement of Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D., Syndicated Daytime
Television Talk Show Host and Best-Selling Author
Good morning.
Madam Chairwoman McCarthy, members of the Committee I am honored to
speak to you about Cyber-bullying which I pray will be added to the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The ``times they are a changing''. As a boy growing up in Texas and
Oklahoma, our fantasies were inspired by tales of the Wild Wild West.
It was indeed a wild era when there literally was ``no law west of the
Pecos''--when gunslingers like Black Bart and Billy the Kid freely
roamed the countryside, terrorizing law abiding citizens. They were
unchecked and unaccountable, the bullies of a time gone by.
My personal heroes were not the villains, but the marshals! The
guys in the white hats--men like Matt Dillon and Pat Garrison who did
what they could to stop the outlaws' random, brutal attacks on innocent
victims.
Today, we have a new frontier--a new ``Wild Wild West''. It's
called the ``Wild Wild Web'', and it can be a very dangerous place,
especially for our children. The gunslingers of the Wild Wild Web are
what are called cyber-bullies or Keyboard Bullies--omnipresent,
electronic stalkers who can and do go after their targets day and
night, destroying their reputations if not their lives, and then
logging off their computers and riding away.
In the past a bully had physical size and words. Now the cyber-
bully has Facebook, MySpace, Email, Texting, Web Postings, Blocked
calling via the Internet, Instant Messaging, and chat rooms. Each has
so much power and affect so many that they represent the Weapons of
Mass Destruction of human communication for students! When students are
sitting in class most of them at the junior high or middle school level
will have cell phones with text capability. While a teacher may be
lecturing about English literature or supervising a test, several
students in the class will be texting each other and their friends.
There will be cyber-bullies at work during this time causing clear and
unknown danger to those very students in class. It is an epidemic in
which it is easy to be a bully because a bully remains anonymous.
Like the old west, the Wild Wild Web is completely unbridled--with
no checks, no balances, no accountability and no liability. There are
seldom if ever, consequences for cyber-bullies' actions and little
punishment even if they are identified--which is not an easy task. We
need a new group of marshals, men and women in white hats, to once
again keep our kids safe.
Let me try to capture the scope of this crisis. When I grew up--
when most of you on the panel grew up--there were few if any home
computers, few if any cell phones, certainly no texting, no Facebook or
MySpace. Bullying was limited to school playgrounds and lunch rooms.
Insults were scrawled on a bathroom wall.
But in 2010, the havoc caused by cyber-bullies is exponentially
greater than whatever used to happen on a playground or was written on
a bathroom wall. Today, through the cloak of anonymity, a cyber-bully
can hack into a student's Facebook page, access their Twitter account,
alter their My Space page or steal their email accounts. A cyber-bully
can post changes to a Facebook page, making it appear the owner of the
Facebook page has a sexually transmitted disease. A cyber-bully can
create fake photos of an unsuspecting teenager in what appears to be a
very sexually humiliating situation. A cyber-bully can invent
shockingly embarrassing emails from one child and have them sent to
someone else. By using dozens of false identities on social networking
sites, a cyber-bully also can make his victim feel that legions of
other kids despise him or her as well.
In a matter of seconds, a cyber-bully can completely destroy a
fragile adolescent's reputation. While a bully's rumors in the 1980s
might have reached twenty people, a cyber-bully's rumors will reach
millions. While whatever was written on that wall in the old days could
be erased, the Internet and all of its social networking sites can not.
It is impossible to un-ring the ``cyber-bell.'' Drs. Patchin and
Hinduja found that all forms of bullying lead to increases in suicidal
thoughts and victims of cyber-bullying were 1.9 times more likely to
actually attempt suicide than non victims.
Members of the committee, we are facing a serious crisis. According
to one study I've read, 42% of kids say they have been bullied while
online. 35% say they have been threatened online. The National Crime
Prevention Council reports that at least once per week, 52% of all
students read some sort of cyber-bullying message directed at someone
else. Much of the abuse is directed at racial and ethnic minorities,
gays, Hispanics--and girls are more often the target than boys.
And what makes it worse for these victims is that there is
absolutely no place for them to hide. Think about it. In the old days,
kids got away from their bullies by retreating to the safety of their
own homes. If the bullies followed them, you as parents would walk out
the front door, take down their names, chase them away, and call their
own parents. Not anymore. Today's child can be sitting in his own
house, doing homework in his bedroom, reading, relaxing, or watching
television--just being a kid. Suddenly, and relentlessly, he or she
starts getting emails that say, ``You're ugly.'' ``No one likes you.''
``We are going to beat you up tomorrow.'' ``We all wish you would just
die.'' ``No one wants you here, so why don't you just kill yourself?''
Even while in the company of their parents, sitting with them in the
den, the children can be attacked via their cell phone with text
messages. Cyber-bullies will strike at anytime, and they will follow
their targets everywhere--not only into their homes, but from school to
school, even across the country. In almost every case of abuse, no
matter what kind of abuse it is, isolation is the abuser's #1 tool. The
abuser does everything possible to make a victim feel there is nothing
that he or she can do to escape. When it comes to cyber-abuse, there is
especially no escape.
I have addressed this issue on the ``Dr. Phil'' show because I have
seen the torment it causes. Some victims suffer in silence and some
experience symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Some
decompensate and actually lose touch with reality. Their grades drop
because they are afraid to go to school.
Their friends disappear. Because of the shame and embarrassment
they feel from the cyber-bullying, they often won't say anything to a
parent or any other authority figure. They become even more
humiliated--and yes, more isolated--as the cyber-bullying continues for
weeks, months and even years. Eventually, some of these children become
so distraught that they do the unthinkable. According to the Cyber-
bullying Research Center, cyber-bullying victims are almost twice as
likely to attempt suicide compared to those who have not endured such
bullying. You probably know about 15- year-old Phoebe Prince, the
Massachusetts teenager who, after being harassed, mistreated and then
cyber-bullied for three months by a group of other girls, hanged
herself in a bedroom closet. 17-year-old Long Island teen Alexis
Pilkington, the soccer star and daughter of a New York City police
officer also took her own life following vicious taunts on social
networking sites. 13-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide after
receiving hateful messages from what she thought was a boyfriend--but
who reportedly turned out to be the vengeful mother of a classmate.
But there are just as many stories we are asked to help with at the
``Dr. Phil'' show that never make the front pages--like the 11-year-old
boy in Massachusetts who hanged himself after a group of kinds ganged
up on him, using the Internet to spread false rumors that he was gay.
Or the 13-year-old girl in Florida who took her own life after
learning, to her horror, that kids at her school were posting a
revealing photo of her on social networking sites.
Just as shocking are the studies that show how little is done about
what is happening. It is estimated that 85 percent of bullying today
goes on unabated. Because cyber-abuse almost always happens off campus,
teachers and school administrators say they have no power to intervene.
Because no ``official crime'' has been committed, the police say there
is nothing they can do. And, sadly, parents are almost never aware of
what is happening.
Times have changed the challenges we face--and we as a society have
to change with them. We must change our sensitivities, our policies and
our training protocols so we do not let the victims of today's
``keyboard bullies'' fall through the cracks. That is why I am here
today to suggest you add language to address cyber-bullying to the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. A cyber bully in 2010 has the
weapons to cause pain and suffering to victims that no other generation
has had to cope with. Cyber-bullies need to be blocked. It is time to
lay the foundation to protect our children during those critical hours
when we are not there to personally supervise their lives and
interactions. This Committee has an opportunity to enact legislation to
add language to ESEA on cyber-bullying. By doing so you, will make
meaningful changes in the lives of millions of children and adolescents
who instead of suffering in silence may someday become our future
leaders.
On the ``Dr. Phil'' show, we have taken the lead in dealing with
cyber-bullying through intervention, education and prevention. These
three principles must be kept in mind if we truly desire a meaningful
outcome to stop the emotional carnage created by this ubiquitous
problem. It is important for school officials to think comprehensively
about how to address cyber safety and early prevention, how to address
incidents that occur, and how to handle ongoing chronic situations. We
can address the problem through our website with resources for parents
and students dealing with cyber-bullying.
I am glad the subcommittee is holding today's hearing because I
believe it begins a long-overdue conversation about what cyber-bullying
is doing to us. I have been saying, over and over, that we have got to
start talking openly about this issue. The worst thing parents can do
is to shrug and stay out of their kids' on-line life, thinking that
some texting or social network posting can't really be all that
serious. They need to ask their children directly if they have ever
been ridiculed, intimidated or humiliated on the Internet. They need to
let their children know that they do not have to feel isolated and
alone because of any cyber-bullying that they have to endure. They need
to assure their children that they will do everything they can to
protect them and to fight for them.
They also must get very involved in their children's high-tech
lives. The fact is that most parents today are fractionally computer
literate. They don't know what's coming across their kids' computers or
phones. Even those who try to limit or supervise their children's time
on line do not understand that video games now have Internet
capability.
If the adults in a child's life are not aware of cyber-bullying,
the bullying will not go away. Which is why I believe that all parents
who are not familiar with the Internet need to get familiar with the
Internet immediately. Their own children may be their best resources.
Here is just a sampling of what parents can do:
Have their children take them to the sites they frequently
visit and to show them what they do on those sites.
Have their children show them what they have in their
profiles on social networking sites to make sure it is accurate and
appropriate.
Scrutinize their children's' ``friends lists'' on their
various accounts and make sure they recognize the identity of each
``friend.''
Make certain their children have never and will never
share their passwords with anyone, even a friend, to avoid the risk of
someone impersonating them.
Encourage school-aged children to change their password
regularly.
Teach school-aged children to encrypt access to their
phone and computer.
Have a very pointed conversation with them about
``sexting,'' the risky practice of sending sexually explicit photos
and/or messages which can easily be forwarded without their knowledge.
Doing so may actually be defined as child pornography.
And establish a family policy for acceptable computer use.
List what may or may not be allowed to be done on a
computer.
Include clear rules about time limits.
Keep the children's computer out of their bedroom and put
it in a very public area such as a kitchen or the family room.
At the same time, parents need to make sure that their own children
aren't tempted to cross the line and become, even ever so briefly,
Internet bullies themselves, secretly getting back at someone they
believe has crossed them. As we must all remember, when it comes to
children, just one single malicious Internet rumor can result in
unimaginably deep emotional scars that may last a lifetime. I
understand the plight of many families in America and realize that a
parent may have very little time with a child or may not even be
involved at all. We must be creative in our intervention in order to
associate with community leaders who have influence and access to our
children.
Finally, we need to give school officials the tools they need to
deal with cyber-bullying comprehensively, to address early prevention,
early intervention when incidents arise, and chronic situations. Some
examples of this comprehensive approach might be school officials and
leaders in the community coordinating Public Service Announcements,
Special School Programs, banners placed where students congregate,
constant website postings prohibiting cyber-bullying, links from
various websites and the thousands of additional resources we can bring
to stop cyber-bulling. It is time for the ``Keyboard Bullies'' to know
There is a New Sheriff in Town.
Members of the committee, I thank you for the work you are doing.
I've devoted countless hours of my show to cyber-bullying because I
know it's one of the most destructive forces out there, not only for
children, but for families as well. It is our responsibility as
educators, lawmakers, concerned citizens and as parents to stand up
against this growing, insidious threat. The lightning speed at which
technology is advancing demands our response.
Congresswoman McCarthy, Members of the committee, I thank you for
the honor of addressing you this morning. It has been a privilege.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Dominique.
STATEMENT OF DOMINIQUE NAPOLITANO, TEEN MEMBER, GIRL SCOUTS,
USA'S LET ME KNOW (LMK) PROGRAM
Ms. Napolitano. Good morning, Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking
Member Platts and members of the committee. My name is
Dominique Napolitano and I am here on behalf of youth across
the country to learn the teen's perspective on an important
issue facing my generation, Internet safety and security,
especially the subject of cyber-bullying. I am also here as a
Girl Scout as a proud member of Suffolk County Troop 2217.
As a leading girl-serving organization, Girl Scouts is
dedicated ensuring that girls have the know-how tools and
leadership skills they need to address life's challenges,
including cyber-bullying.
I would like to begin by telling a personal story about
cyber-bullying. Although I have never been cyber-bullied nor
have I ever cyber-bullied anyone, it still affects me and my
peers. I know people who have been the victims of this terrible
behavior, notably my classmate, Mary T. A sarcastic boy in my
school created a Facebook fan club called the Mary T Fan Club
that was expressly for the purpose of publicly humiliating her.
A fan club is typically a group made for a whole bunch of
people to join because they like the person, place or thing
being expressed, such as Leonardo DiCaprio Fan Club or the
Disney World Fan Club.
The Mary T Fan Club, however, listed sarcastic things about
the individual, things that would hurt a typical teenager. It
seems unbelievable why someone would hurt anyone in such an
emotionally devastating way where everyone from the school
could see it. I am happy to report that this student was
disciplined not only in school but also outside of school. His
pranks socially backfired on him when students started joining
it to bash him for his cowardly act. He realized how bad the
idea was when the rest of the school agreed that his behavior
was one of the most hurtful things you can do to another. He
tried in vain to remove the comments and it was amazing to see
that even people who are not friendly with Mary stood up for
her in unbelievable ways.
This student received in-school suspension as well as was
suspended from the school sports team after dozens of students
ran to the principal, campus ministry leaders and guidance
counselors to report him. I am sure Mary will always have the
emotional scars he left when he made the fan club, though.
Unfortunately Mary's experience is not unique. According to
the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges, 1 in 6 students,
grades 6 to 10, that is 3.2 million students victims of on line
bullying each year.
As a girl and a Girl Scout, I realize that cyber-bullying
is an important issue for girls. The Girl Scouts Research
Institutes report, Girls in News Media, we learn that girls say
the Internet allows them to treat peers more cruelly than they
would face-to-face interaction, without having to see the
immediate responses to their behavior. Moreover, a Girl Scouts
research report, ``Feeling Safe,'' found out the number one
safety concern for girls is their emotional safety.
My experience as a Girl Scout really helped me become an
advocate on this issue. About 1\1/2\ years ago, I was invited
by Girl Scouts of the USA to become one of the teen editors of
LMK. LMK which is text speak for Let Me Know, is a girl lead
interactive Internet site created by Girl Scouts and Microsoft.
It is a unique place where teens help parents and other teens
find information about on line safety from a teenager's point
of view.
I also participated in a Girl Scouts program called, ``It
is Your World--Change It.'' This program emphasized the need
for healthy and respectful relationships and also helped me
find my own strength and positively handle peer pressure.
In closing, I would like to reinforce 2 points for your
consideration, the first is that cyber-bullying is one of the
largest set of behaviors called relational aggression aims to
harm an individual's self esteem, feeling of self-worth and
relationships with his or her peers. Girls especially are prone
to relational aggression and cyber-bullying is just one way
that it takes place.
As Congress considers various policy proposals to address
cyber safety, I hope the committee addresses relational
aggression. Unfortunately, these issues are often ignored or
overlooked by teachers, administrators, policymakers and even
other kids. But the victims of relational aggression and cyber-
bullying are more likely to experience loneliness, depression,
anxiety and poor school performance. Teachers, students,
administrators and policymakers must take the whole spectrum of
relational aggression, including cyber-bullying seriously. The
second point is that youth are part of the solution.
Through the LMK program, Girl Scouts has created one of the
only Internet safety programs that is for kids by kids. I know
from my experience that kids don't always think that adults
understand their issues or get technology so we need to empower
youth to take this problem into our own hands and find
solutions that work for us. I feel that I have had that
experience through Girl Scouts, my youth group and in school,
but far too many kids don't get that chance.
Thank you again, Chairwoman McCarthy, Congressman Platts
and other members of the committee. I appreciate the
opportunity to be here on behalf of America's youth and am
happy to answer any questions you may have.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Napolitano follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dominique Napolitano, on Behalf of
Girl Scouts of the USA
Thank you, Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking Member Platts, and Members
of the Committee. My name is Dominique Napolitano, and I am here on
behalf of youth across the country to lend the teen perspective to an
important issue affecting my generation--cyber safety. I am also here
representing Girl Scouts of the USA, and girls across the country who
are directly affected by this issue. I hope that my testimony will help
you all better understand what it's like for teens today, and also
highlight how this issue affects girls.
A tale of cyberbullying
``An intimidating boy at my school created a Facebook ``fan club''
called the ``Mary T. Fan Club'' that was created expressly for the
purpose of publically humiliating my classmate Mary. The ``Mary T. fan
club'' made sarcastic comments about Mary's body, hair and personality,
and encouraged her peers to make fun of Mary.
I'm happy to report that this student was not only disciplined in
school, but also outside of school. His prank socially backfired on him
when students started joining the fan club and began standing up for
Mary. He realized how bad this idea was when the rest of the school
agreed that his behavior was one of the most hurtful things to do to
another person. It was amazing to see that even people who are not
friendly with Mary stood up for her in unbelievable ways. That said,
this bully continues to poke fun of her behind her back. I'm sure Mary
will always have the emotional scars he left when he made the fan
club.''
Cyberbullying, relational aggression and related cyber threats
Mary's story is only one example of the challenges that many youth
face today in cyberspace. In more heartbreaking cases, we hear stories
of Megan Meier, Phoebe Prince, and Alexis Pilkington, each of whom
ended her life after unrelenting bullying, including cyberbullying. A
common theme in each of these cases, is that these girls were not the
victims of physical violence, but were instead the subjects of a form
of emotional and social bullying called relational aggression (RA).
Relational aggression encompasses behaviors that harm someone by
damaging, threatening, or manipulating her relationship with her peers,
or by injuring a girl's feeling of social acceptance. Girls are more
likely to use this subtle, indirect and emotional form of aggression
than boys.\i\ They are also more likely to report feeling angry (56
percent), hurt (33 percent), embarrassed (32 percent), or scared (10
percent) after being bullied.\ii\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\i\ Marion K. Underwood. Social Aggression among Girls (Guilford
Series On Social And Emotional Development). New York: The Guilford
Press, 2003.
\ii\ Harris Interactive, Trends and Tudes: Cyberbullying, April
2006.
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Cyberbullying is a perfect example of relational aggression. By
using digital media such as cell phones, social networking sites, email
and other technologies, children can frighten, embarrass, harass or
otherwise hurt their peers anonymously, without engaging in physical
aggression, and without seeing the immediate responses to their
behavior. This type of behavior is also startlingly common.
Cyberbullying starts as early as 2nd grade and peaks in 4th grade and
then again in 7th grade. Eighty-five percent of middle school students
polled last year said they had been cyberbullied at least once, and 70
percent of 13-16 year olds polled said they had cyberbullied someone
else at least once.\iii\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\iii\ ``Prevent Cyberbullying Before It Starts.'' LMK: Life Online.
Girl Scouts of the United States of America. http://lmk.girlscouts.org/
Online-Safety-Topics/Cyberbullying/Stop-Cyberbullying/Prevent-
Cyberbullying-Before-It-Starts.aspx
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
While in most instances relational aggression or cyberbullying does
not end in suicide, this behavior does pose a very real threat to
children's--especially girl's--safety. In the groundbreaking original
research report Feeling Safe, the Girl Scouts Research Institute found
that nearly half of all girls (46 percent) defined safety as not having
their feelings hurt; girls who face cyberbullying or the threat of
cyberbullying do not feel safe. Moreover, girls' number one concern (32
percent) was a fear of being teased or made fun of, and 38 percent of
girls surveyed worry about their emotional safety when spending time
with their peers. Girls who feel emotionally unsafe are more likely to
feel sad, have trouble paying attention in school, get low grades, and
have trouble making decisions.
Because R.A. is not as overt as ``traditional'' schoolyard
bullying, it has not received the same attention from researchers,
educators, and parents. However, Relational Aggression is just as
harmful as physical bullying to a student's ability to learn, grow, and
succeed. It is imperative that we recognize cyberbullying for what it
is--a symptom of the larger problem of relational aggression.
Cyberspace poses a number of other threats to young girls, such as
online sexual predators, inappropriate sharing of information, and the
disturbing new trend of ``sexting''. One in seven boys and one in four
girls reports meeting strangers off the internet\iv\--at clear risk to
their own safety. Teens often misjudge ``how much is too much,'' and
share personal information or post inappropriate pictures that will
hurt them when applying to college or for jobs. An extreme example of
over-the-edge behavior is the trend of ``sexting,'' or sending sexually
explicit images or messages via cell phone. One study found that 31
percent of young men and 36 percent of young women have sent nude or
seminude images of themselves, and even more have sent sexually
suggestive messages. Fifty-one percent of teen girls cite pressure from
a guy as a reason for sexting, while only 18 percent of teen boys cite
pressure from girls.\v\ This behavior can clearly have life-long
consequences for a girl.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\iv\ Parry Aftab. ``What can you do to protect your child from
sexual predators online?'' http://www.wiredsafety.org/askparry/
special--reports/spr1/index.html
\v\ Sex and Tech: Results from a Survey of Teens and Young Adults.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2007.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Girl Scouts research and programming
I am proud to be here today representing Girl Scouts of the USA.
Girl Scouts is the world's preeminent organization for building
leadership in girls, serving 2.5 million girl members and 900,000 adult
members in every corner of the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin
Islands and ninety-five countries worldwide.
My experience as a Girl Scout really helped me become an advocate
on cyberbullying. About 1.5 years ago, I was invited by Girl Scouts of
the USA to become one of the teen editors of LMK (text-speak for Let Me
Know). This innovative program, which was created by Girl Scouts and
Microsoft, is a unique online safety resource designed by girls, for
girls. At LMK, girls are the technology experts on subjects that are
often best discussed at a teen-to-teen level, like cyberbullying,
online predators and social networking. This girl-led campaign allows
girls to share their online concerns with peer ``tech-perts'' about the
issues that affect them while raising awareness about how to help keep
girls (ages 13--17) safe while surfing the Web. In addition, parents
have access to a site specifically geared to their needs, equipping
them with the tools necessary to understand and act on the rapidly
changing world of online safety. LMK offers a digital patch to Girl
Scouts, motivating them to increase their knowledge of internet safety.
For more information, please visit: http://lmk.girlscouts.org.
I have also benefited from Girl Scouts new program, the Girl Scout
Leadership Experience (GSLE). The GSLE helps girls build the leadership
skills they need to address the challenges of daily life, including
relational aggression, bullying and girls cyber safety. The GSLE
engages girls in discovering themselves and their values, connecting
with others, and taking action to make the world a better place.
For example, when I was a cadette Girl Scout, my troop did a new
Girl Scout Leadership Journey program called ``aMAZE: The Twists and
Turns of Getting Along,'' where we learned about friendships, cliques
and conflicts, bullies, and cyber-relationships. This program helped us
recognize and combat cyberbullying and other forms of relational
aggression, how to safely use social networking websites, and how to
deal with online friends or acquaintances who want to meet in person.
We signed an Internet Safety Pledge, through which we promised to not
give out personal information online, to follow the rules of Internet
sites, to never meet with someone they meet online without talking to a
parent first, to set up rules with a parent for going online, to
practice online ``netiquette,'' and more.
Policy solutions
As Congress considers various policy proposals to address cyber
safety, Girl Scouts stands ready to provide resources, information and
solutions. Girl Scouts encourages Congress to take a broad, holistic
approach, including efforts to build confidence among girls, empowering
them to prevent cyberbullying before it starts and to stop it when they
see it. Specifically, we encourage you to:
Recognize the significant threat posed by relational
aggression and encourage schools to adopt and strengthen policies
specifically to prevent and address relational aggression and
cyberbullying.
Educate parents, teachers, administrators, and other
school personnel in recognizing, preventing, and mitigating the effects
of relational aggression and cyberbullying.
Support community-based organizations, including the Girl
Scouts, that prevent cyberbullying and teach about cyber security,
online privacy, online sexual predators, and the use of social
networking sites and mobile devices.
On behalf of Girl Scouts of the USA, and girls across the country,
thank you, again, for your focus on this important topic.
GSUSA's Public Policy and Advocacy Office, located in Washington,
D.C., works in partnership with local Girl Scout councils to educate
representatives of the legislative and executive branches of government
and advocate for public policy issues important to girls and Girl
Scouting.
For further information please contact Sharon Pearce, Director of
Public Policy at 202-659-3780 or [email protected].
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Doctor.
STATEMENT OF DR. JORGE SRABSTEIN, CHILD PSYCHIATRIST, MEDICAL
DIRECTOR, CLINIC FOR HEALTH PROBLEMS RELATED TO BULLYING,
CHILDREN'S NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
Dr. Srabstein. Good morning, Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking
Member Platts and distinguished members of the subcommittee.
Thank you for your leadership to ensure student cyber safety. I
am very honored by your invitation to render testimony to
support, raise an awareness about cyber-bullying and its
toxicity and provide recommendations for addressing this
important issue in the Elementary and Secondary Education
Reauthorization Act.
I am a child adolescent psychiatrist and pediatrician
testifying on my behalf, and that of Children's National
Medical Center, which provides leadership in clinical research
and advocacy efforts to prevent health problems leading to
bullying.
The recent evolving understanding is that cyber-bullying is
a very serious public health problem, prevalent around the
world and linked to serious health problems, including suicide.
Cyber-bullying is manifested by victimization, mistreatment or
abuse, through electronic chronic forms of conduct from every
day Internet and or mobile phones. It can include harassment,
threats, insults, teasing, calling names and spreading rumors.
Moreover, it may consist of sharing embarrassing picture or
videos, incitement to hurt somebody, password theft, privacy
violation, like cutting and pasting or spreading viruses.
It has been estimated that at least 14 percent of U.S.
adolescents in grades 6 to 10 have been electronically bullied
in school, this doesn't count the kids who are bullied, cyber
bullied outside this setting, at least once in the previous 2
months. Cyber-bullying can occur in and out of school premises,
with the identity of the perpetrator being known by at least 70
percent of the students being victimized. Sixty percent of the
known perpetrators are schoolmates. Ninety percent of victims
do not report cyber-bullying to their parents because they feel
that they need to deal with this problem by themselves and or
they are worried that their Internet privileges may be
curtailed. Cyber-bullying can occur simultaneously with other
forms of mistreatment happening in schools and other community
settings.
Victims, perpetrators or bystanders are at significant risk
of suffering from an array of health, safety and education of
problems, including depression, frequent absenteeism, eating
disorders, and above all, suicidal attempts.
Traditionally, U.S. schools have been at the forefront of
helping for more than 100 years, been at the forefront of
helping to safeguard the health and safety of their students by
contributing to the prevention and detection of public health
hazards, such as, in the first part of the 20th century,
communicable diseases and later on, psychosocial risk factors.
In this context, schools are now being challenged to prevent
the safety and health risks linked to bullying and cyber-
bullying with the support of health professionals and the full
community.
Since '94, State legislatures have been addressing the
issue of school bullying. As of June 2010, 42 States have
enacted legislation to sign to reduce or prevent bullying and
or harassment about public school students. Half of these
statutes include language pertaining to harassment through
electronic communication, usually on school premises. These
laws have a wide scope of legal coverage and jurisdiction,
varying in the definition of bullying, the recognition of its
link to health safety risks, and the support and strategies to
create an infrastructure for bullying prevention.
In order to preserve the physical and emotional well-being
of children and adolescents living and studying in the United
States of America, it is critical that the United States
Congress should enact Bullying and Cyber-Bullying Prevention
Legislation. Towards this end, we respectfully recommend that
ESEA reauthorization address:
Promotion of public awareness about the nature, toxicity
and prevention of bullying and cyber-bullying;
Development of safe schools through programs that enhance
mutual respect, sensitivity and support of others, tolerance to
diversity and disapproval of bullying and cyber-bullying;
Implementation of research-based, school-wide bullying
prevention programs for all students attending elementary and
secondary education;
Fostering the necessity and obligation to report incidents
of bullying, as a conscientious community public health
attitude, with safeguards against any threat of retaliation or
liability for those who report, and support or guidance in
reporting bullying, cyber-bullying incidents through a hotline;
Monitoring and detecting ongoing bullying incidents;
Providing school interventions through school counselors or
nurses to protect and support students who are being bullied,
perpetrators should be counseled or sensitized about the harm
inflicted, while helped to develop respect, empathy, tolerance
and sensitivity to others;
Consideration of referral for medical evaluation and
treatment for victims and perpetrators who experience physical
or psychological symptoms linked to bullying.
I want to thank the Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry
for their extraordinary support in helping me to prepare this
testimony. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, I will be
happy to answer any questions you may have.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
[The statement of Dr. Srabstein follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jorge C. Srabstein, M.D., Medical Director,
Clinic for Health Problems Related to Bullying, Children's National
Medical Center, Washington, DC
Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking Member Platts and distinguished
members of this Subcommittee, thank you for your leadership to ensure
students' cyber-safety. I am very honored by your invitation to render
testimony to support raising awareness about cyber-bullying and its
toxicity and to provide recommendations for addressing this important
issue through the ``Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization
Act (ESEA).''
I am testifying on my behalf and that of Children's National
Medical Center, which provides leadership in clinical, research and
advocacy efforts to prevent health problems linked to bullying. In the
interest of time, I will keep my remarks brief; please see my written
testimony for more expanded remarks and further information about the
programs with which I am involved at Children's National.
There is an evolving understanding that cyber-bullying is a very
serious public health problem, prevalent around the world and linked to
serious health problems, including suicide.\5,7,10,26\ Cyber-bullying
is manifested by victimization, mistreatment or abuse through
electronic forms of contact, primarily the Internet and/or mobile
phones. It can include harassment, threats, insults, teasing, calling
names and spreading rumors. Moreover, it may consist of sharing
embarrassing pictures or videos, incitement to hurt somebody, password
theft, privacy violation (``cut and pasting'') or spreading viruses.
\1,10,12,15\
It has been estimated that 14 percent of US adolescents in grades
6-10 have been electronically bullied in school at least once in the
previous two months.\7\ Cyber-bullying can occur in and/or out of
school premises, with the identity of the perpetrator being known by at
least 70 percent of the students being victimized.\65\ Fifty percent of
the known perpetrators are schoolmates.\65\ Ninety percent of victims
do not report cyber-bullying to their parents because they feel that
they need to deal with this problem by themselves and/or they worry
that their Internet privileges may be curtailed.\65\
Cyber-bullying can occur simultaneously with other forms of
mistreatment happening in schools and/or other community settings.\3,7\
Victims, perpetrators or bystanders are at significant risk of
suffering from an array of health, safety and educational problems,
including depression, frequent absenteeism, eating disorders and, above
all, suicidal attempts.\4,5,16,18,21,22,25,30,32-34,36,45,66\
Traditionally, US schools have been at the forefront of helping to
safeguard the health and safety of their students by contributing to
the prevention and detection of public health hazards such as
communicable diseases and psycho-social risk factors. In this context,
schools are now being challenged to prevent the safety and health risks
linked to bullying and cyber-bullying with the support of health
professionals and the whole community.\26,49\
Since 1994, state legislatures have been addressing the issue of
school bullying.\45\ As of June 2010, 42 states have enacted
legislation designed to reduce or prevent bullying and/or harassment
among public school students.\46,47\ Half of these statutes include
language pertaining to harassment through electronic communication.\46\
These laws have a wide scope of legal coverage and jurisdiction,
varying in the definition of bullying, the recognition of its link to
health/safety risks, and the support and strategies to create an
infrastructure for bullying prevention.\45\
In order to preserve the physical and emotional well-being of
children and adolescents living and studying in the United States of
America, it is critical that the United States Congress should enact
Bullying and Cyber-Bullying Prevention Legislation. Towards this end,
we respectfully recommend that ESEA reauthorization address:
Promotion of public awareness about the nature, toxicity
and prevention of bullying and cyber-bullying;
Development of safe schools through programs that enhance
mutual respect, sensitivity and support of others, tolerance to
diversity and disapproval of bullying and cyber-bullying;
Implementation of research-based, school-wide bullying
prevention programs for all students attending elementary and secondary
education;
Fostering the necessity and obligation to report incidents
of bullying, as a conscientious community public health attitude, with
safeguards against any threat of retaliation or liability for those who
report, and support or guidance in reporting bullying/cyber-bullying
incidents through a hotline;
Monitoring and detecting ongoing bullying incidents;
Providing school intervention through school counselors or
nurses to protect and support students who are being bullied.
Perpetrators should be counseled or sensitized about the harm
inflicted, while helped to develop respect, empathy, tolerance and
sensitivity to others;
Consideration of referral for medical evaluation and
treatment for victims and perpetrators who experience physical and
psychological symptoms linked to bullying
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I would be happy to
answer any questions you may have.
Background
Cyber-bullying: Challenges to its prevention
The evolving expansion of modern communication technologies have
exposed young people to the risk of being mistreated in an infinite
number of social settings, unknown to mankind until few years ago.\1-
15\ The frequent occurrence of cyber-bullying outside school premises
as well as the occasional anonymity of cyber-perpetrators may interfere
with strategies for its prevention. Furthermore, educational
policymakers may encounter a delicate balance between the authority to
establish formal discipline to a student's right of free speech and the
responsibility of preserving student's safety.\11\
Cyber-bullying, in spite of its unique aspects, occurs
simultaneously with other forms of bullying, and shares with them a
significant link to serious health problems. It is therefore important
that strategies and policies to prevent cyber-bullying should be
developed both within the framework of its distinct nature and its
similarities and association with other forms of victimization or
mistreatment.\3-5,7,8\
Bullying-Related Public Health Risks
Over the past few years, a series of reports have highlighted the
serious public health and safety risks associated with bullying.
Numerous scientific studies have shown that bullying adversely affects
the health and development of both victims and perpetrators of the
bullying, as well as other children in the environment.\16-35\
There is an urgent need to address longstanding cultural
perceptions that bullying is a normative part of child development that
is mostly associated with modest physical pestering among children and
adolescents. Indeed, many parents, teachers and others see bullying as
``just a part of growing up.'' This is a dangerous and erroneous
assumption. Instead, it is quite clear that bullying is a multi-faceted
and toxic form of abuse, prevalent on a global scale and across the
lifespan.\17,18\
Bullying is a serious form of mistreatment manifested by the
repeated exposure of one person to either physical aggression by one or
more people, and/or being hurt with teasing, name-calling, mockery,
threats, harassment, taunting, social exclusion or rumors. It can be
simultaneously prevalent in different social settings, widening the
scope of prevention efforts, beyond the school milieu. We need to be
alerted to its occurrence in ``after-school'' programs; in the
neighborhood; over the Internet and cellular phones; at home between
siblings; in dating relationships; summer camps and organized athletic
activities. In short, when tolerated, bullying takes place everywhere
in our communities.
The developmental link between school bullying and its occurrence
in adulthood challenged us to extend the range of our responsibility to
prevent bullying through college and into the workplace.\20,23,24,37\
It is estimated that some thirty percent of US students (higher in some
other countries) are involved in bullying, as victims and/or bullies,
with others being adversely affected as passive participants (witnesses
or encouragers).\38,39\ All those involved in bullying have now been
shown to be at significantly increased risk for multiple problems when
compared to their uninvolved peers. Children involved in bullying
suffer from a wide spectrum of physical and emotional symptoms,
including depression, irritability, anxiety, sleeping difficulties,
headaches and/or stomachaches.\16-33\ Furthermore, there is an evolving
array of reports documenting that bullying-related illnesses
increasingly include such serious problems as eating disorders, school
absenteeism, running away, alcohol and drug abuse and, above all, self-
inflicted or accidental injuries and suicidal behavior.\18,19,22,29,36\
Students who are in the dual roles of both being bullies and
victims (victim-perpetrators) have been found to be the most vulnerable
among those who participate in bullying and appear to experience a wide
display of problems. They are especially at risk in attempting or
completing suicide before age 25, as well as to committing repeated
criminal offenses between ages 16 and twenty-five.\21,22,25\ Moreover,
they are usually misunderstood and less protected when they are judged
to be responsible for their victimization as they also mistreat others.
New studies indicate that those students who are bystanders and/or
witness episodes of bullying are also at higher risk for mental health
problems than are their peers.\23\ Most of all, bullying is linked to
premature mortality, due to suicide, homicide or accidental
injuries.\26\
The responsibility to prevent the consequences of bullying extends
into adulthood as there is evidence of a significant association
between childhood bullying behavior and later psychiatric illness.\24\
Moreover, adults bullied in the workplace are prone to suffer from a
variety of problems, including depression, cardiovascular problems,
fibromyalgia, absenteeism and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.\41-43\
A systematic review44 of school-based interventions to prevent
bullying has determined that ``the chance of success is greater if the
intervention incorporates a whole school-based approach, involving
multiple disciplines and the entire school community.''
Preventative interventions should include whole community awareness
campaigns about the nature of bullying and its dangers.\26,49\ Efforts
should also be made to enhance the emotional and organizational
environments in school settings by promoting sensitivity, mutual
respect and tolerance to diversity while prohibiting bullying.\26,49\
Bullying incidents should be reported to ensure a consistent and
organized response, including support of the victim and counseling for
the perpetrator by sensitizing him/her to the harm they have
inflicted.\26,49\ Referral to appropriate health services will be
required to alleviate the physical and emotional consequences of
bullying, as well as to help those who continue bullying behavior in
spite of organizational counseling.\26,49\ The efficacy of this public
health approach should be monitored by a periodic assessment of the
prevalence of bullying-related morbidity and mortality.\26,49\
Children's National and its anti-bullying prevention
efforts
Children's National Medical Center, a 283 bed not-for-profit
academic medical center in Washington, DC, has provided hope to sick
children and their families throughout the metropolitan region for
nearly 140 years. The mission of Children's National is to improve
health outcomes for children regionally, nationally and
internationally; to be a leader in creating innovative solutions to
pediatric healthcare problems; and to excel in care, advocacy, research
and education to meet the unique needs of children, adolescents and
their families. Children's National is ranked among the best pediatric
hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report and the Leapfrog
Group. It is a Magnet recognized pediatric hospital, one of a handful
of elite healthcare facilities nationwide.
For the past several years, Children's National has supported
efforts to prevent bullying and its related health risks, through
clinical, research and advocacy activities. This work has led to the
development of a Coalition for the Prevention of Bullying,\50\ which
was conceived as a volunteer partnership of representatives of
different community sectors. The main objectives of this initiative
were to 1) promote awareness about the nature and toxicity of bullying;
and 2) advocate for the implementation of strategies and policies for a
whole-community approach to the prevention of bullying.
The Clinic for Health Problems Related to Bullying\51\ at
Children's National Medical Center provides psychiatric evaluation and
treatment of children and adolescents who participate in bullying as
bullies and/or victims, and who experience frequent physical and
emotional symptoms or educational problems. The goal of this clinic is
to provide a stabilization of impulsivity and mood difficulties that
may lead to bullying others, as well as provide treatment for physical
and emotional consequences of being bullied.
In 2008, Dr. Srabstein testified\52\ before the Maryland General
Assembly in support of House Bill 199, which added terms ``bullying''
and ``cyber-bullying'' into statute concerning policies to report
harassment. The bill also required schools to establish policies for
the prevention of bullying. The bill was enacted into law in 2008.
In addition to his legislative advocacy, Dr. Srabstein participated
in an ad-hoc working group providing support to the Maryland State
Department of Education in the development of a Model Bullying
Prevention Policy.\53\
Children's National has supported the development of symposiums\54-
64\ and the publication of research studies\16,18,25,26,27,45,49\ to
raise international awareness about the significant health problems
associated with bullying along the lifespan. In a recent editorial
published by the World Health Organization Bulletin, Drs. Srabstein\67\
and Leventhal\68\ have highlighted the global public health
significance of bullying with an international call for the development
of public health policies.\26\
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______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Ms. Paris.
STATEMENT OF BARBARA-JANE PARIS, PRINCIPAL,
CANYON VISTA MIDDLE SCHOOL
Ms. Paris. Good morning. Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking
Member Platts, members of the committee, thank you for having
me here today. I am currently a principal in Austin, Texas. I
have 1,200 middle school students of whom approximately 40
percent are minority students. I am fortunate it is a highly
successful school, we have the highest ranking exemplary in the
State of Texas, and we are very proud of that. However, what
brings me here today is not something we are terribly proud of,
cyber-bullying is one of those issues that transcends
everything else in education. We can sit all day long and talk
about dropout rates, standardized achievement, college
readiness, but this particular thing transcends all of those
things. Because if a child doesn't feel safe at school, all of
those other issues are non starters.
I am also here on behalf of the National Association of
Secondary School Principals, they are the preeminent
organization for principals and their purpose is to be a voice
for middle and high school principals. I am also a volunteer
for bullypolice.usa, and you will know why in a second.
Basically I am here to be a voice to those people who can't
be a voice for themselves, the students who are too
disempowered by cyber-bullying and several of whom have gone on
to commit suicide, so I am here to be a voice for them, and for
the principals that serve them in our public schools every day.
Our challenge, and it is yours and mine, is to protect them
against the risks from that technology, while still protecting
their First Amendment rights and allow them to use technology
as a legitimate tool. And there is a preconceived notion in
education that this is a State issue and not a Federal issue.
But I would say to you today the same thing I tell my staff on
a daily basis, where we put our time and our money sends a
clear message to our community and our stakeholders about what
we value, and we need your help at the Federal level.
Here is how this happened, a few years ago, a high school
principal in east Texas and I had a student come to me and tell
me, this student is going to kill herself over cyber-bullying,
do something, Ms. Paris. And I said, I shall. And I thought,
what am I going to do? I was clueless, I was powerless. I was
not a new principal, I had been in administration for several
years, but I did not have the tools to know where to go next.
All I could tell this child was, I will do something. If it
hadn't been for the research of Parry Aftab, who is a fellow
speaker here today, and she did not know I was going to say
that. I did some research and she helped me, her work helped me
immensely. It gave me practical tools to have the bashing sites
shut down and moved.
It gave me legitimate ways of working with fellow
administrators. And then I took that work on the road because
my mission then became I don't want another principal ever to
have that situation in their school. It is a powerlessness and
we need your help to take it away. What we really need is some
backbone. We need courage. We need somebody who is behind us
when we say, knock it off, it is not okay to behave that way in
the culture that we have developed in our campus. We need
backing to say that when parents come to us and say First
Amendment right to free speech. We need your help with those
issues.
Here is why, it took me years and a huge amount of time to
come up with systems to train other principals. And the truth
is the campus administrators says it is not our focus, we are
supposed to be instructional leaders. If we are going to have
the time to focus on those things that we value, then we need
systems in place that deal with issues such as cyber-bullying
because it will suck your time dry.
I later had a situation where the police department in
Austin had to shut my campus down because of Internet threats
that had been sent out on an e-mail. If you can imagine that
disrupts the learning environment and the educational process,
imagine how those parents felt in my community? So it is
interfering with learning.
What I found out was that 13 million students were being
cyber-bullied 5 years ago in middle school, and those students
were dying. Dr. Phil had already mentioned several, and Mr.
Platts, you did too, you mentioned high profile cases. But what
I found were stories about Matt Efron and Jared High and Carl
Hoover and Kelly and Jeff. Here is something Jeff's mom told us
in the book Bully Side. ``The bully murdered my son using the
keyboard as his weapon, just as surely if had he crawled
through a broken window and choked the life from him with his
bare hands. It was a not a death that was quick and merciful.
It was a death that was full it was slow and torturous carried
out day after day with lies and rumors and gossip.''
In 2008, GLSEN worked with NASSP and they found that two-
thirds of principals coast to coast are very desperate for help
in developing professional development to deal with these
issues. I would venture to say that 2 years later, if you were
to go back and ask the other third, they would say put my down
for that too.
There is this huge disparity between knowledge and wisdom
on the Internet. Mr. Platts, your son is sitting behind you
now, I venture to say if he were like my child, he would
probably text his friends a thousand times since we had been
sitting there. It is inherent to our culture and their age
group.
Mr. Platts. He would like, to, but my 6th grader and 8th
grader don't yet have their own cell phones.
Ms. Paris. That is what you think.
Mr. Platts. We are holding out.
Ms. Paris. And this disparity, bear in mind, technology is
everything that was invented after I was born and frankly that
include the 8 track. So I don't have--I mean, that is the
truth. I don't have that knowledge, but the point is the kids
have the knowledge, but we are the ones with the wisdom. They
don't have the wisdom to know how to navigate that technology
in a safe and meaningful way in and out of a school
environment. If we as the responsible adults in their world
don't share that wisdom in a structured and strategic way, then
we are letting them down, we are not going to be able to
educate them. These kids are so desperate to belong to
something that good kids are posing naked and sending
photographs to their selected peer group, and we all know how
that turns out for them, don't we?
As a member of National Safe Schools Partnership, NASSP has
endorsed the policy recommendations to prevent bullying and
that is embodied in your Safe Schools Improvement Act, which
would amend the safe and drug free school so that this work is
eligible for Federal grants. The programs that I promote and
have principals implement coast to coast are not funded. These
are unfunded BJ Paris mandates. We do this because it is a good
thing, we need your help with that.
We have to break that code of silence. In 84 percent of
school shootings that are related to bullying, the student told
somebody first. We have to have systems in place that enable
students to speak up on behalf of their peer group.
My mother always told me don't speak unless you have
something to add to the silence. I would like to think that
today the stories that we share help fill the silence in a way
that will make sure that no other names get added to the list
that I shared with you today.
We appreciate your time and your support and make ourselves
available to you as a resource at any opportunity. Thank you
for your time.
[The statement of Ms. Paris follows:]
Prepared Statement of Barbara-Jane ``BJ'' Paris, Board of Directors,
National Association of Secondary School Principals
Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking Member Platts, and members of the
subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to speak on the issue of
cyberbullying and its effect on student achievement. My name is BJ
Paris, and I am the principal of Canyon Vista Middle School in Austin,
TX, where I have served for 3 years. Of my 30 years in education in
three countries, I have spent the last 10 in administration.
Our school serves more than 1,100 students, representing more than
20 countries, in grades 6--8. A small percentage of our students are
eligible for free and reduced-price meals, but more than 10% are
considered at risk. Thirty-five percent of our students are Asian/
Pacific Islander, 6% are Hispanic, and 1.7% are Black. Our scores for
the 2008--09 school year were excellent in reading, math, social
studies, and science, and Canyon Vista has received an exemplary rating
by the Texas Education Agency.
The Round Rock School District, where my school is located, covers
approximately 110 square miles that encompass high-tech manufacturing
and urban retail centers, suburban neighborhoods, and farms and
ranches. Our district consists of 30 elementary schools, 9 middle
schools, 4 high schools, a ninth-grade center, and 2 alternative
learning centers.
Today, I am also appearing on behalf of the National Association of
Secondary School Principals, where I will begin a four-year term on the
board of directors in July. In existence since 1916, NASSP is the
preeminent organization of and national voice for middle level and high
school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders
from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the
world. Our mission is to promote excellence in middle level and high
school leadership.
NASSP
NASSP has a long history of supporting the personalization of the
school environment as a condition for student engagement and
achievement. In 1996, we published Breaking Ranks: Changing an American
Institution in which we called for sweeping change in schools.
Recommendations from that and later Breaking Ranks publications focus
on areas that the school principal can influence directly. NASSP
believes that ensuring student safety is the highest priority in
schools because no learning can take place without it. Because of these
foundational beliefs, we have been a strong and ongoing advocate of all
efforts to promote a safe and orderly learning environment.
In 2000, as a direct result of these beliefs, NASSP hired Bill Bond
to be the NASSP Specialist for School Safety. Before coming to NASSP,
Mr. Bond served as principal of Heath High School in West Paducah, KY,
where on December 1, 1997, incidents of bullying led to a tragic school
shooting at the school. This shooting, along with others across the
nation, has precipitated Bond's involvement in safe school awareness,
and since joining NASSP, Bond has been a resource for schools and
principals' organizations across the nation. As you well know, however,
bullying no longer requires face-to-face interaction--the Internet and
the ever-expanding use of electronic communications and social
networking Web sites have taken bullying to another level. For the past
five years, Mr. Bond and I have traveled the country working with
school officials and other stakeholders to minimize the impact of
cyberbullying. The school leader's persistent challenge is to protect
students against online predators and prevent cyberbullying while
safeguarding students' First Amendment rights and encouraging the use
of the Internet as a legitimate educational tool. Sadly this need to
protect students has too often resulted in avoiding the same high-tech
tools with which students must be familiar to be competitive in the
workplace or to succeed in postsecondary education after graduating
from high school.
To help meet this challenge, in 2007 the NASSP Board of Directors
adopted a position statement on Internet safety that states that
``Internet service providers and social networking Web sites have an
obligation to offer their clients safeguards against predators and
other cyber criminals.'' But this in itself is not enough; the position
statement also encourages schools to ``formulate clear guidelines to
protect students and teachers against cyber bullying and other criminal
activities.''
Personal Testimony
As a high school principal five years ago in east Texas, I had a
student who became suicidal after a cyberbullying incident, and I had
no idea what my responsibilities, options, limitations were to deal
with it. I knew I could not take the easy way out and pretend it was
not my problem because the bullying hadn't taken place on school
property or during school hours. I vowed to find out everything I could
about cyberbullying so that I could limit its impact on other students
in the future. Among other things that dragged me into the
technological world, I learned to block certain Web sites at the school
and began looking at best practices around the country. This was how I
first learned of the work of Parry Aftab, my fellow panelist here today
and Bully Police USA, a watchdog organization that advocates on behalf
of bullied children and reports on state antibullying laws. Bully
Police USA was instrumental in providing me with strategies for
navigating the inherent problems of cyberspace in our schools. I began
working with the Texas affiliate as a volunteer and also became friends
with the organization's founder, Brenda High. A year later, my first as
a middle school principal, my campus was locked down by police because
of threats made in an off-campus e-mail. Once again, I vowed to learn
more and share my experience with other principals so that they would
not find themselves feeling powerless at a critical time. More
importantly, I hoped that by sharing what I knew were the pitfalls and
outcomes of cyberbullying, I could educate school personnel about how
to develop preventative systems so that they might never be faced with
similar situations.
I regularly speak to principals across the country about
cyberbullying and offer recommendations for those schools and districts
that do not currently have policies in place. I have also become an
advocate at the state level, testifying in Austin before the state
legislature with my students in support of legislation that would
empower campus leaders to develop systems for dealing with
cyberbullying in their communities and to provide professional
development for all educators.
Research
Cyberbullying has gained national attention with a number of high-
profile incidents in Massachusetts and Missouri. In 2006, more than 13
million children and adolescents ages 6-17 were estimated to be victims
of cyberbullying, with a majority of these incidents occurring at the
middle school level. In a September 2008 column in the NASSP
publication Principal Leadership, Ted Feinburg, the assistant executive
director of the National Association of School Psychologists, and
Nicole Robey, a school psychology intern, wrote that victims of
cyberbullying ``suffer equal if not greater psychological harm because
the hurtful information can be transmitted broadly and instantaneously
and can be difficult to eliminate. Aggressors can remain anonymous and
are hard to stop. Not knowing who an aggressor is can cause adolescents
to be hypervigilant in terms of surveying their social environment,
both cyber and real, to avoid harmful encounters. Cyberbullying also
may be worse than face-to-face bullying because people feel shielded
from the consequences of their actions and often do or say things
online that they would not in person. In some cases, cyberbullying can
lead to severe dysfunction, externalized violence, and suicide.''
In 2008, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN),
in collaboration with NASSP, published The Principal's Perspective:
School Safety, Bullying and Harassment. The survey explored the
perspectives of elementary and secondary public school principals on
student bullying and harassment and on the policies, programs, and
training that principals have instituted in their schools to address
these issues. Some pertinent findings of the report include that:
Half of public school principals (49%) report that
bullying, name calling, or harassment of students is a serious problem
at their school
Bullying or harassment is a particularly prominent problem
at the junior high or middle school level
Most principals speak to the perpetrator and the victim
when incidents of harassment are reported to them, but few believe that
the majority of bullying or harassment incidents come to their
attention.
One question specifically asked principals how often their students
engage in cyberbullying or harassment--that is, bullying or harassing
others using text messaging, e-mail, instant messaging, Web sites,
blogs, social networking sites, and so forth. The report explains that
``technological advances have opened up new frontiers for harassment.
Both teachers and principals are at a disadvantage in being able to
observe many types of cyberbullying. * * * When asked about the extent
of this type of activity, most principals (72%) report that students at
their school engage in cyberbullying to some extent. However few (8%)
believe that students frequently engage in this behavior.'' Incidents
of cyberbullying increased as students aged: ``20% of secondary school
principals reported that their students frequently engage in
cyberbullying compared with only 1% of elementary school principals.
Younger principals (under 45) were also more likely to report that
cyberbullying frequently occurs at their school (12% vs. 6% of those 45
years or older). Also, principals of suburban schools are more likely
to report that cyberbullying ever occurs at their schools (81%) than
principals of urban (66%) or rural (68%) schools.''
The report also speaks to the need for additional professional
development to prevent bullying and harassment from occurring:
``Bullying and harassment intervention and prevention is an area in
which a majority of principals indicate their school currently provides
professional development. Yet, despite this fact, principals are most
likely to indicate that this is the non-academic area in which the
staff at their school needs support or training, as 62% believe that
their staff needs the most support or training in this area.''
Recommendations
On the basis of my personal philosophy and experiences with
cyberbullying, I offer the following recommendations to guide schools
in developing their policies on cyberbullying to create a positive,
supportive environment that promotes the academic growth and personal
development of every student at the school.
School leaders must:
Understand that cyberbullying is an aggressive and
prevalent threat to the learning environment and that even if it did
not happen at school or on a school computer, it can directly affect
the educational process and the school environment and must be taken
seriously
Familiarize themselves and their staff members about all
aspects of technology, including cell phones, computers, the Internet,
blogs, instant messaging, and social networking Web sites as well as
the legal and liability issues associated with the use of these
technologies
Create a team composed of staff members, parents, and
students to establish guiding principles for the acceptable use of
technology at school, when completing assignments and related
activities, and during events taking place off-campus
Provide staff members with professional development on how
to ensure student safety while using technology as an educational tool,
including recognizing the signs and possible effects of cyberbullying
Formulate clear policies that protect students and
teachers from cyberbullying and other criminal activities that are
related to technology; ensure that students and parents are aware of
these policies and the penalties for abusing them
Instruct all students on the safe use of technology and
the impact of cyberbullying and how to recognize and report it when it
occurs
Create user-friendly procedures to encourage students to
report cyberbullying when it happens to them or to others
Conduct orientation sessions for parents about
cyberbullying and include information on how they can reinforce safety
guidelines and monitor technology use at home and set the expectation
that no derogatory statements will be sent or posted about other
students or staff members.
A recurring theme in these recommendations is the need for both
students and educators to recognize and act to limit cyberbullying.
Recognizing students' reluctance to report on classmates, our school
acquired an anonymous messaging system--supported with Safe and Drug-
Free Schools funding--that allows students to report incidences of
bullying without having to identify themselves. This system has
contributed greatly to a 70% reduction in students' belief that
bullying is a problem at Canyon Vista Middle School.
Fundamentally, school policies must acknowledge the disparity
between students' knowledge of technology and their wisdom to manage it
effectively. Students, many of whom have remarkable technology
knowledge, are so desperate to belong to something that they'll post
naked photographs of themselves to a trusted few on the Internet.
Education for today's world must help students develop that wisdom so
they can recognize and navigate around the dangers of electronic media
while also using it for its maximum benefit.
As a member of the National Safe Schools Partnership, NASSP has
endorsed federal policy recommendations to prevent bullying and
harassment in our nation's schools, which will have a dramatic impact
in improving school safety and, correspondingly, student achievement
for all students. Specifically, our coalition of national education,
health care, civil rights, law enforcement, youth development, and
other organizations call on Congress to ensure that:
1. Schools and districts have comprehensive and effective student
conduct policies that include clear prohibitions regarding bullying and
harassment
2. Schools and districts focus on effective prevention strategies
and professional development designed to help school personnel
meaningfully address issues associated with bullying and harassment
3. States and districts maintain and report data regarding
incidents of bullying and harassment to inform the development of
effective federal, state, and local policies that address these issues.
Our recommendations are embodied in the Safe Schools Improvement
Act (H.R. 2262), which would amend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools
program so that antibullying and harassment programs are eligible for
federal grants. The legislation is championed by many members of the
subcommittee, and NASSP hopes that it will be enacted into law as part
of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
We also understand, Madame Chairwoman, that you will soon be
reintroducing the Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act.
NASSP was very supportive of a provision in the SAVE Act that would
have expanded the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant program to allow
schools to administer a schoolwide climate survey of students, parents,
and school personnel. The climate survey would have measured the degree
to which collaborative leadership and a professional learning community
exist; the personalization of the school environment; and the strength
of the curriculum, instruction, and assessment--factors that we believe
will lead to student achievement, as outlined in our Breaking Ranks
publications.
Conclusion
Our students are using ever-changing technology more than ever, and
for most of them, the Internet is not simply an after-school activity
or a quick and convenient way to research a school assignment--it is a
major part of their social life. Texts, instant messages, e-mail, and
social networking are as common to them as using the telephone is to
most adults. And in this cyberworld, just as in the face-to-face world,
bullying and harassment does happen.
Children in the United States do not have a choice about whether
they come to school. It is the law, and if we are going to require them
to be there, then we have the moral imperative to ensure that they are
in a safe, secure, and productive environment that protects them
against all forms of bullying and harassment. If we, the responsible
adults, do not purposefully define the culture of our schools, our
students will do it for us. How we interact and communicate with one
another--whether by oral, written, or electronic means--help define the
school culture. As school leaders, we must ensure that every student
entrusted in our care is in an environment that promotes safety and
security; therefore, we must do everything possible to eliminate all
forms of cyberbullying and harassment and to minimize their impact on
student achievement should they occur.
Madam Chairwoman, this concludes my prepared testimony, but I would
be happy to answer any questions you or the other committee members may
have.
Thank you again for this opportunity.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you. Ms. Aftab.
STATEMENT OF PARRY AFTAB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WIREDSAFETY
Ms. Aftab. I would like to thank Chairwoman McCarthy and
the Ranking Member Platts and the rest of the subcommittee, and
frankly, the entire committee. It is a very incestuous issue,
cyber-bullying. Ms. Paris indicated that she came to us for
help, the medical center that the doctor works at had come to
us for help. I wrote LMK for the Girl Scouts, and Dr. Phil's
offices call mine all the time. And Build A Bear cares a great
deal and have come to us.
If you look at this, you recognize that there are 6 degrees
of separation from everyone who cares about cyber-bullying. I
am a cyber-bullying expert, not a bullying one, and there is a
difference. I would caution people to stop thinking of bullying
and cyber-bullying as only the difference in the technologies
that they use. We find that different kids will cyber-bully
than others. I always say the girls and the geeks are empowered
by technology, often they will take on the most popular kids in
school.
I will share something I hadn't put in my testimony. I was
called by one of the top medical centers that deals with
children who are very seriously physically challenged. I am in
a different place every day. I donate my time to running
WiredSafety and fund it largely from my pocket. I got the phone
call and they said we have a serious problem here at the
medical center with all of these children and cyber-bullying
and I cancelled my speaking engagement. I got in my car and
drove far faster than I can put in testimony here before you
today.
While I drove up into the school, I said I want to talk to
the students. I drove up and I walked in and I was late as
usual. They handed me a microphone and in front of me was a
room full of children who were typing with a device in their
teeth who had breathing apparatus, who couldn't walk, many of
them couldn't talk, many couldn't see. And I stood up and I
said I am so angry that this has happened to you. I am so angry
that people are taking the one technology that gives you access
to the world, the one road without ramps and they are doing
this and hurting you.
And the head of the medical center and she tapped me on the
shoulder and she said, Parry, um, they aren't being cyber-
bullied they are cyber-bullying others. And I know you are not
supposed to cheer with this, but you need to recognize that you
never really truly know who is on the other side of the device.
It is not just Internet, it is not just the social networks, it
is not just Flickr and not just handheld gaming devices where
kids are now insulting each other on PictoChat through DS. It
is not just the Xboxes and Playstations of the world where the
kids are game bullying. It is not just the cell phones, where
they are saying terrible things to each other. Actually there
are 67 different way the teens who work for me who model the
Girl Scouts, my guess is we can get some answers here as well--
67 different ways you can use the cell phone to cyber-harass
and cyber-bully someone. The kids they are very inventive. If
they spent as much time studying as they did finding ways to
torment each other, we could all go home.
I agreed to cancel a major event that I was doing with
Build a Bear for mommy bloggers to be here today. One of the
reasons was because of a very strong bipartisanship of the
leadership of this particular subcommittee. You do things, you
don't just talk. I don't have time for people who just talk. We
have to find ways of doing it.
So how do we do that, we reach out to everyone. We reach
out to the Dr. Phils of the world, we get Diane Sawyer to do a
town meeting on sexting on Good Morning America, first time
ever in the morning. And every time Matt Lauer or Meredith have
a question about cyber-bullying you make sure you are in studio
no matter where you started out the day before.
As we look at this, there are other cyber safety experts in
the world, and many of them say it is not so bad. I think many
of those are not in the trenches. You don't have to ask me how
bad it is, you have someone who's involved in a middle school
to tell you how bad it is. I spoke to 44,0000 middle schoolers
across the United States a couple of years ago and asked if
they had ever been cyber bullied, not that way. It all depends
on definition, you lay out the things that constitute cyber-
bullying.
Has anyone ever taken a picture of you and put your head on
someone's naked body, or took a real one of you and passed it
out? Told your secrets, gone in, done something terrible on
your social networking page, and changed your password so you
can't change it back. Do they take your cell phone that was out
on a counter unattended and send terrible things to your
friends that you are going to get blamed. The answers go on and
on as to what constitutes cyber-bullying. The answer is
generally minor to minor, using technology as a weapon to hurt
another.
What do we do? We need help, nobody has any money, I work
for free, I think a lot of others do as well. Unfunded programs
in Texas. The good thing is we share. In the olden days, if you
wanted to bake a cake, you would ask somebody to bring some
flour, and someone else to bring some eggs, and someone else to
bring sugar. At the end, everybody got a few pieces to take
home. That is what we have to do here. The proposals on the
Hill look at funding these issues, but I don't need funding
right now, I just need partners.
So when the Girl Scouts said we want to do something, I
said tell me how fast we can. Two and a half million girls are
now change agents. It started with my Teen Angels program. And
Ranking Member Platts, I want your son in my Tween Angels
program. Tell him we will be advising Toys R Us and Nintendo my
guess is he might join us. We need to get out and do this.
The industry, and today I am not speaking as the head of
Wired Safety, the oldest and largest cyber safety charity or an
advisor to the industry, today I am going to tell you that in
addition to all of the bad news we have been taking about,
about cyber-bullying and how much it is out there and how often
it hurts our children and how the technologies are affected,
there is a lot of good news too. Good news you are seeing and
hearing here, attention being paid to it, and Dr. Phil's shows
and others, from Build A Bear, and I am not going to steal
Dave's thunder, from schools and teachers and school
administrators who care so much, and mental health experts and
young people. But you have MTV's, a Thin Line. I got a phone
call a year and a half ago from head of public affairs, he said
we want to do something like Rock the Vote, but we want to rock
the world on what is happening with kids on digital abuse, they
created something that will live on long beyond what we started
designing.
You have Microsoft that paid for the LMK program, and so
many others. You have Disney that started in cyber safety in
1997 when they first called and I even did a designing spaces
for them on how to design a safer room for kids in cyber
technology. You have Facebook that just put five people on the
safety advisory board, I am one of them. And you have the
OSTWG, all of these things that are happening. The industry is
behind this, and all of them want to be there. Why? Because
they are parents, because they have customers, because they
have people who they care about, because they have an
obligation to create safer communities, safer networks, they
are creating new technologies, they are branding themselves
with best practices seals, they are saying we have employees,
come in and talk to 5,000 of our employees about these things.
IBM commissioned Ceridian to put it out to all of their
employees, and we put together some podcasts and videos.
Industry already has stores, industry already has
employees, they have distribution arms and communication
networks, and they are very happy to share them for free. And
they now understand that being safe for kids is good for
business. So as we look at this, we need to include them,
because sometimes they are the only place where money exists,
and even if they don't have money, they have got in-kind
expertise that they are happy to share. We need to recognize
there are a lot of bad things industry does, but in this case,
I have seen a lot more good than bad. I am here to answer any
questions I can and help in any way I can. And thank you so
much for inviting me to speak.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Aftab follows:]
Prepared Statement of Parry Aftab, Esq., the Kids Internet Lawyer,
Author, and Child Protection and Cybersafety Advocate
Cybersafety involves protecting ourselves, our children, our
community and our networks. When minors are involved the programs and
messages have to be relevant, involve young people in their framing and
be quick and easy for parents. Schools often find themselves in the
crossfire, especially when cyberbullying among students or sexting
images arise. At the same time, the power of digital networks and
interactive technology to spur creative educational methods and engage
students, parents and educators in forward-thinking ways means we can't
sink our heads in the sand and have to find a way to balance the
benefits while containing the risks.
If we view cybersafety as a risk-management issue, it is often
easier to tackle. It includes copyright infringement and plagiarism,
responsible use, information literacy, digital literacy and digital
hygiene, privacy, security, misinformation and hype, sexual
exploitation (including the rapid growth of sexting), cyberbullying, ID
theft and inappropriate, violent and sexual content. While my books and
non-profit role, as Executive Director and Founder of WiredSafety.org,
span all risks for consumers and families online, my particular passion
is the prevention and ways to address cyberbullying. I created
StopCyberbullying.org to help parents, schools, students, law
enforcement and all stakeholders address the growing problem of
children hurting each other online.
To address cyberbullying adequately, in addition to understanding
the stakeholder perspectives, we have to develop educational programs
and materials, awareness of the issue and help for victims and their
families. We have to focus on character education, role modeling good
behaviors for our children and ways to get everyone involved and
informed.
We also have to make it easier to understand the scope of the risks
and solutions to those risks. When it comes to addressing a big problem
from multiple perspectives, industry's involvement is crucial and
welcome. Over the years the Internet, technology and offline trusted
family brands have stepped up to the plate to help design programs,
materials and resources, provide expertise and distribute them to their
communities online and offline. Their approaches are as varied as their
businesses. And our children are safer and our parents better informed
because of their involvement.
Offline and online resources and intervention points tying the
schools together with industry and community organizations, as well as
the families they serve, must be developed and adopted. We need a
cybersafety ecosystem that addresses the most common as well as the
most serious risks, and we can continue to look to the technology,
entertainment, device and software manufacturers, service providers and
Internet industry as advisors for their valuable help.3
Defining the cyberbullying problem
We can't address a problem until it is defined. While there are
several attempts to define ``cyberbullying'' as more than ``you'll know
it when you see it,'' WiredSafety defines it as when minors use digital
technology as a weapon to hurt another minor. We have been doing this
since 1995, longer than any other group, and find that this definition
is practical, realistic, and separates adult cyberharassment from
minor-to-minor attacks. To meet WiredSafety's definition of
cyberbullying, the actions must be intentional, minor-to-minor and must
use some type of digital technology (cell phones, Internet, social
networks, gaming devices, IM, email, images, YouTube, virtual worlds/
games, etc.). The actions can range from a one-time serious threat to
repeated and unwanted insults, can be conducted as direct one-to-one
attacks (direct cyberbullying), postings intended to be viewed by many
(indirect cyberbullying) or schemes designed to set up the victim and
have someone else do their dirty work (parents when the text bill
arrives, Facebook when false reports are made to them, etc.).
Cyberbullying is growing in epidemic proportions- just ask any
middle school teacher, counselor or principal. Over the last two years
the number of kids experiencing cyberbullying has increased by more
than 30% with attacks becoming increasingly more hateful and vicious.
It is also starting earlier and earlier as first and second graders are
getting online and stealing virtual world and online games points and
passwords from their friends and classmates. However, children's'
motives and methods change as they get older and often by gender. Boys
tend to use technology tools and infiltrate accounts (hack) or threaten
their targets, while girls tend to use social exclusion and
reputational attacks. Unlike in face-to-face bullying, size and gender
are often irrelevant: girls cyberbully boys, boys cyberbully girls,
smaller kids cyberbully the big tough ones. Technology levels all
playing fields. As a result, the only way to tackle the problem of
cyberbullying is to combine all stakeholders and to be as inventive as
children who cyberbully. In short, we need to find what works and seek
solutions everywhere, from everyone. We have to think outside of the
box.
Educating students to stop cyberbullying
Industry has an important stake in both keeping children and teens
safe online and educating parents and their communities. Fortunately,
leaders and newcomers alike are interested, involved and generous in
sharing their expertise, funding and access. I founded and run
WiredSafety, a charity that began its work in 1995 through its unpaid
and loosely-organized volunteers by rating websites and helping victims
of cyberabuse and cybercrime online; in 15 years there is little we
haven't encountered, but cyberbullying and cyberharassment prevention
and help is one of our core missions. When I wrote
StopCyberbullying.org several years ago as a joint project with
WiredSafety, it quickly became the most popular cyberbullying awareness
site online. Families, schools and communities needed help grappling
with this growing problem, and StopCyberbullying.org delivered what
they needed.
This September, WiredSafety and I will release the
StopCyberbullying Toolkit I authored in time to help students and
educators headed back-to-school. The Toolkit contains $1 million worth
of animations, computer games, lesson plans and classroom activities,
videos, posters, coloring sheets and worksheets, guides, tip lists and
community campaigns for educators, parents, school administrators,
guidance counselors, school resource officers and community policing
agents, parent teacher organizations and K-12 students. It is a single
free downloadable resource for US schools that can be customized to
address local and regional concerns and students with special needs.
How can a million dollar resource be developed and distributed for free
without government funding? We turned to the industry for help and they
responded in droves.
I have attached information about cyberbullying, how it works and
ways to address it in the Appendix, along with my one-page bio.4
Microsoft, Facebook, MySpace and LG Phones joined as platinum
sponsors. AOL, Procter & Gamble, Spectorsoft, myYearbook, KidZui,
Build-A-Bear Workshop and others also joined as sponsors. The Girl
Scouts of the USA, National Crime Prevention Council, ADL, Rachel
Simmons, Michele Borba, Bonnie Bracey, Art Wolinsky, Dr. Deanna Guy,
Dr. Tom Biller, Teenangels and Tweenangels, Cynthia Logan, Debbie
Johnston, Chris Hansen, XBox, Disney, WebKinz, Zynga, Yahoo!,
Nickelodeon, MTV, Pantilla Amiga, Adobe, Unity, Pace University,
McAfee, Verizon, Nokia, MiniClip, Candystand (FunTank), Dolphin
Entertainment, Hearst, Conde Nast, Seventeen Magazine, ToysRUs, Readers
Digest, People Magazine, YouSendIt, the Child Safety Research and
Innovation Center, WiredTrust, Marvel and vast numbers of others
contributing expertise, support and in-kind to help create and
distribute this multi-stakeholder resource with the best available
content and activities available.
The charity I run in volunteer-capacity, WiredSafety, also works to
bring together all stakeholders through summits, conferences and events
sponsored by industry leaders. The first International Stop
Cyberbullying Summit was hosted by WiredSafety in 2008 and Verizon's
Chairman and CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, delivered the luncheon speech to
explain how committed Verizon is to stopping cyberbullying. Since then,
they have been important leaders in the industry and brought together
other stakeholders to help address the problem. LG Phone and Nokia are
becoming engaged in cybersafety messaging and educating the parents who
buy their products for their children.
Many other industry players have joined forced with us as well as
worked on their own to create programs and raise awareness about
cyberbullying. For example:
Facebook is developing a cyberbullying and harassment page
in its safety section to teach parents, teens and users of all ages how
to avoid becoming a victim of cyberbullying or being seen as a
cyberbully. They have revised their privacy settings to help keep
cyberbullies from abusing users' information and posing as them. (The
more a network authenticates a user, the less likely cyberbullying can
gain ground.) Recently, Facebook partnered with the National Parent
Teacher Association to help deliver cyberbullying and other programs to
parents at the local level and share wonderful resources and
information from the National PTA with others on Facebook. They have
also committed the help of their five chosen safety advisory board
members (including WiredSafety).
McAfee partnered with Facebook to provide free long-term
trial security software products to all Facebook users. By using a good
security product, cyberbullies can be locked out of computers, devices
and accounts.
ToysRUs is partnering with me and WiredSafety's
Tweenangels, WiredMoms to develop information for parents about
different interactive toys and devices and how to make the right choice
for their children. This will involve in-store information, online
tutorials and content, and training and engagement of their employees,
as well as Tweenangel and WiredMoms reviews of their favorite products.
XBox and Microsoft have developed the Pact, a contract for
parents and their children that addresses time spent playing games and
using media and rules. The Pact can be customized for each family and
each child. They have also created an advisory board that includes one
of our Teenangels and me.
MTV's A Thin Line campaign started with a survey on teens
and young adult practices and risks related to sexting and
cyberbullying. A documentary program on the consequences of sexting for
both those taking the nude picture and those forwarding it was
broadcast with a wide viewership. The athinline.org site engages young
people and challenges them to take charge. It informs them what to do
when they encounter cyberbullying, how to respect themselves and others
and how to tell when their actions and those of others have ``crossed
the line.'' They address cyberspying by friends and romantic partners
and the right of privacy.
Seventeen Magazine has announced a large campaign to
activate and empower youth especially girls and young women, to tackle
cyberbullies and step up when they see others being harmed online. I
will be working with them on this campaign, as will my Teenangels
Liz Claiborne expanded its free dating abuse campaign and
curricula to include digital dating abuse, asking me to create that
segment of the curricula (loveisnotabuse.org).
Taser International is creating cybersafety and
cyberbullying training and resources for members of law enforcement
using their certified trainers. They are also helping develop resources
for local law enforcement agencies and community policing agents to use
in delivering programs to their communities on cybersafety and
cyberbullying. Having learned about the concerns parents and the law
enforcement community had addressing distracted driving risks and
cyberbullying and other cell phone-related abuses, Taser developed a
cell phone and in-car technology to prevent driver cell phone and other
distractions and to give parents better control and ability to
supervise their children's cell phone activities, including prohibiting
the sharing of ``sext'' images and receipt of phone calls from
strangers. The two products will be released this year and are part of
a broader campaign to address risks to our families.
Microsoft Window funded a comprehensive cybersafety and
cyberbullying awareness and educational initiative for the Girl Scouts
of the USA entitled ``Let Me Know'' or ``LMK'' developed by me using
our Congressionally-honored Teenangels program as the model. (This is
intended to serve the 2 million plus members of Girl Scouts.)
The gaming companies, such as Lego, FunTank
(Candystand.com), Zynga, Disney, Nickelodeon, and Nintendo are
developing technologies and methods to better protect their users of
all ages. Specifically, Nickelodeon is teaching parents and young users
how to use games and online networks in safer ways and to avoid being
the target of a cyberbully. Zynga (of Farmville and Mafia Wars fame) is
developing safety messaging on game bullying, security and safety with
WiredSafety and with me. Nintendo added parental controls to its DSi to
help parents better address their concerns.
Disney uses its TV programming and product messaging to
teach safer web surfing and cyberbullying prevention, including on its
netbooks and Club Penguin. Disney has created a corps of kids who act
as ``secret agents'' to Club Penguin to spot cyberbullying and other
code of conduct violations in the game. I worked with them on a segment
of HGTV's Designing Spaces where I appeared helping a Florida parent
understand the best way to create a ``cybersafe'' room for her son and
together with Teenangels in 1998 helped design Toowtown's safety
features.
The community approach, where the millions of users are
engaged in looking out for themselves and others, is becoming more
robust and filters adopted by Build-A-Bear Workshop help prevent their
younger users of buildabearville.com from targeting each other. They
partnered with us in StopCyberbullying month last year, offering in-
store materials for parents and pledges for children and added a
``stop, block and tell!'' move in their game to help make cyberbullying
awareness fun. They are founding members of the StopCyberbullying
Coalition and Maxine herself blogs to her millions of fans about what
parents need to know to keep their kids safer.
KidZui is delivering our Sumo-Wrestler Panda Cybersafety
animations, teaching children how to avoid and respond to
cyberbullying.
AOL is heavily involved in supporting mom digital literacy
and awareness and is a sponsor of WiredMoms, WiredSafety's mom group
with more than 70,000 followers on Twitter (@wiredmom and @wiredmoms)
Cisco commissioned us to create cybersafety guides for
kids, tweens, teens and parents for promotion on their sites and other
sites online.
Ceridian and IBM commissioned me to create a tour of the
teens' Internet for parents in video and podcast/audio formats as an
employee benefit for IBM employees worldwide and US military families.
Microsoft sponsored the development of the Alex Wonder Kid
CyberDetective Agency Bootcamp Computer Game, teaching tweens how to
identify and address cyberbullying as well as our first Marvel Internet
Superheroes Comic on cyberbullying.
In 2004, Marvel donated an exclusive license to use
Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk and others in their Superhero studio in
comics offering cybersafety, security and digital technology-related
issues.
Adobe donates expertise to us on special-needs
accessibility to allow for adaptation of cybersafety materials and
resources for the families of special-needs children and the children
themselves.
Google and Yahoo! support public service messaging and
search promotions to select Internet child safety advocacy groups.
Oracle operates Think.com, a popular educational resource
for educators on digital use and empowerment.
Socially safety
Finally, many general audience industry leaders have started to
provide cyberbullying training for their moderators and address
cyberbullying risks through programs and policies. In the case of those
sites designed exclusively as tween and preteen networks, in addition
to complying with COPPA, many are delivering materials to parents and
schools, as well as resources directed to their preteen audiences. The
Socially Safe Best Practice Seal and the Socially Safe Kids Seal are
providing a framework for safety, best practices and risk-management to
the Internet, online game and digital technology provider industries.
In addition we are delivering training and certification programs for
moderators and, together with privacy and security think tank experts,
will launch Pathway, a screening and moderation technology for use by
networks, game sites and technology providers to help monitor their
services and deliver a safer environment and experience. These steps go
a long way to help professionalize Internet safety and best practices.
This new approach of branding safety and best practices works
because, in addition to being good for communities, families and
schools, keeping all users, especially children safer is also good for
business. Trusted brand names and responsible newer companies recognize
these opportunities and their responsibilities to their customers,
users and the community. A representative of Google, while speaking at
one of our StopCyberbullying Coalition events, stated that creating
safer networks is ``an issue of competition.'' If your competitors are
helping make things safer, you have to as well. That was welcomed news.
But while it may be a competitive advantage to make your networks and
technologies safer, it also makes sense to join forces with and
cooperate with your competition and all industry players to create
safer online environments and better prepared young people and parents.
An example on how they are working together for the good of all
Internet and digital technology users is our StopCyberbullying
Coalition. The StopCyberbullying Coalition is a multi-stakeholder group
organized by WiredSafety and run by me to bring together all viewpoints
and expertise to tackle this growing problem from all perspectives.
Without the creativity, access, distribution channels and support of
the above-mentioned companies and many more, non-profits, schools and
families would not have the help they need to address cyberbullying,
cyberhate and the harassment of minors in the digital world.
Conclusion
Thank you for including my testimony on this critically important
issue for our nations' youth. Cyberbullying is reaching epidemic
proportions, touching kids at every age and grade level. Thankfully
many within industry, schools and communities have begun to answer the
call to provide training programs, materials, and educational efforts
to ``Stop Cyberbullying''. I stand ready to answer any questions the
Subcommittee may have and provide additional information and offer the
support of both WiredSafety and its thousands of volunteers.
APPENDIX TO TESTIMONY OF PARRY AFTAB, ESQ.
Snapshot of U.S. minors online and cyberbullying
It is estimated that approximately 93% of minors in the Unites
States 10 and older access the Internet either from home, schools,
community centers and libraries or from some newer Internet-capable
device. This is up more than fifteen-fold since 1996, when only 6
million U.S. minors were online. Now our children are using cell phones
with video and camera features as well as Internet and text-capability,
iTouches and iPads with cell phone-like features, interactive gaming
devices (such as XBox and Sony Playstation 3) with voice-over-Internet,
webcams and live chat features, handheld devices with Internet,
Bluetooth and other remote-communication technology (such as DS and
DSi), community broadcasts like Twitter and social networking profiles
(such as Facebook, MySpace and myYearbook) where they can share their
thoughts, when they last brushed their teeth, and anything else they
want the world (or their closest friends) to know.
Fifteen years ago, when our volunteers first began helping victims
of cyberbullying and cyberharassment things were easier. There was one
way to access the Internet--a computer with a slow dial-up modem. The
Internet was too rare and access to expensive for kids and teens to use
and ``central locations where parents could oversee their kids' surfing
made sense. But this has changed radically over these few short years.
Now our kids and teens have more power in their backpacks, pockets and
purses than large corporations had a few years ago. They have ``apps''
for everything, change their status on Facebook, share pictures on
Flickr, Tweet, upload videos on YouTube, send thousands of texts (and
sometimes ``sexts'') and live out-loud online.
Now, instead of looking over our children's shoulders when they are
connected, we have to teach our children to use the ``filter between
their ears'' and exercise good judgment and care when using any
interactive device wherever they are and however they are connected.
While teaching parents how to supervise their children online was a
challenge, teaching children to ``ThinkB4uClick'' is much harder.
When I was growing up (in the days before electricity and indoor
plumbing, when we had to walk up hill, both ways in blizzards to get to
school), parents used to blame us for not behaving. We were
disciplinary problems. Now pediatric neuro-psychologists tell us that
preteens and teens are hardwired, through immature brain development,
to be unable to control their impulses at this age. Either way, we
recognize that preteens and teens take risks, don't appreciate the
consequences of their actions and act before they think. This puts them
at risk for many things, including, but not limited to being
cyberbullied or being the cyberbully. (Often the only difference
between the two is which clicked the mouse last.)
Thirteen years ago, when I first wrote the first book in the world
on Internet safety for parents and told them to put the computer in a
``central location,'' that made sense. It was a central point, where
parents could get involved and supervise their children's interactive
communications and surfing activities. Now, where they are connected
through handheld devices, cell phones and game boxes, it is no longer
relevant. 9
In middle school and elementary school, we call it
``cyberbullying.'' High schoolers think that ``cyberbullying'' is a
middle school thing and they are too mature for it. They call the same
activities that constitute ``cyberbullying'' ``digital drama'' or
``digital abuse.''
Statistics and a Snapshot of Cyberbullying Trends
A few years ago, I visited schools around the U.S. doing
presentations to students in elementary, middle and high schools.
During each presentation, I asked students if they had been
cyberbullied. Instead of asking that way, since each student defines
cyberbullying in different ways, I listed the kinds of things that
constitute cyberbullying, asking if they had experienced any of those.
(They included having someone access your profile, posting something
hateful and then changing your password so you can't remove it, passing
vicious rumors, posing as you and saying mean things to your friends or
breaking up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, etc.) I spoke to a total
of more than 44,000 middle school students and no matter where I went
in the U.S.; I never found less than 85% of the students reporting that
they had been cyberbullied at least once. In a much smaller poll, 70%
of the students polled admitted to having cyberbullied someone else at
least once. Students are inventive and cyberbullying is often a ``crime
of convenience, ``committed when they are bored, jealous, vengeful or
looking for an audience.
Cyberbullying spans all digital technologies, from cell phones
where students may grab an unattended cellphone and reprogram the
victim's best friend's or romantic interest's number to their cell
number. Then they send a mean text message that would come up as the
best friend or a break-up message ostensibly from their girlfriend or
boyfriend. The victim would blame their friend and two students are
victimized for the price of one cyberbullying tactic. (They should
spend half the time studying as they do dreaming up these kinds of
schemes!)
Key statistics on cyberbullying from stopcyberbullying.org and
teenangels:
85% of middle schoolers polled reported being cyberbullied
at least once.
70% of teens polled reported cyberbullying someone else.
86% of elementary school students share their password
with their friend(s).
70% of teens polled said they share their password with
their boyfriend/girlfriend or best friend. (Sharing your password is
the digital generation's equivalent of a ``friendship ring.'')
Cyberbullying starts in 2nd
3rd grade and peaks in 4th grade and again in 7th-9th
grade.
Only 5% of middle schoolers would tell their parents if
they were cyberbullied.
Middle schoolers have identified 63 different reasons not
to tell their parents.
Teens have identified 71 different ways to cyberbully
someone.
Cellphones are used 38% of the time in cyberbullying
incidents.
Social networks are used 39% of the time in cyberbullying
incidents.
Password theft or misuse accounts for 27% of
cyberbullying. (There is
overlap between this and social networking cyberbullying.)
The number of cyberbullying and sextbullying (when sexting
incidents are used to intentionally destroy a minor's reputation and
self-esteeem) is increasing rapidly.
52% of boys in high school reported having seen at least
one nude image of a classmate.
MTV's wonderful multi-year campaign to address cyberbullying,
digital dating abuse and sexting risks was launched in late 2009 and
can be found at athinline.org. It explains the scope of the teen and
young adult issues. I serve as a member of its advisory board, along
with Casi Lumbra, one of my Teenangels.10
1000 Wisconsin teens identified cyberbullying as a risk or
a serious risk.
An equal percentage of boys and girls admit to taking and
sharing a sext of themselves.
71% of girls use their webcam in their bedroom, and 21%
regret something they did on a webcam.
5% of 10--12 yr olds polled admitted to taking and sharing
a sexually provocative or nude photo of themselves.
Within a 48 hour period, more than 200,000 myYearbook
users took a pledge against cyberbullying.
What are the different types of cyberbullies?
It is impossible to change behavior when no one understands what is
behind it. Cyberbullying occurs for the same reasons schoolyard
bullying occurs. It also occurs by accident when students are careless
about cyber communications. It might come from impulsive and
thoughtless reactions to something that has upset the ``cyberbully.''
They may be defending themselves and each other from offline bullies or
other cyberbullies. Lumping them all together will lead nowhere, fast.
Every type of cyberbullying requires a different response and method of
prevention
The four types of cyberbullies include:
The Vengeful Angel
The Power-Hungry (or Revenge of the Nerds sub-type)
The Mean Girls
The Inadvertent Cyberbully ``The Vengeful Angel'': In this
type of cyberbullying, the cyberbully doesn't see themselves as a bully
at all. They see themselves as righting wrongs, or protecting
themselves or others from the ``bad guy'' they are now victimizing. The
Vengeful Angel cyberbully often gets involved trying to protect a
friend who is being bullied or cyberbullied. They generally work alone,
but may share their activities and motives with their close friends and
others they perceive as being victimized by the person they are
cyberbullying.
Vengeful Angels need to know that no one should try and take
justice into their own hands. They need to understand that few things
are clear enough to understand, and that fighting bullying with more
bullying only makes things worse. They need to see themselves as
bullies, not the do-gooder they think they are. It also helps to
address the reasons they lashed out in the first place. If they sense
injustices, maybe there really are injustices. Instead of just blaming
the Vengeful Angel, solutions here also require that the situation be
reviewed to see what can be done to address the underlying problem. Is
there a place to report bullying or cyberbullying? Can that be done
anonymously? Is there a peer counseling group that handles these
matters? What about parents and school administrators. Do they ignore
bullying when it occurs, or do they take it seriously? The more methods
we can give these kinds of cyberbullies to use official channels to
right wrongs, the less often they will try to take justice into their
own hands.11
The ``Power-Hungry'' and ``Revenge of the Nerds'': Just as their
schoolyard counterparts, some cyberbullies want to exert their
authority, show that they are powerful enough to make others do what
they want and some want to control others with fear. Sometimes they
just don't like the other kid. These are no different than the offline
tough schoolyard bullies, except for their method. Power-Hungry
cyberbullies usually need an audience. It may be a small audience of
their friends or those within their circle at school. Often the power
they feel when only cyberbullying someone is not enough to feed their
need to be seen as powerful and intimidating. They often brag about
their actions. They want a reaction, and without one may escalate their
activities to get one.
Interestingly enough, a sub type of the Power-Hungry cyberbully is
often the victim of typical offline bullying. They may be female, or
physically smaller, the ones picked on for not being popular enough, or
cool enough. They may have greater technical skills. Some people call
this type the ``Revenge of the Nerds'' cyberbully. It is their
intention to frighten or embarrass their victims. And they are
empowered by the anonymity of the Internet and digital communications
and the fact that they never have to confront their victim. They may
act tough online, but are not tough in real life. They are often not a
bully but ``just playing one on TV.''
This kind of cyberbullying usually takes place one-on-one and the
cyberbully often keeps their activities secret from their friends. If
they share their actions, they are doing it only with others they feel
would be sympathetic. The rarely appreciate the seriousness of their
actions, and often resort to cyberbullying-by proxy. Because of this
and their tech skills, it can be the most dangerous of all
cyberbullying.
Power-Hungry cyberbullies often react best when they know that few
things are ever anonymous online. We leave a trail of cyber-breadcrumbs
behind us wherever we go in cyberspace. And, with the assistance of a
law enforcement or legal subpoena, we can almost always find the cyber-
abusers and cybercriminals in real life. Shining a bright light on
their activities helps too. When they are exposed, letting the school
community know about their exposure helps prevent copycat
cyberbullying.
Helping them to realize the magnitude of their activities is also
helpful. Often their activities rise to the criminal level. The more
this type of cyberbully understands the legal consequences of their
actions, the more they think about their actions.
Ignoring them can also be very effective. But sometimes, instead of
going away when ignored, they escalate their actions to get others
involved, through a cyberbullying-by-proxy situation. Whenever a Power-
Hungry cyberbully is suspected, it is crucial that law enforcement is
notified and that the victim keeps a careful watch on themselves
online, through ``googling themselves.'' They can even set a Google
Alert to notify them by e-mail if anything new is posted online with
their personal contact information.12
``Mean Girls'': The type of cyberbullying occurs when the
cyberbully is bored or looking for entertainment. It is largely ego-
based and the most immature of all cyberbullying types. Typically, in
Mean Girls bullying situations, the cyberbullies are female. They may
be bullying other girls (most frequently) or boys (less frequently).
Mean Girls cyberbullying is usually done, or at least planned, in a
group, either virtually or together in one room. It may occur from a
school library or a slumber party or from the family room of someone
after school. This kind of cyberbullying requires an audience. The
cyberbullies in a Mean Girls situation want others to know who they are
and that they have the power to cyberbully others. This kind of
cyberbullying grows when fed by group admiration, cliques or by the
silence of others who stand by and let it happen. It quickly dies if
they don't get the entertainment value they are seeking.
The most effective tool in handling a Mean Girls cyberbullying case
is blocking controls. Block them, block all alternate screen names and
force them to go elsewhere for their sick entertainment. In addition,
if threatened with loss of their Facebook or AIM accounts, they wise up
fast!
In all cases of which I am aware, the sexting and cyberbullying-
suicides and attempted suicides in the US involved Mean Girls
cyberbullies.
The ``Inadvertent Cyberbully'': Inadvertent cyberbullies usually
don't think they are cyberbullies at all. They may be pretending to be
tough online, or role playing, or they may be reacting to hateful or
provocative messages they have received. Unlike the Revenge of the
Nerds cyberbullies, they don't lash out intentionally. They just
respond without thinking about the consequences of their actions.
They may feel hurt, or angry because of a communication sent to
them, or something they have seen online. And they tend to respond in
anger or frustration. They don't think before clicking ``send.''
Sometimes, while experimenting in role-playing online, they may
send cyberbullying communications or target someone without
understanding how serious this could be. They do it for the heck of it
``Because I Can.'' They do it for the fun of it. They may also do it to
one of their friends, joking around. But their friend may not recognize
that it is another friend or may take it seriously. They tend to do
this when alone, and are mostly surprised when someone accuses them of
cyberabuse.
They also may be careless, typing too fast and being unclear or
leaving our crucial words, like ``not.'' They may send a message to the
wrong person or hurt someone by accident.
Education plays an important role in preventing Inadvertent
Cyberbullying. Teaching them to respect others and to be sensitive to
their needs is the most effective way of dealing with this kind of
cyberbully. Teaching them to Take5! is an easy way to help them spot
potentially bullying behavior before it's too late.13
Methods of cyberbullying
Kids have always tormented each other. Just think about Lord of the
Flies. Now with the help of cybertechnologies, sadly, they are doing it
more and more online, using mobile phones and interactive games. I
spend as much time protecting kids from each other online these days as
from cyberpredators. What is Cyberbullying?: Cyberbullying is any
cyber-communication or publication posted or sent by a minor online, by
instant messenger, e-mail, website, diary site, online profile,
interactive game, handheld device, cell phone or other interactive
device that is intended to frighten, embarrass, harass or otherwise
target another minor. If there aren't minors on both sides of the
communication, it is considered cyberharassment, not cyberbullying. A
one-time rude or insulting communication sent to a minor is generally
not considered cyberbullying. Cyberbullying needs to be repeated, or a
threat of bodily harm, or a public posting designed to hurt, embarrass
or otherwise target a child.
How does it work?: There are two kinds of cyberbullying: direct
attacks (messages sent to your kids directly) and cyberbullying by
proxy (using others to help cyberbully the victim, either with or
without the accomplice's knowledge). Because cyberbullying by proxy
often gets adults involved in the harassment, it is much more
dangerous.
Direct attacks
1. Instant Messaging/E-mail/Text Messaging/Inbox or PM Harassment
2. Kids may send hateful or threatening messages to other kids
without realizing that unkind or threatening messages are hurtful and
very serious.
3. Warning/Report Abuse/Notify Wars--Many Internet Service
Providers offer a way of reporting or ``telling on'' a user who is
saying inappropriate things. Kids often engage in ``warning wars''
which can lead to kicking someone offline for a period of time. While
this should be a security tool, kids sometimes use the Warn/Notify/
Report Abuse buttons as a game or prank.
4. A kid/teen may create a screen name that is very similar to
another kid's name. The name may have an additional ``i'' or one less
``e.'' It might use a lowercase ``L'' instead of the number ``1.'' They
may use this name to say inappropriate things to other users while
posing as the other person.
a. Text wars, text-bombs, or text attacks occur when kids gang up
on the victim, sending thousands of text messages to the victim's
cellphone or other mobile device. The victim is then faced with a huge
cellphone bill and angry parents.
b. Kids send death threats using IM and text messaging as well as
photos/videos (see below).
Stealing passwords
a. A kid may steal another child's password and begin to chat with
other people, pretending to be the other kid. He/she may say mean
things that offend and anger this person's friends or even strangers.
Meanwhile, the others won't know it is not really that person they are
talking to.14
b. A kid may also use another kid's password to change his/her
profile to include sexual, racist, and inappropriate things that may
attract unwanted attention or offend people.
c. A kid often steals the password and locks the victim out of
their own account.
d. Once the password is stolen, hackers may use it to hack into the
victim's computer.
e. A stolen password can allow the cyberbully to steal points,
loot, and game ``gold.''
Blogs
Blogs are online journals. They are a fun way for kids and teens to
post messages for all of their friends to see. However, kids sometimes
use these blogs to damage other kids' reputations or invade their
privacy. For example, in one case, a boy posted a bunch of blogs about
his breakup with his ex-girlfriend, explaining how she destroyed his
life and calling her degrading names. Their mutual friends read about
this and criticized her. She was embarrassed and hurt, all because
another kid posted mean, private, and false information about her.
Sometimes kids set up a blog or profile page pretending to be their
victim and saying things designed to humiliate them.
Websites
a. Children used to tease each other in the playground; now they do
it on websites. Kids sometimes create websites that may insult or
endanger another child. They create pages specifically designed to
insult another kid or group of people.
b. They select and register domain names designed to inflame or
otherwise hurt their victims.
c. Kids also post other kids' personal information and pictures,
putting those people at a greater risk of being contacted or found.
Sending pictures through e-mail and cellphones
a. There have been cases of teens sending mass e-mails to other
users that include nude or degrading pictures of other teens. Once an
e-mail like this is sent, it is passed around to hundreds of other
people within hours. There is no way of controlling where it goes.
b. Many of the newer cellphones allow kids to send pictures to each
other. The kids receive the pictures directly on their phones and may
send them to everyone in their address books. After viewing the picture
at a website, some kids have actually posted these often pornographic
pictures online for anyone to see, spread, or download.
c. Kids often take a picture of someone in a locker room, bathroom,
or dressing room and post it online or send it to others on cellphones.
Internet polling
Who's hot? Who's not? Who is the biggest slut in the sixth grade?
These types of questions run rampant on the Internet polls; all created
by yours truly--kids and teens. Such questions are often very offensive
to others and are yet another way that kids can bully other kids
online.15
Interactive gaming
Many kids today are playing interactive games on gaming devices
such as Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP.
These gaming devices may allow students to communicate with anyone they
find themselves matched with in an online game or people within a
certain defined physical area. Sometimes the kids verbally abuse the
other kids, using threats and lewd language. Sometimes they take it
further, locking them out of games, passing false rumors about them, or
hacking into their accounts.
Sending malicious code
Many kids will send viruses, spyware, and hacking programs to their
victims. They do this to either destroy their computers or spy on their
victim. Trojan horse programs allow the cyberbully to remotely control
their victim's computer and can be used to erase the victim's hard
drive.
Sending porn and other junk e-mail and IMslc
Cyberbullies often will sign up their victims for e-mail and IM
marketing lists, lots of them, especially porn sites. When the victim
receives thousands of e-mails from pornographers, their parents usually
get involved, either blaming them (assuming they have been visiting
porn sites) or making them change their e-mail or IM address.
Impersonation/posing
Posing as the victim, the cyberbully can do considerable damage.
While posing as the victim, they may post a provocative message in a
hate group's chatroom or on their forum pages, inviting an attack
against the victim, often giving the name, address, and telephone
number of the victim to make the hate group's job easier. They often
also send a message to someone saying hateful or threatening things
while masquerading as the victim. They may also alter a message really
from the victim, making it appear that they have said nasty things or
shared secrets with others.
Social networking attacks
Most teens (and many preteens) are using social networks such as
MySpace and Facebook. They build a profile and share whatever they want
to share with the world or their close friends. They post pictures and
videos (especially on video networks like YouTube), pass rumors,
exclude those they want to target, create quizzes and polls, and use
anonymous networks (such as JuicyCampus.com) or applications such as
Honesty Box to attack their victims. They impersonate their victims,
take over their accounts, or report them to their school, parents, or
the police.
Aside from cellphones, social networking is the technology of
choice for cyberbullying and harassment.
Misappropriation of cellphones
While the predominant method used to cyberbully someone through a
cellphone is texting and prank calling, students are lifting an
unattended cellphone and reprogramming it to do their dirty work. 16
Cyberbullying by proxy (third party cyberharassment or cyberbullying)
Often people who misuse the Internet to target others do it using
accomplices. These accomplices, unfortunately, are often unsuspecting.
They know they are communicating irate or provocative messages, but
don't realize that they are being manipulated by the real cyberharasser
or cyberbully. That's the beauty of this type of scheme. The attacker
merely prods the issue by creating indignation or emotion on the part
of others, and can then sit back and let others do their dirty work.
Then, when legal action or other punitive actions are taken against the
accomplice, the real attacker can claim that they never instigated
anything and no one was acting on their behalf. They claim innocence
and blame their accomplices, unwitting or not; their accomplices have
no legal leg to stand on.
It's brilliant and very powerful. It is also one of the most
dangerous kinds of cyberharassment or cyberbullying. Children do this
often using AOL, MSN, or another ISP as their ``proxy'' or accomplice.
When they engage in a ``notify'' or ``warning'' war, they are using
this method to get the ISP to view the victim as the provocateur. A
notify or warning war is when one child provokes another until the
victim lashes back. When they do, the real attacker clicks the warning
or notify button on the text screen. This captures the communication
and flags it for the ISP's review. If the ISP finds that the
communication violated their terms of service agreement (which most
do), they may take action. Some accounts allow several warnings before
formal action is taken, but the end result is the same. The ISP does
the attacker's dirty work when they close or suspend the real victim's
account for a terms of service violation. Most knowledgeable ISPs know
this and are careful to see if the person being warned is really being
set up.
Sometimes children use the victim's own parents as unwitting
accomplices. They provoke the victim and, when the victim lashes back,
they save the communication and forward it to the victim's parents. The
parents often believe what they read and, without having evidence of
the prior provocations, think that their own child ``started it.''
This works just as easily in a school disciplinary environment.
Students may not understand that their attacks, if designed to hurt
someone's reputation, may be defamatory and subject them to discipline,
lawsuits, and in some cases harassment charges. They may not understand
that they can be tracked quite easily most of the time and held
accountable for their actions. They may not understand that their
actions may be a terms of service violation and cost them (or their
family) their online accounts. They may repeat rumors and take action
based on false information, and then find themselves facing liability
when the person who started it all hides behind them. They should know
that repeating lies, even if you read them online, is no excuse under
the law.
WiredSafety advises not to respond to cyberbullying. So, it is
important that we caution to all who believe things without confirming
their accuracy not to confuse silence or failure to defend or rebut any
rumors with an admission of guilt or confirmation that a lie told by
someone is true. Sometimes silence is smarter, especially when the real
fight may not occur online at all. The smarter ones don't fight their
battles in public online, not when defamation, cyberbullying or
harassment is involved.17
Just a reminder to teach students to thinkB4uClick. Otherwise they
have become what they say they are fighting. They have become a
cyberharasser or cyberbully themselves. Teach them not to be used.
Teach them to use their heads.
The problem with some prominent surveys
Major survey companies and educational institutions have studied
cyberbullying. While they all conclude that cyberbullying is a serious
and growing problem, they (in our opinion) under-report the problem.
It's not their fault. It's the nature of how surveys with minors are
conducted. Most take place after the parents are asked for their
permission to survey their kids. Since there are 57 different reasons
identified by students for why they would not tell their parents if
targeted by a cyberbully, it is unlikely that they will be candid with
the surveyor in their parents' presence or after their parents are
informed about the survey.
The second problem with the surveys is that they ask, ``Have you
been cyberbullied?,'' without defining what they mean. Like
``obscenity,'' which, according to a former U.S. Supreme Court Justice,
``you know it when you see it,'' it's easier for people to spot than to
define. But many students think that harassment and cruelty online
comes with the territory, and unless it's a death threat or text-bomb
(see Talk the Talk), it's not cyberbullying. For any survey to be
effective, it needs to define situations that constitute cyberbullying
and ask the students if they have ever been involved in one of those
situations.
Interestingly, students are more likely to own up to being a
cyberbully than a victim.
A Conspiracy to Conceal It WiredSafety's surveys reflect that only
5% of students would tell their parents if they were being targeted by
a cyberbully. When Teenangels conducted a survey of their own, they
learned that less than 25% of the students would tell anyone if they
were being cyberbullied.
Why? The answer is different for parents than another trusted
adult. Parents have the power to make their lives miserable. They can
turn off the Internet, take away cellphones, computers, and gaming
devices, pick up the phone and call other parents, the school, or their
lawyers. They run too hot and overreact, or too cold and underestimate
the pain the cyberbully causes.
The students don't want their parents to discover that they are not
as popular in school as hoped. They don't want to look like they can't
take care of themselves. They don't want their parents to find out that
they were doing things they shouldn't or to learn the information the
cyberbully is threatening to expose.
Parents might start monitoring or filtering everything, spying, or
being overly attentive to what the student is doing online. The parents
may demand passwords to all accounts and use them, confront the
cyberbully or their parents, call the police, or blow things out of
proportion. The cyberbullying may become the topic of discussion over
the Thanksgiving table or the source of teasing or bullying by
siblings.
If their current or former friends were the cyberbullies, the
victim, interestingly, may try and protect them or avoid having them
punished. They don't want to be termed a ``tattletale'' or have the
cyberbully18 escalate their actions because they ``told.'' They may
have responded using inappropriate language or threats of their own.
The list goes on and on. They are reluctant to share with their
``friends'' and not sure if the cyberbully is one of those in whom they
are confiding. With anonymous cyberbullying they can't be sure if the
cyberbully is their best friend or worst enemy. Friends are armed with
their secrets and passwords and sometimes the cyberbully poses as one
of their friends. They don't know where to turn or whom to trust.
Trusting their teachers, guidance counselors, and school
administrators is a bit different. In this case, they worry that the
school will refuse to get involved. (This fear is often well-founded.)
They fear their uninformed involvement even more. When well-meaning
school administrators get involved, they often call everyone in and try
to get to the bottom of things. This only makes things worse and sets
up the victim for more harassment from the cyberbully, their friends,
and everyone in the class who sees the victim as ``squealing.''
Even when the school administrators do the right thing, it can
backfire. On a recent Tyra Banks Show, Parry met a young student who
had reported her classmates taking her picture with their cellphone
while in the locker room at school. (She and other girls were dancing
in various stages of undress.) The cyberbully threatened to post the
pictures on Facebook and the girl panicked and went to the principal,
who promptly called in the girls and confiscated the cellphone. The
entire class turned on the victim, saying she had blown it all out of
proportion. She was victimized twice--once by the girls and again by
the class.
An interesting exercise for students is to ask them to see how many
reasons they can come up with why they wouldn't tell their parents
about being cyberbullied. Parry has never gotten them to come up with
more than 57 different reasons. See if you can beat her record and
share the reasons you find. They can be illuminating. If we understand
why they don't share this or trust their parents, we can find ways to
address their concerns and change this pattern. We can also find ways
to make sure that they trust guidance counselors, teachers, and school
administrators so they don't have to face this alone.
The challenge we all face is how we can intervene without feeding
the cyberbullies. There are no easy answers on this one, just some
approaches that have worked for others. An effective strategy is to get
peer counselors involved and create a cyberbullying taskforce for the
school, including students in crafting responses and consequences of
cyberbullying activities. Make sure you include the consequences for
bystanders.
Whatever you do, do it carefully and thoughtfully. Ask the victim
first before you take any action other than those needed to protect
them or others. Remember, cyberbullying hurts. The first thing we need
to do is address that hurt. Bring in the guidance counselors to help.
The more advance preparation and planning the school does, the faster
and better you can respond when these things occur.
Starting young--the Sumo Pandas
WiredSafety has created the Sumo Panda digital safety and
cyberbullying prevention program to help teach cybersafety to kids from
kindergarten to grade six. It uses a series of twelve short and cute
Flash and Quicktime animations of the Pandas, their friends and
rivals--the Polar Bears from Polar Bear19 Academy. Each animation is
paired with a teaching kit that contains things like lesson plans,
activity sheets, coloring pages, pledges, and lesson certificates
Artemus and his cousin, Precious Panda live in the Forest of Kind
with their families. Artemus and Precious attend Panda Elementary
School with the other animals in their forest and love to sumo wrestle
in their spare time! Like any other kid, they also love to play online.
Too bad Artemus isn't the most cyber savvy and Precious often has to
guide him to find the right path. Unfortunately, Artemus is often
influenced by his ``friends'' Herbert the panda and Chops the pig who
don't always have his best interests at heart. Artemus is also often
the target of cyberbullying by his rivals, the Polar Bears from Polar
Bear Academy. But with the support of his true friends, especially
Precious, Artemus always learns important lessons in cybersafety by the
end of the day. Teaching them the consequences of their actions, and
that the real ``Men in Black'' may show up at their front door
sometimes helps too. Since many cyberbullying campaigns include some
form of hacking or password or identity theft, serious laws are
implicated. Law enforcement, including the FBI, might get involved in
these cases. Remind your students that they could easily be implicated
in a cyberbullying case commenced by one of their friends. (But be
careful, this may end up backfiring if the kids are intrigued by what
would happen if the FBI did knock on their door. It's happened.)
But few cyberbullying campaigns can succeed without the complacency
and the often help of other kids. If no one votes at a cyber-bashing
website, the cyberbully's attempts to humiliate the victim are
thwarted. If no one forwards a hateful or embarrassing e-mail, the
cyberbully is left standing all alone. It's rarely fun to act out
unless you can show off to someone who will appreciate your antics. By
denying the cyberbully an audience, the antics quickly stop.
In addition, the ``mean girls'' cyberbullies need an audience.
That's the reason they do it, to show everyone that they can. It
reinforces their social status and ranking. It reminds everyone who
believes it that they can do anything they want to anyone they want.
Denying them their audience and ego fix takes the fun out of
cyberbullying. Hopefully they can then move on to something else a
little less destructive.
If we can help kids understand how much bullying hurts, how in many
cases (unlike the children's chant) words can hurt you, fewer may
cooperate with the cyberbullies. They will think twice before
forwarding a hurtful IM or e-mail, or visiting a cyberbullying ``vote
for the fat-girl'' site, or allowing others to take videos or cell
phone pictures of personal moments or compromising poses of others.
And, in addition to not lending their efforts to continue the
cyberbullying, if given an anonymous method of reporting cyberbullying
websites, profiles and campaigns, students can help put an end to
cyberbullying entirely. School administration, community groups and
even school policing staff can receive these anonymous tips and take
action quickly when necessary to shut down the site, profile or stop
the cyberbullying itself. They can even let others know that they won't
allow cyberbullying by supporting the victim, making it clear that they
won't be used to torment others and that they care about the feelings
of others is key. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said ``In the end, we
will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our
friends.''
We need to teach our students that silence, when others are being
hurt, is not acceptable. If they don't allow the cyberbullies to use
them to embarrass or torment others, cyberbullying will quickly stop.
It's a tall task, but a noble goal. And in the end, our students will
be safer online and offline. We will have20 helped create a generation
of good cybercitizens, controlling the technology instead of being
controlled by it.
APPENDIX ON RESPONSES TO MASSACHUSSET'S MIDDLE SCHOOL SURVEY OF 500
STUDENTS ON TEXTING--2009
Student Survey--770 Middle and High School Wisconsin Students Winter
2010
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CYBERBULLYING?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is your grade?
Answer options ----------------------------------- Response
6th 7th 8th 9th 10th percent
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know what it is............................................ 15 5 4 33 34 11.8%
It's no big deal................................................... 1 3 2 39 24 9.0%
I have heard about it on TV or in magazines, but don't know much 4 17 17 63 42 18.6%
more..............................................................
It happens in middle school only................................... 0 3 1 2 4 1.3%
It's when you say mean things online, in a text or by IM........... 11 55 64 194 120 57.7%
It's when you take an embarrassing pic using a cell phone and send 11 47 64 144 70 43.6%
it to others to hurt someone......................................
I have heard about someone in my school or town that was 5 26 20 74 29 20.0%
cyberbullied......................................................
Friends of mine have been cyberbullied, but I haven't.............. 4 17 7 35 16 10.3%
We've had cyberbullying incidents in my school..................... 3 21 16 69 29 17.9%
I have seen cyberbullying messages designed to hurt or embarrass 3 20 20 83 44 22.1%
someone else......................................................
I have cyberbullied others......................................... 0 3 2 7 18 3.9%
I have said nasty things to others online, but don't consider it 0 4 14 29 22 9.0%
cyberbullying.....................................................
I have been cyberbullied by a close friend......................... 1 9 4 23 13 6.5%
I have had someone steal my password and pretend to be me.......... 0 14 13 40 24 11.8%
I have had someone cyberbully me on Facebook....................... 0 5 4 18 14 5.3%
I have seen others cyberbullied on Facebook........................ 2 9 7 64 28 14.3%
I should report cyberbullying to the FBI........................... 0 20 5 20 8 6.9%
I know how to report cyberbullying to Facebook and other sites..... 3 18 20 51 24 15.1%
You can be arrested if you cyberbully someone...................... 3 35 29 70 29 21.6%
Teens have committed suicide when they were cyberbullied........... 5 46 60 138 57 39.7%
I've cyberbullied someone with my friends just for fun............. 0 1 6 20 12 5.1%
I have been harassed and embarrassed by text messages sent by 2 11 15 33 15 9.9%
others............................................................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Mr. Finnegan.
STATEMENT OF DAVE FINNEGAN, CHIEF INFORMATION AND LOGISTICS
BEAR, BUILD-A-BEAR WORKSHOP
Mr. Finnegan. Good morning, Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking
Member Platts and Members of the subcommittee. My name is Dave
Finnegan, I am the Chief Technology Bear at Build-A-Bear
Workshop. I am honored to be the only one with ``bear'' in my
title on the panel. I appreciate the invitation to come.
Build-A-Bear started in 1997 and has since grown to be the
ninth largest toy retailer in the United States with over 400
stores worldwide. A number of years ago, we saw the play
patterns of kids go from traditional play to a blend of on-line
and off-line play. During that time, we launched a kids virtual
space called buildabearville.com. Since then, we have grown to
over 15 million Avatars, and we get roughly 4 to 5 million
visits from kids each month. We have earned a number of awards
in the space, including awards from iparenting, Wired Kids, and
have earned Parry Aftab's socially safe seal from WiredSafety.
The Internet bullying, and cyber-bullying initiative is
obviously from all the testimony that we have heard an
important issue for kids, and because of that, it is an
important issue for Build-A-Bear Workshop. We think that we are
uniquely positioned in this space because we have stores that
we can get the message out through. We also think that if we
can capture kids early on and teach them and help educate them
early on and give them the tools that are needed, that we will
serve them well, especially as they get into their teenage
years.
So we believe that success comes when kids are educated and
parents, as Dr. Phil indicated, are actively involved in their
kids' Internet experience. We also believe that as we joined
together, industry, lawmakers, educators and others that we
have a lot of things that we can share together to help keep
this space safe for kids.
So in October 2009, we launched a ``Stop Cyber-Bullying
Month'' campaign where we taught kids and parents the
importance of playing on line. To reach kids, we decided that
we would reach them in their native place. So we went online
and we created some educational games and quizzes that kids
could take where once they were finished with those things,
they earned different virtual prizes, including dance moves and
things like that for their Avatars. Since that launch of that
campaign online, we have had over 2.6 million impressions on
the stop block and tell message from Parry's group. We have had
over 165,000 of our guests who have taken the stop cyber-
bullying pledge, and we have had over 200,000 kids take the
cyber safe quiz.
We also took one of our store calendars and dedicated that
calendar issue to the stop cyber-bullying pledge. So we put on
something that we were already doing, we layered on all of the
safety information about what we could do to make a difference.
And we dedicated that calendar in October to that topic. We
gave away 350,000 calendars that went into the hands of kids
and moms and dads so they could talk about these topics
together. That is what we did for kids.
From a parent's perspective, we reached out in more
traditional media. Parents aren't online like their kids are.
We reached out with online and traditional media. We created a
family feature with content we got from Wired Kids to talk
about how to open the dialogue between you and your kids about
how to keep your family safe, and how to deal with cyber-
bullying.
That was picked up by newspapers and magazines and we have
reached about 70 million media impressions so far with this
media campaign.
As we have been working on this issue, we have noticed
something: We have noticed that there is a common thread, a
shared commitment between industry and policymakers, educators
all have the commitment to keep kids safe. We think, however,
there is a huge opportunity to bring these organizations closer
with events like this that allow us to share ideas and
concepts.
To that end, last October we cosponsored an event on
Capitol Hill, the Stop Cyber-Bullying event, in which we
brought major companies and different organizations throughout
the United States together to talk about this topic, to share
ideas and to open up what we are doing from a technology
perspective that we can share with others so that we can keep
kids safe.
At Build-A-Bear Workshop, we are happy to stand shoulder to
shoulder with kids and with parents, educators and policymakers
and companies to help make a difference to kids online. We
applaud the work that you are doing to help bring focus to this
issue and we are happy to participate in any way we can.
[The statement of Mr. Finnegan follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dave Finnegan, Chief Technology Bear,
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is the only global company that offers
an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment
experience. The company was founded in 1997 and currently operates more
than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-
owned stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom,
Ireland and France, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia,
Africa, the Middle East, and Mexico.
Goal--Internet Safety and cyberbullying are important issues to
Build-A-Bear Workshop and are especially relevant to protecting kids in
this generation. We are committed to working together with other
stakeholders to make the Internet a safer place for kids through
education and awareness. Build-A-Bear Workshop partners with others to
achieve the goal of providing safer internet spaces for kids.
In October of 2009, Build-A-Bear Workshop launched the ``Stop
Cyberbullying Month'' campaign to reach kids and their parents with a
cyber safety message in order to educate them on the importance of
playing safely online. Our objective has been to be a part of the
solution to stop cyberbullying.
The company is committed to children and families and protecting
kids is paramount to us. We believe that to accomplish our goal we need
the partnership of parents, kids, industry, policymakers, law
enforcement and educators.
Reaching kids: Build-A-Bear Workshop is an organization that
addresses and stops cyberbullying by diligently educating, equipping
and monitoring our virtual space. The Build-A-Bear Workshop companywide
Stop Cyberbullying program is comprised of several online, in store and
media elements. The reason we employ a variety of tools is to ensure
that we are able to reach as many kids as possible. We are educating
kids by creating awareness of what they can do to protect themselves
online. With our campaign, we generated 2,600,000 impressions with our
``Stop, Block and Tell'' event.
In addition, over 165,000 Guests have taken the Stop Cyberbullying
pledge online and there have been over 200,000 Guests online who have
taken our Cyber Safe Quiz to help them understand the best ways to
remain cybersafe. We continue to add games and online tools to educate
and integrate with their play. Reaching parents and others: Because
Build-A-Bear Workshop believes that internet safety takes a commitment
from the parent, we incorporated a number of communications channels to
reach out to parents and others in the community with the Cyber Safety
Message.
Since October 2009, 350,000 Instore Calendars have been distributed
to Guests in stores throughout the country. In addition, media outreach
has extended to print, online, broadcast and bloggers to achieve over
70,000,000 media impressions.
In addition to its outreach to kids and parents, Build-A-Bear
Workshop has partnered with other key groups to communicate the message
of cyber safety. In October 2009, the company sponsored the Stop
CyberBullying Event, meeting with other corporate leaders and child
advocacy groups in a first ever Coalition event in Washington D.C. on
Capitol Hill. Experts representing many different areas of the cyber
safety attended for the discussion along with Build-A-Bear Workshop and
other companies to share cyber safety policies and practices.
We continue to partner with parents, policymakers and industry
leaders to generate awareness and encourage internet safety. In order
to reach the goal of providing safer internet spaces we propose that
the industry, policy/law enforcement, teachers and educators, parents
and children and internet safety organizations work together to
strategize around this topic to implement the agreed upon outcomes.
For additional information please visit: http://
www.pwrnewmedia.com/2009/babw90930/index.html
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you so much, thank you everybody
for your testimony. I think everybody probably found it, number
one, very enlightening. We can do a lot of research here, we
have great people to do that for us, but again, I think when
you have great people that come in front of us, and basically
talk about the experiences they have had, I think about going
back even before cyber-bullying was that popular, but
Columbine, those shooters, those kids were all being bullied,
so it can turn to violence.
We know that over 200,000 kids a day are not going to
school because they are being bullied, and they are scared. We
know that young people join gangs because they feel they need
to be protected from bullying.
So these are the problems that society, and especially our
young people are facing on a daily basis. And that is something
that I feel that this committee should be very committed about,
because again, these are our future leaders of this country.
They are going to be here in Congress one day, they are going
to be in the business world, and we have to make sure that they
are very well adjusted. We have to make sure they are secure,
mainly because you want them to have good, happy lives. And as
Dr. Phil had mentioned, those affected by bullying, that is
carried on for many, many, many years into their life, even
when they are adults. And with any kind of wound like that,
that can't be seen, it is something that will always be there
and affect that person and could affect future relations,
future--their children, so it is something that I believe is
the time that we do something about it.
Dr. Phil, I know you have been talking about this on your
show, I know you have mentioned that you have young people
calling in, but overall, when you have people calling in or
writing to you on letters, do you feel that the American public
are seeing the crisis that, which I personally feel is a health
care crisis by the way, are you feeling that you are getting
through to the parents, because obviously, an awful lot of
parents watch your show.
Mr. McGraw. Well, I think you have to answer that in a
couple of ways. I think when you raise the awareness about it,
very clearly, parents are surprised because they are not aware
because their kids don't come to them and say this is happening
to them. So they are simply not aware of it.
Once they are made aware of it, then all of a sudden, it
becomes a priority for them, and they can support the child.
One of the biggest mistakes we see, so often parents say look,
this is just kids being kids, we can't run up there and get
involved every time something like this happens. That is
exactly the wrong attitude here. When a child is being isolated
and attacked in this way, it is the loneliest time of their
life. That is when they need someone to put an arm around their
shoulder and say, look, I am here for you, I have got your
back, we are going to figure a way to deal with this.
And I have had many bullies on the show, cyber-bullies on
the show, and they invariably will say they had no idea the
gravity this had on another student. They had no idea that it
hurt them so deeply, I have had them on 10 years after the
fact, and they see the devastation it caused in someone's life,
even to the point that maybe they home schooled their children
or they are over protective of them because they don't want to
put them into the mix again. They are shocked at this.
So part of it is not just educating the parents and
supporting the targets, but also counseling the bullies, the
kids that would do this and their parents. These bullies have
parents, we need to talk to those parents to counsel their kids
to teach them to be empathetic about the impact of what their
doing.
And when we talk about that, I do see it get through, I do
see it come through. The power of it comes from hearing from
people like Dominique and those that are in that window, in
that time frame that makes the biggest difference.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
And Dominique, we have you on this panel because you are
the voice, you are on the ground, as they say, so with the
program that you have been working with the Girl Scouts of
America, how do you see your fellow students react to it? Is it
positive? Do they give you suggestions on how to make it
better?
Ms. Napolitano. Well, I feel that people don't really want
to look at the issue of cyber-bullying, people that are my age
because I think they really feel that, you know, its just
something that you kind of, everyone kind of does. I mean, I
don't partake in cyber-bullying, but I think a lot of people
they just think oh, well, they are more focused on their self-
image in school and about popularity rather than another
person's feelings. So I think it is hard to get the message
across because I don't think everyone wants to listen, but I
think by showing the effects of cyber-bullying it's--I think it
gives a more positive impact on people that are my age.
Chairwoman McCarthy. One of the things, and I am not sure
exactly yet, I believe it was Dr. Phil's testimony on keyboard
bullies, namely because I think young people don't understand
when they write something--I know that if I feel angry, I do
not send out an e-mail. I can talk to someone and certainly let
them know that I am dissatisfied, but for some reason, when you
put it on a BlackBerry and before I push that send, I say this
sounds terrible, that is not who I am, that is not what I am
trying to do.
So I can even imagine that young people, when they are
sending these things, and they might think they are even funny,
they don't understand what the consequences are on the other
end.
Mr. McGraw. You have an edit button a lot of people don't
have. And children, certainly in their teens, their brains
aren't through growing yet. And the last thing that grows is
the inhibition center. So they don't have that edit button. So
they do hit send. That is the problem. We need your edit
button, is what we need.
Chairwoman McCarthy. I agree. I wish I could use it all the
time. I wish I had a big red button and just squash it. I am
going to hold off so the rest of my committee can ask
questions.
Mr. Platts.
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madame Chair. Thanks to each of you.
Just a wealth of knowledge that you have all shared with us,
and some news that my son will--maybe one piece of news he will
like and one that he won't that one of the things that came
through, and Dr. Phil, you mentioned in your testimony that
being from the old school, having to get up with today's times,
that sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will
never hurt me, well, yeah, they can. And I have to admit to
pleading guilty to having said that to my boys when the sibling
rivalry is getting a little strong and say you have to take it.
So I think Tom will be glad to hear that.
The one news he won't like as I mentioned, we are not ones
who have given into the craze that everybody has to have a cell
phone, so our boys don't, and we try to be very guarded where
our computers are and our engagement with them.
And after hearing all of your testimonies, including the 67
ways to use a cell phone to bully, it might be a while, Tom. So
sorry. I was overprotective before this hearing. I am even more
overprotective after hearing all of the testimony.
Dominique, I wanted to, one, commend you and your
classmates who rose to the occasion with your classmate Mary T,
and turned what was a bullying effort into an important lesson
that your students were sharing, teaching each other and rising
to the defense of a classmate, even those who didn't really
know her, but stood up to the individual who was bullying.
What do you, from your perspective as a teen--and as a
parent, we would love to know this answer and I guess it is a
tough one to come by--but that makes it hard for teens or any
age children to talk to their parents that they are being
bullied and to reach out for help as opposed to staying
isolated and suffering in that isolation.
Ms. Napolitano. I think the main reason why the person
being cyber-bullied won't want to tell a parent is I think they
are afraid that if the cyber-bully is notified that you know
what they are doing is wrong and they are going to suffer a
consequence from it. I think they are afraid what are other
people going to think about me. And I think that is really the
main reason is because they are kind of afraid of what are
other people going to think. Are they going to side with me or
side with the cyber-bully, and am I going to be cyber-bullied
even more from it.
So I think that is really the main reason why they want
help.
Mr. Platts. So a very simplistic sense that kind of
tattletale, and you went and got somebody in trouble, and you
will suffer more consequences in response.
So how for us to educate the kids that you need to come
forward and educate other kids to see that as doing the right
thing as opposed to the wrong thing.
Ms. Paris, you talked about your programs in your school
and how you have educated yourself, and then with the NASSP. In
what ways do you reach out to parents to try to give them that
knowledge, or to engage them maybe, through your district to
have that be at that partnership.
Ms. Paris. We have parent summits, and it is interesting
that--I am not denouncing what you said about Tom and his cell
phone, but I spoke to 700 elementary school parents in my
district a year and a half ago, and I asked them--it is
elementary and middle--and I asked them to raise their hands if
their child had a MySpace. And very few hands went up. And I
told them how to find out if a child had a MySpace. And the
next day, I had 200 e-mails from parents saying I had no idea.
We don't even have a computer in the home, and my child has a
MySpace account.
So just as I think Dr. Phil said, it is an awareness issue.
Ninety percent of it is being aware of the impact of what is
going on and what tools do we have. It is not good enough any
more. I can't go to principals and say hey, this is a big
problem. I need to be able to go to principals and say I know
you know that it is a big problem now. Epic problem now. Here
are some things you can do preemptively, proactively to address
the issue. And a big piece of that is educating your kids,
educating your parents, getting them on board with the mission.
Mr. Platts. Just really kind of a basic, if more active the
engagement of the parent and the knowledge sharing, the more
likely then they are going to look into like the 200 e-mails go
home and say hey, I didn't know, but now they do so they can be
more aware.
Mr. McGraw. Congressman, one of the things that I would
like to add to what Ms. Paris is saying, is we have to, as part
of the education, we have to teach teachers how to intervene in
these situations. I mean, they have to understand. We have got
to put out a program that we talk about on the Dr. Phil Show is
trying to teach kids that telling is not tattling. If you are
going to a responsible adult and identifying, that is not
tattling because we have taught our kids that is not the thing
to do.
And we need to get them to understand, and I have written
so extensively about this, and my son, Jay, wrote a New York
Times best seller about bullying and how to stop it. And in
there we talk about the fact that if you are watching someone
bully someone else, cyber-bully or any other way, and you do
nothing about it, you are as guilty as the person that is doing
it. So you have to close the ranks and support.
And peer interventions don't help as far as them stepping
up and saying ``don't do this.'' But you have to support the
target and you have to be willing to talk to the teachers and
counselors and administrators. We have to get all of the
bystanders involved.
Mr. Platts. In a sense in law school, we had a strict honor
code where if you are aware of cheating and don't report it,
you are then responsible as well. That mentality out there--
with parents who I think one of the challenges is that the old
guard, us guys who didn't grow up with all of this technology,
that, you know, the parents kind of shrug it off.
What do you think is the best way to make the case? Is it
telling the stories of what happened to parents who understand?
This isn't something you can shrug off. It is a real threat to
your kids.
Mr. McGraw. It truly is. It is not a talk that you have
with your children. It is a dialogue. It is an ongoing
dialogue. It is not something where you sit down to talk. You
have to constantly be in a dialogue with them about what is
happening and not only about whether or not someone is
demeaning them or writing things about them or posting
pictures, but also making sure that they are not part of this,
that they are not doing that.
I have never talked to a parent of a bully that knew that
their child was doing this. It is always, I had no idea they
were picking on this child. I had no sense of it whatsoever. We
have got to get them to talk about it. And the only way they
can do this is they understand the technology, which a lot of
us parents don't. They don't understand the Facebooks and all
of that.
But that information is out there. I mean, if you go
nowhere except to Parry and all of the things that you guys do,
that is one-stop shopping right there. You get what you need to
know right there.
Ms. Aftab. If I may explain, cyber-bullying is not one
thing. It is a lot of things. We found that 85 percent of the
elementary school students share their password with at least
one other person, and 70 percent of high schoolers do,
especially the best friend or someone they are dating. If
someone is armed with your secrets and your passwords they can
do really serious destruction when tomorrow you hate each other
which happens several times a day.
If we can deal with digital hygiene, teaching kids a
password that is easy to use, not easy to guess, easy to
remember. And the Girl Scouts came up with something they
called designer passwords when we were doing the training.
Twizzlers and Clueless, your favorite candy and your favorite
movies. Something that you remember and other people won't. If
we can lock other people out of their account, keep their
passwords protected, use a good cybersecurity software. And if
your son really wants a cell phone, I will introduce you to
Taser with their new product on cell phone security that you
can actually see what he's doing.
But if we can put it together so the easy things are out of
there, so that the kids are better protected, better secured,
we have locked our doors, then the rest is just behavioral.
And when we talked about Columbine, I was getting 10,000 e-
mails a day from parents saying how do I know if my kids have
one of those Web sites. My answer was ask. When we did a survey
of kids who were using computer games, parents had no idea what
they were doing on these computer games, that they could use
Internet over phone. And I said to the kids would you tell your
parents? They said sure, but they never ask.
Even though a dialogue is crucial, if you just start with,
``Do you have one of these things?'' and although it is hard to
find the experts and none of the parents are, and frankly, I am
not an expert on how the technology works. That is why I work
with kids. Ask your teens. They are free and they do house
calls. So what you say is if you want this new device for
Christmas, tell me what it does. Three Cs: Content, contact and
cost. Tell me what the content risks are, tell me what the
contact, how you can talk to people, people can talk to you.
Can you get into trouble by downloading music you are not
supposed to be doing or something that is going to cost me
money that I didn't agree to.
If the kids can answer those questions they might be old
enough for it. My guess is that Tom can do that. And I will
help you get him on to cell phones when you think he is ready.
Chairwoman McCarthy. I hope my granddaughter is not
watching because she will be 10 in October and for the last 3
years, she thought she could bully grandma into getting a phone
and I said absolutely not.
Ms. Aftab. Never underestimate the power of grandparents in
this whole issue of bullying.
Mr. Scott.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madame Chair. I serve on this
committee, Education and Labor, and also chair the crime
subcommittee, so this has interest to me on this committee and
also my other committee. And so I would like to start with Dr.
Srabstein. Could you say a little bit about the effect of
cyber-bullying or bullying in general on suicide, dropping out
of school, delinquency, and gang members.
Dr. Srabstein. There is a whole array of medical,
educational and risk problems associated with bullying and
cyber-bullying. To start with, there are cross-sectional
studies based on national prevalence in the United States that
shows that at least 5 percent of U.S. adolescents may suffer
from a combination of frequently occurring physical and
emotional symptoms linked to their participation in bullying as
bullies, perpetrators or bullies victims. With the latter,
being the youngsters that have the worst broken noses, not only
in terms of health problems but also in terms of death. And
they are usually misunderstood because in school they will say,
Well what do you expect, if you are doing this, this is what
they are doing to you.
And we need to recognize that those children and
adolescents and sometimes adults may have both situations. They
are victims, and we need to support them and we need also to
help them as a public health issue for them not to hurt others.
Now, the kind of array of problems may include a cluster of
frequently occurring symptoms like depression, irritability,
anxiety, headaches, stomachaches, dizziness, difficulty in
sleeping. All of them happening at the same time. This is 5
percent of at least of U.S. adolescents grade 6 to 10 that may
have these symptoms linked to their participation.
Now, within this group, 50 percent of them are at risk of
hurting themselves. We don't know the rate of mortality. We do
know that there are at least 250 cases of deaths reported in
newspapers in the last decade. But that is just the tip of the
iceberg. Furthermore, they are more at risk of suffering from
accidental injuries besides the suicide attempts. They are more
prone to abuse over-the-counter medication, get into fights,
run away from home, and be frequently absent from school. And
again, those that are bullies and victims are in the worst
prognosis.
Mr. Scott. We know the problems that result from bullying.
Do bullying prevention and intervention programs work? Can they
be replicated? And while--I am going to run out of time--and do
activities that involve live interaction like Girl Scouts and
others, are they helpful in reducing cyber bullying and
bullying generally?
Dr. Srabstein. What we do now is a prevention intervention
programs for the whole bullying at large, and cyber bullying is
very much intertwined with bullying in general because it
happens in different settings. We can probably apply that to
cyber bullying as well although cyber bullying itself as it is
being discussed this morning has its own peculiar aspects that
doesn't happen in the other setting.
Mr. Scott. I want to know whether or not we are talking
about putting something in ESEA, do the bullying prevention and
intervention programs work and what should we be putting into
ESEA?
Dr. Srabstein. They only produce, in the best chance, up to
50 percent but in general, not more than 20 or 30 percent, and
therefore, you need a three-level intervention: primary,
secondary, and tertiary intervention having the whole village
involved in this. It is not just the schools, health
professionals, the parents, the whole community. Primary
prevention in terms of raising awareness and creating better
environment in the schools.
Secondary intervention in terms of detection of incidents
not only in the schools, but by all health professionals when
they meet with children and adolescents for any particular
reason being an accident or being just a regular physical just
to ask them, explain to them that they are here concerned as
health professionals that bullying is a problem, ask the
children if they are being bullied and then ask them if they
have any health problems related to that.
The problem remains in reporting this to the school because
most of the kids are very afraid because of the culture of the
reporting things, and so the last element is tertiary
intervention. Many of the kids, no matter what may be done in
the schools, especially the perpetrators, they may not be able
to stop bullying even if they are sensitized and counseled for
a lot of different reasons, including their impulsivity, mood
instability and so on.
So at the end of the day, medical treatment of the tertiary
provision may be needed.
Mr. Scott. I think some of the others wanted to answer if
they could.
Ms. Paris. The efficacy of the prevention program depends
on the person who is implementing it. You will hear that 90
percent of the schools having programs. That is not indicative
of how effective they are at all. You have to front end it and
backload it. You have to say right up front there is an
expectation. If we don't define purposefully the culture on our
campuses, our students are going to do it for us.
So as administrators, we have to say right up front this is
the culture of our campus and that conduct is not permissible.
Then when we implement our programs, we implemented an
anonymous program and the surveys went from 80 percent of
students who said bullying was a problem on our campus. Within
1 year of having that program, it dropped to under 20 percent.
So was that an effective program on our campus? Absolutely.
Why? Because we took it seriously, we communicated that to the
students, and on the back end of that the consequences for
violating that expectation were swift.
So is it effective? Depends on entirely on who is
implementing the program.
Ms. Aftab. I think it depends on who is delivering it. Not
just as the expertise, but whether it is kids or adults. We are
finding as a peer-driven program those of the Girl Scouts,
those that are coming out of the Thin Line campaign at MTV,
those that come from our Teen Angels are working, and what you
need to do is tell the stories. Although in cyber-bullying I
caution not to just look at the suicides, because so many more
kids are hurt every day.
If you tell the real stories, if you tell the story of
Megan Meier, if you tell the story of Jesse Logan, if you tell
the real stories as real kids, you see changes of behavior
immediately. We have 500,000 kids who took a pledge against
cyber-bullying, 200,000 of them took it in a 48-hour period
when it was posted on line.
If you let them know what it means, you can let them know
what to do to stop it in themselves, and when to report it and
what will happen when they do? You see changes, remarkable
changes, but what we need to do is use their language, and make
it meaningful and make it real.
Mr. Scott. Can you tell us where we can find the research
on this, on effective bullying prevention programs?
Ms. Aftab. I was part of the NTIA OSTWG report and I was
also part of the Berkman Center, and I don't think they are
very good academic research on this because kids lie often. So
when you ask them questions, when you are doing academic
research, you don't often get the answer. I will share the
research that we have done from the Teen Angels asking kids--it
is not academic, but there are 500 to 1,000 responses to each
of their surveys, and I will share that with you on this. But
we need to recognize we can't give up, and even if you stop one
kid or a few kids and you let them know what they are doing
crosses that line, you will stop some of it. That is what we
have to do.
Our stop cyber-bullying toolkit comes out in September. It
is totally free. It has professional development surveys and
everything for LMK, and it is a free download for any schools
that want it and the industry helped put it together, a million
dollars worth of stuff that hopefully, if I am hit by a truck
we will be able to perpetuate the work.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Mr. Guthrie.
Mr. Guthrie. Thank you for coming today.
Are your parents with you today?
Ms. Napolitano. My mom is with me.
Mr. Guthrie. You have got to be very proud because you have
done a very good job. My youngest is a rising seventh grader as
well, so the issues that you talked about in my house we try to
monitor everything we can do. And as a parent as a rising
seventh grader, just advice on how I can monitor my daughter
from what you have seen and learned that would be interesting
to learn and hear for the rest of the committee as well.
What things do you think--and what point do you think it is
getting too much into seventh graders' business I guess?
Ms. Napolitano. I think some of the things that you should
do to maybe help watch what your kids are doing on the
Internet, or maybe to be like what my mom did, since she has my
passwords to Facebook. I know people don't want to give parents
their passwords because they want to keep what they have
private. But I think it is important for parents to have their
children's passwords, because I think they should be
monitoring, because if you don't have somebody's passwords, I
know, for example, with Facebook you can look at somebody's
page and not see really know what is going on. You can maybe
see a couple of their pictures, but you really can only see
what they are writing and other people are writing about them
if they have their passwords and personal information to get on
the Web site.
Mr. Guthrie. My wife got into Facebook for the purpose of
monitoring our children, so she is now an avid Facebooker.
And Dr. McGraw, or anyone really, once parents say this is
serious, I know this is what we are trying to do, this is
serious. What are the steps just as I asked Ms. Napolitano?
What should I do as a parent?
Mr. McGraw. I think the most important thing to do is put
yourself in the child's position and ask yourself how you would
be feeling if your peer group was saying or doing the things
that are being heaped upon your child because if you stand in
their shoes for a moment and understand at a particularly
vulnerable time--I mean, when a child is in middle school or
certainly even in upper school, this is the time that they are
defining themselves socially. It is when their self-image is
coming together their self-esteem is coming together, their
body image is coming together. And if that is under attack,
then you need to take that seriously as something that is going
to require some attention and some intervention.
And the problem is if a cyber-bully in any way is sending
those destructive messages, you might get five of those a day.
But the child will repeat them cognitively 10,000 times a day.
You have got to intervene with that internal dialogue, and the
best way to do that is to get the child to kind of do a test, I
call it a litmus logic test. Is this true, factually, what they
are saying here? Is this true. The answer is no. What is true?
Is it in your best interest to be thinking this.
Give them a checklist to go through and say if they are
saying that you are a nerd and nobody likes you, is that true.
Then let us generate what is true to take place of that. So
they understand you are not going to be the only voice in your
child's ear, so you need to be the best voice. You need to be
the most action-oriented voice and sometimes you have to put
those dots really close together. They are saying this about
you is it true. No, it is not. What is true. Let us write that
down. Let us journal that. Let us talk about that. Let us
replace this dialogue with something that is more constructive
and rational. And that is the exchange you have to have with
your child.
And just because your child rolls their eyes, they say of
course you love me, Dad, you have to, and they roll their eyes,
that doesn't mean they don't hear it, it doesn't mean they
won't replay it a thousand times when you get through talking.
You have got the stand up for your child.
Mr. Guthrie. I only got 30 seconds. I was discussing with
some people the other day where a mom of another student got on
somebody else's Facebook and posted--and we have that notorious
case of the bullying with the lady setting up the page. Do you
see parents bullying children? How common is that? That was
mentioned to me.
Mr. McGraw. It is tragically not rare. I mean, truly
sometimes the kid's parent will step up and say here is what
you should say, and pretty soon they are writing on this and it
crosses the line. They need that edit button that Chairwoman
McCarthy is talking about. It seemed like a good idea at the
time, but they need to not become part of the problem.
Ms. Aftab. We are seeing a lot of parents will intervene
when they think their kids are being cyber-bullied, and they
will actually reach out to the kids who have done something
that offended their kids directly and start taking them on and
identify themselves. But I think that it is so important that
we are empathetic and understand what to do, but there are some
easier things to do that are sort of point blank.
A, today, right now go home and tell your kids that you
promise that you will not overreact if they come to you when
things go wrong online. One of the reasons the kids don't tell
their parents, and only 95 percent of the kids said they won't
tell their parents, is because they are afraid they are going
to get into trouble because they weren't supposed to be on
Facebook to begin with. So promise you are not going to
overreact, promise you are not going to pick up the phone and
start screaming to the other kids or their parents or call the
FBI.
Then what you need to do is teach them to stop, block and
tell. You heard Dave talk about how they put a move in there.
Stop. Don't answer back. Block the person, and tell a trusted
adult. And that works very well with the younger kids. You
might have seen it on the Front Line special.
And last is take five. When something bad happens real
life, online, put down the mouse or the cell phone and walk
away from the device until you are calm. For 5 minutes do
something that helps you feel comfortable, feel strong, read a
book, go for a walk, play with your puppy, beat up your
brother--I know Dr. Phil will not be happy that I said that.
But do something that helps you find your center so you avoid
doing something you are going to regret like hurting yourself
and others. If Megan Meier had disengaged from the computer,
that 2\1/2\ hours might not have killed her. But she never
disengaged because every time you are cyber-bullied, you go
back and you reinflict the pain because you see it on line, and
after a while you start to believe it so you revisit the scene
of the crime.
So we need to get them to start doing it. So tell your kids
you are not going to overreact. Teach them to stop, block and
tell teach them to take 5 and maybe once in a while teach them
to use the technology.
Chairwoman McCarthy. We have been notified that there is
probably going to be a vote going off in about 15 minutes so
unfortunately, I am going to have to probably enforce the red
light now. Ms. Shea-Porter.
Ms. Shea-Porter. Thank you all for being here. It is a huge
problem in our culture and it really has reached tragic
proportions. I am glad to see the attention that we are paying
to it here and also what all of you out there are doing.
Dr. McGraw, I wanted to start with you. I read an article
recently that this generation has less empathy. Now I have got
two young adults whom I consider very empathetic and I consider
their friends empathetic, but I wonder if that is your
experience. Can we teach empathy because we are not just
talking about tools and technology, we are talking about the
ability of one human being to understand and feel for another.
And are parents falling down in that department?
Mr. McGraw. I do think there is a problem, and I am not
sure that it can be as simply expressed as a lack of empathy
because research tells us that it is very difficult to teach
and develop empathy if it isn't there at the developmental
stages that it should be. But I am not sure that is exactly
what we are dealing with. I think what we are dealing with is
we are not living in the fast lane. We are living in the laser
lane. And our kids are not developing the relational skills
that you are required to develop if you don't have all of this
technology.
There was a time when you--we have kids texting their moms
from their bedroom, Is dinner ready yet; texting their brother
next door, Quit getting my stuff you idiot. Those stuff are
happening. Used to be you had to go look someone in the eye and
that required you to develop the interpersonal skills that
simply are not required when you are texting or typing. And I
think that is what is happening here.
And it is so easy to write something and not look the
person in the eye and see the pain that they are experiencing,
the pain that they are feeling. You wouldn't say that if you
were looking Suzy in the eye or Billy in the eye and you saw
that this hurt them, that their shoulders dropped their head
dropped. You get information from interpersonal exchange that
you don't get from the one dimensional aspect of cyber
communication. And that is a problem. That is why we see kids
going away further in relationships because they are being
bombarded with so much stuff on the Internet.
When we grew up, there were three TV channels you were
watching, I Love Lucy or Gunsmoke, and we are still waiting for
Matt to kiss Kitty. And they just never showed that. But now we
are getting bombarded with all of this sexual content. It is
racing kids along to a much further level then they are really
mature enough to handle.
Ms. Shea-Porter. I didn't know TV was on except for Sunday
night, and we were carefully controlled. It was a good thing. I
thought it ended 7 o'clock Sunday night. It was over.
Mr. McGraw. Those of us on during the week and during the
day, let us not go too far. Let us be reasonable here.
Ms. Shea-Porter. Let me ask Ms. Aftab a question.
I see a lot of industries are being drawn into this, how
about the cultural heroes of this generation? Are they too
engaging in this because kids will listen to somebody who sings
to them or impresses them on a film faster sometimes then they
will listen to parents?
Is that part of who you are drawing into this dialogue now?
Ms. Aftab. It is. It is a challenge. I will tell you that.
Because often when we tell kids not to send sexts and we choose
somebody who can be a role model the next day, we find out that
they are sending sexts. But that is one of the reasons when we
turn to MTV. We welcomed that. We got Girl Scouts on one end
and MTV on the other. And there are a lot of things that MTV
can bring to the table and others can't. They can make it cool
when other things happen. When they ask a question, they will
find out that the kids who indicated they were involved in
sexting were three to four times more likely to indicate that
they considered suicide. That you will only get on MTV.
So we are looking at it, but it is hard to find anybody
other than Spiderman who won't take off their clothes in front
of the camera. But we also need to recognize that was part of
the real world and that was the excitement that we had. We also
have Nickelodeon, that is going to be stepping out and doing a
lot more. You are going to be seeing it on television shows and
online. Disney is doing a lot more online and on the television
shows.
So you find a range of heroes and influencers to the kids
and touch them. Seventeen Magazine starting a year-long
campaign on this one starting in August on Letters to Phoebe.
So we have to find all of the kids you need to reach and all of
the different places they go for information from Dr. Phil to
Girl Scouts.
Ms. Shea-Porter. I thank you all.
And I just have one last question Ms. Napolitano.
How did you get, or how did the school come together to
stand up to it? What is different about your school versus some
others? Do you have a different atmosphere in school from the
time you have gone there? Has there been an effort on the part
of the administration to keep you all close?
Ms. Napolitano. I feel like school does a very good job and
really working and just not even cyber-bullying, just problems
in general. My school, if anyone has an issue, we have a very
good, we have a campus ministry program. And we even let in
freshman year know in the beginning of the orientation, or even
transfer students are known inside the handbook, if anybody was
having a problem, whether it be over the Internet or within
school, to just come to ministry, one of the campus ministers
or principal or anybody who is in charge to talk about any of
the issues that they are facing.
So I think that my school is very comforting and allows
them--I think I feel very safe, if I ever had a problem, to go
to an administrator.
Ms. Shea-Porter. Thank you very much.
I yield back.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and ranking
member. Thanks to the panel for very, very important topic that
we are addressing today. And the work that you have done, your
leadership in terms of raising awareness and prevention and
survival. I think my colleague, Mr. Guthrie, kind of stimulated
some discussion, actually one of the questions I had. Dr. Phil,
you talked about being that best voice in your children's lives
and the different very practical because, you know, obviously
this is something we would love to prevent, but reality is we
minimize so we need to make sure that we are doing what we can
to help our kids survive this in a very healthy way,
emotionally and physically.
Ms. Napolitano, thank you for being here representing the
Girl Scouts and representing what your school has done on this
issue.
You mentioned a Web site to particularly educate parents
about the ever-changing technological world. In your
experience, do many girls share that Web site with their
parents?
Ms. Napolitano. The LMK Web site? I would say that a lot of
people, I think when they see anybody who does obviously view
the LMK Web site I think they would tell their parents because
I think it is through our mission statement it is not only a
Web site for teenagers, although it does obviously base around
teenagers, but it also says parents should look at the Web site
as well to learn more information about cyber-bullying, not
even cyber-bullying, also other issues such as sexting and many
different issues involved on the Internet. So it is not only to
educate youth but also to educate parents as well.
Mr. Thompson. It seems like it would really help them with
raising awareness and information. Do you see it take that next
step? Does it stimulate the conversation do you find that
between the girls and their parents?
Ms. Napolitano. I think it does because I think now not
only are teens getting involved on like learning about Internet
more about safety, but I think now that parents know more
information, I think they feel safer letting their children get
a Facebook or a MySpace. I mean, even before LMK, I wasn't
allowed to have a Facebook because my mom said that is not a
very good Web site. She didn't want to let me on it because she
didn't know much about it.
But I think when parents learn more about the Internet, I
think they will feel more safe allowing their children to enter
a Web site as long as they know what is going on and what they
are writing.
Mr. Thompson. Dr. Srabstein, cyber-bullying is a relatively
new occurrence. It has been relative as long as this technology
has provided, I guess, a new tool for bullies to go from
virtual--from there into the virtual world. Is the current
research on this issue definitive enough to help us understand
the problem?
Dr. Srabstein. It is limited. If one does a search under
the National Library of Medicine, one can find not more than 25
papers at all of which perhaps three or four, five at the most,
may be linked to health issues.
So we are learning, first of all, the whole issue of
bullying at large, although as it existed forever, we are just
learning about it. Five years ago, I didn't know how to spell
bullying. The kids were parading in front of my eyes and I
never asked them about being bullied and we were making
diagnoses based on other issues when they could have post
traumatic stress disorder and so on.
So with that framework, within that context, it is an
evolving issue. And cyber-bullying is the newest form of this
new ``issue'' of bullying.
Basically what we are dealing with is 45 years after United
States and Congress learned that there was something called
child abuse, that was in 1964, we are reexperiencing the same
thing again right now with the understanding that the whole
issue of bullying and mistreatment is a serious issue. And
without that, the whole issue of cyber-bullying is, in itself,
different but it is even newer.
So I can't answer your question, Congressman. It is very
new. And with all humility, I know more about bullying right
now but cyber-bullying I am just learning. And in my clinical
experience, I don't find many patients that are being cyber-
bullied. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist there. It
means that I may not have been asking about cyber-bullying and/
or if I asked them, they may not have said that, in fact, that
was the case because they were afraid.
Mr. Thompson. And looks like my time has expired. Thank
you.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mr. Thompson.
Ms. Clarke.
Ms. Clarke. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, Ranking
Member. It is a very, very important hearing, and I am glad to
see that all of you have come and shared with us.
One of the things that have concerned me for some time is
that the despite the fact that we acknowledge the diversity of
the types of households, parents, guardians, that exist in our
civil society, we still sort of have a monolithic view to this
term ``parent.'' And I am concerned about how that is
translated into the various tools we use to combat bullying.
What is the role of religious institutions, social, and
public institutions and other vehicles in our civil society to
address this technological facet of our lives? Would you share
that with us because, again, I come from a two-parent
household, but a lot of my peers didn't. And so when I say
``parent,'' I am thinking my mother and father. And I have
colleagues and friends, my contemporaries, who are were in
foster care.
Can we talk a little bit about that?
Ms. Aftab. Absolutely. One of the issues you need to
recognize is our kids have a lot of influencers. We talked
about people they may look to in the media, but it may be their
older brother or sister, a neighbor, baby sitters. It can be a
teacher at school, it could be faith-based organizations or
somebody in Girl Scouts. It could be your coach. It might be
somebody who is even younger than you are. Whoever can
influence our kids need to be involved here because they need
to be a safe place for our kids to land. They need to know what
to do. They need to know how to do it. They need to know that
you don't call lawyers. You give them a hug first and let them
know they are okay. And we have to deliver it in a on lot of
different ways. There are a lot of parents who aren't on
Facebook. There are a lot of parents who will walk into a
Build-a-Bear store in the mall and who may not see it on line.
It could be parents who have that old VHS that none of us
knew how to use but thankfully the technology got us past that.
So we need to take these sessions and put them on tape and
allow the libraries and the schools to give them out to their
parents. Maybe you are a secretary somewhere and some one will
print out a one pager and hand it to you.
We need to figure out the right language, the right way to
reach them and what it is we want them to do when they get it.
Some basic real quick simple sort of three things. I call them
cyber-bully bytes.
Someone in Billings, Montana, sent me an e-mail this
morning at sports events, school because all the parents go to
that; they don't come to Internet safety presentations--they
are giving out these little cards and it says do you know, and
on the other side they are going to put some facts and let
parents know where to go for help and all the caretakers. But
you are exactly right. And I think we are failing people.
So when they watch Dr. Phil, they are going to learn a lot
more than a session at school the parents don't come to. Maybe
a sense of being home with the students and you teach the kids
to teach the parents and that way we can engage everyone
because without it, our kids are really at risk.
Dr. Srabstein. As a matter of fact, in Maryland, we have
created an informal Coalition For the Prevention of Bullying
with different sectors of the community. And we recognize that
we want going to bring into this coalition representatives of
different religious organizations.
I think in our so society, there is a tremendous role that
from the pulpit, religious leaders, rabbis, minister, priests
and so on, can educate us. That with the use of words, we can
kill, and so now our tradition we should not kill, but we can
kill in a way that we can hurt definitely and we can kill with
a use of words and that can not be legislated all of the issues
of free speech and so on. And we don't have drivers licenses or
license of how we conduct exchange of words.
Ms. Clarke. Does anyone else want to chime in on?
I just wanted to share that I think we also need to look at
work places. Most people who have access to technology are
accessing it because they have to use it for their work. And I
don't know whether we have got employers involved in this
issue, but I just wanted to share that as perhaps another
avenue.
Ms. Aftab. IBM sent Internet safety a tour of their teens
life out to all of their employees worldwide. Toys-R-Us came to
us to look at things, and the first thing they wanted to do was
educate their employees. We are seeing that Proctor and Gamble
is doing the same. So if we can reach the large corporations
and even the small ones. And someone mentioned to me the other
day that if you are employing teens, you need to know about
this because the kids you are employing are at risk. But that
is an absolutely great way to do it and it is cheap because
somebody has a photocopier.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you. And I thank you again each
and every one of you for your testimony and for your time being
here.
As I was listening to the testimony you know right now we
are getting the attention from the media and I appreciate that
and we are looking at where schools are getting involved and
the health care are getting involved.
But this is why I also believe why we need Federal
legislation. Mainly because I am afraid where are we going to
be a year from now when Dr. Phil, your producer is going to say
to you okay, enough, get on to another subject. I have plenty
of subjects, by the way, you can talk about.
So this is why I believe on the Federal level we need to
put something in place with the educational system because
Dominique is going to graduate from high school and we are
going to have a whole new group of children coming up.
Technology is going to change more rapidly than we can ever do
legislation.
So I think it is important that we do it right. I think
that each and every one of you have done a tremendous job on
working on this and being there for our young people. But it is
up to us to make sure our schools do stay safe. I hope that we
can come up--one of my colleagues, Linda Sanchez from
California, had some great legislation on this issue. I plan on
working with her on being able to bring it into the education
bill.
So with that being said. And I also want to say to take a
time out and having a hearing like this, I know a lot of people
don't really pay attention to it. And that is a shame, but I
think it is important for Members because believe it or not, if
they are not here, and they are in their office a lot of time,
they do listen to hearings that go on.
But I think that one thing that I want to add is the
valuable role that the media can play. In the case of Dr. Phil
with his work raising awareness on keyboard bulliness, which I
think is a great sound bite, by the way, he has shown us the
valuable role he has already played in these efforts which have
been tremendous, and I hope that other media figures do come
through.
I also want to mention Mr. Finnegan, the organization, your
business, that is also reaching out because you are reaching
out to the younger people because hopefully we can catch them
before they go into the teen years and become maybe a little
more obsessed about what they are doing.
So with that, as you heard the bells going off, we have 11
minutes to get downstairs to vote. So with that from the
hearings and the guide that you have given us, we move forward
with reauthorizing ESEA, and I appreciate you all being here,
and as previously--oh, absolutely.
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to make a real
brief statement in closing.
Again, a sincere thanks to each of you and by your
testimony here today, and especially by your advocacy every day
in your respective roles, we have mentioned a fair number of
children who have lost their lives because of bullying and
cyber-bullying. Your efforts is a way that they are being
honored and remembered, and for them and their families that
the tragic loss of their lives will not be in vain. Because of
your efforts that loss of life will help us do better sand
protect the lives of others going forward. And so I truly
commend each of you for what you are doing, and Madam Chair,
for you in holding this hearing to do just the same. And this
really is about life and death issues. And each of you are
playing a key role in honoring those who lost their lives and
making sure that we prevent every loss of life going forward.
Thank you, Madame Chair.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mr. Platts. As previously
ordered, members will have 14 days to split additional
materials for the record hearing. Any member who wishes to
submit follow-up questions in writing to the witnesses should
coordinate with the majority staff within the requested time.
Without objection, this hearing is now adjourned. Thank you
again.
[The statement of Nancy Willard follows:]
Prepared Statement of Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D., Director,
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
This statement has been submitted by researchers, risk prevention
professionals, and others who focus on issues of youth risk online. We
appreciate the interest of the House Subcommittee Healthy Families and
Communities in the issue of cyberbullying. We felt it would be helpful
for you to gain insight from academic researchers and risk prevention
professionals who are applying what is known about effective risk
prevention to these emerging concerns.
Youth risk online issues must be recognized as a continuum of risky
or harmful behavior that includes online and off-line interactions. The
young people who are at the greatest risk online are those who also are
at greater risk off-line.
The overall approach to address youth risk online must be grounded
in the development of strategies to enhance both a positive school
community as well as a positive online community-a school-based
positive behavior support program with a strong focus on helping all
students gain effective interpersonal relationships and dispute
resolution skills. Fortunately, there are excellent research-based
prevention and intervention programs, including bullying prevention
programs, that can be expanded upon to address these new risks.
In addition to this foundation, young people must gain insight into
the specific risks associated with communication technologies. There
are factors related to use of these technologies that are influencing
the situations, sometimes in harmful ways. Young people may place
material in electronic format, such as nude images, that can then be
used against them. Often the perception of invisibility and the lack of
tangible feedback can exacerbate the harmful or risky behavior. The
technologies can allow for the involvement or witnessing of the harm by
many others.
However, there are also ``silver linings.'' Because ``evidence'' is
in electronic format this can allow adults to more fully understand the
situation, support effective investigations, and provide early
warnings. Additionally, the use of these technologies to provide
information, support, and crisis intervention to ``at risk'' youth is
demonstrating significant potential for success.
Research has consistently demonstrated that the majority of young
people are generally making good choices online and effectively
responding to the negative situations that do occur. Therefore, risk
prevention professionals can rely on social norms risk prevention
approaches-which consistently demonstrate effectiveness. Because many
times these incidents are occurring outside of adult supervision, a
strong focus must be on empowering and encouraging young people to be
effective educators and mediators--and to report online concerns to
adults.
As will be outlined below, we would encourage federal legislation
that will:
Ensure multidisciplinary coordination at the federal,
state, and local level that includes safe schools, educational
technology, juvenile justice, Internet crimes, and mental health.
Provide for effective ongoing assessment of youth risk
online behavior, as well as risk and protective factors and
relationship to off-line risk behavior.
Support the implementation of innovative prevention and
intervention programs to address youth risk online, as well as those
that use online technologies to address youth risk, that have a
substantial likelihood of success.
Address concerns related the authority of school officials
to respond to off-campus actions of students that have or could
substantially disrupt school or significantly interfere with the safety
of students or their ability to fully participate in instruction and
school activities.
Use communication technologies for the provision of risk
prevention and intervention services to ``at risk'' youth.
Research on Youth Risk Online
High quality academic research has provided excellent insight into
issues related to youth risk online. Clearly ongoing research is
necessary. Four recommended resources for research insight, two of
which are extensive literature reviews, are cited at the end of this
document.
The principal research findings in the area of cyberbullying
include:
Cyberbullying is a significant concern impacting many
young people, but with different degrees of severity. The reported
incident rate of cyberbullying ranges greatly, apparently due to
differences in research methodology, including how the questions are
asked. Some surveys have not distinguished between minor and
significant incidents. In the surveys that ask, generally half of the
respondents say they were not distressed. Thus, there is a need in
future research to focus more on the extent of harm and effectiveness
of youth response strategies.
There is a significant difference between the less
distressing online-only incidents and more distressing known-peer
incidents. Teaching students how to avoid and effectively respond to
online-only or other minor incidents will help make these incidents
more easily manageable, less distressing, and stop escalation. The
continuing incidents between known peers are causing the highest degree
of distress. Addressing these incidents will be more challenging.
Further, these incidents will impact schools. They are generally
closely intertwined with on-campus bullying and are far more likely to
lead to retaliation at school. A significant portion of incidents
appear to involve retaliation, both online and at school.
Both the aggressors and targets who are involved in the
more significant altercations appear to present significant
psychosocial concerns. They report involvement in offline aggression,
which is more likely to occur where they are physically together. They
report disrupted care-giver-child relationships. Therefore, schools
will be less able to rely on parents for effective supervision,
prevention, and response. However, there is also emerging evidence of
involvement in cyberbullying by young people who have not traditionally
been perceived as being involved in the bullying situations. These are
the much more sophisticated, high social-status, youth whose
aggressive, ``put-down'' behavior is becoming more evident to
responsible adults now that they are engaged in these activities
online.
The vast majority of young people are not reporting these
incidents to adults. The reasons appear to include: Lack of trust that
adults can effectively help them resolve these situations. A
developmental expectation that they should be able to resolve their own
disputed--and many times they have. Fear of getting into trouble and
losing Internet access. It is also important to address the new
challenge that school administrators are facing, that of ``sexting''--
sending nude images and sexually explicit text messages. There have
been three reported studies in this area, none of which have been
academically reviewed. However, across these three studies, common
patterns appear to be emerging.
A minority of teens are engaging in sexting activity.
Involvement appears to increase with age. Boys and girls appear to be
participating in this activity at an equivalent rate.
A significant amount of this activity is related to
personal relationships. This includes current relationships and desired
relationships.
Of significant concern is that many teens, over half in
one survey, reported that they provided in response to pressure by
others to provide these images. There is also other survey data that
suggests that abusive partners are using these technologies for
manipulation and control.
An analysis of reported incidents leads to the
identification of four basic types of incidents:
Developmentally normative behavior where there is no
intent to cause harm, but a mistake may lead to distribution. Most
frequently, these are situations in the context of personal
relationships or exchanges between friends.
Situations that constitute harassment by pressuring
someone to provide an image, distributing the image with intent to
cause harm, or sending images that are unwelcome.
Situations where the youth depicted is engaging in
dangerous solicitation activity--seeking sexual ``hook-ups'' or
actually engaging in sexual trafficking.
Situations that involve significantly exploitive behavior,
including coercion or the use of grooming tactics to obtain images and
engaging in blackmail upon receipt of images. The latter two kinds of
situations appear to be the minority.
Additional areas of youth risk online, especially those related to
sexual activities and personal relationships are addressed in the two
Berkman literature reviews identified below. Additional areas of
concern that also must be addressed, about which there is less
research, include youth who are engaging in online communities that
support or encourage self-harm including self-cutting, anorexia, drug
use, and other risky behavior, online gangs and hate groups, young
people who are engaging in or being trafficked for sex online, and
addictive access.
Challenges
There are significant current challenges in responding to these
youth risk online situations.
There is a significant need for professional development
of key safe school personnel, including principals, counselors/
psychologists, and school resource officers. The education of these
professionals is essential to ensure effective outreach to and
education of parents as well as youth.
In the 2010 federal budget, the funds available through
the Title IV Safe and Drug Free Schools program were cut by 40%. This
included elimination of all block grant funding for state and local;
safe school personnel. Thus, at the point in time when it is vitally
important for safe school personnel to be expanding their activities to
address these new challenges, many safe school programs throughout the
country are vanishing.
There is a lack of clarity about when school
administrators have the legal authority to respond to off-campus
activities of students that are or could impact the school environment
or interfere with the safety and educational performance of a student.
Further, there is a lack of clarity about search and seizure standards
with respect to a review of cell phone records, especially if there is
a suspicion that those records may reveal nude images.
Moving Forward
If there is any way within the context of possible additional
stimulus funding to the states for use by schools that funds could be
directed at preserving the safe school personnel, this should have high
priority. Schools are losing the very professionals they need to
mobilize to address these concerns.
The following are recommendations for how the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act could be amended to more effectively address
the concerns of youth risk online.
Coordinate youth risk online through interagency
cooperation--including Department of Education, Safe Schools and
Educational Technology, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention--Juvenile Justice and Internet Crimes, and the Department of
Health-Department of Mental Health and Center for Disease Control's
Division on Adolescent and School Health. Ensure coordinated
interactions with Internet and cell phone industry to address ongoing
issues related to site and services technologies and practices that may
negatively or positively impact youth safety.
Require that State Education Agencies and Local Education
Agencies establish a comparative multidisciplinary approach, ensuring
the involvement of professionals in school administration, school
counseling and psychology, educational technology, juvenile justice and
school resource officers, Internet crimes, and state and community
mental health.
Implement a Youth Risk Online Behavior survey that can be
delivered as a companion to the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior survey. This
will allow for the better understanding of risk and protective factors
and the interrelationship between off-line and online risk. Given time
constraints in administration it is not possible to simply add new
questions to the YRB.
Provide funding to support innovative multidisciplinary
programs to address youth risk online concerns--and to make use of
communication technologies to address the concerns of ``at risk''
youth. Follow the provisions already present within Title IV, Section
4115(a)(3), which allows Local Education Agencies to apply to their
State Education Agency for a waiver of the requirement to implement
programs that are scientifically based. The youth risk online
prevention and intervention and addressing youth risk through online
services programs should set forth a rationale grounded in effective
risk prevention that demonstrates a likelihood of success, with strong
evaluation and modification built into the process. There also should
be a way to link these programs through electronic communications--so
that the entire field can learn from each other and engage in
continuous improvement.
Include statutory language to address the legal concerns--
by making it clear that the school programs should address on-campus
activities as well as off-campus interactions that are brought to the
attention of school officials that have caused, or there are reasons to
predict will cause, a significant interference with the rights of
students to be secure and receive an education. This standard is in
accord with the emerging case law.
RESEARCH RESOURCES
Youth Violence and Electronic Media: Similar Behaviors, Different
Venues? Journal of Adolescent Health. December 2007 Supplement.
http://www.jahonline.org/content/suppl07.
Internet Safety Technical Task Force. (2009) Enhancing Child Safety and
Online Technologies: Final Report of the Internet Safety
Technical Task Force to the Multi-State Working Group on Social
Networking of State Attorneys General of the United States.
Appendix C: Literature Review from the Research Advisory Board.
Harvard University, Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/
ISTTF--Final--Report-APPENDIX--C--TF--Project--Plan.pdf.
Online Safety and Technology Working Group. (2010) Youth Safety on a
Living Internet (Collier & Nigam). Education Subcommittee
Report (Magid). http://www.ntia.doc.gov/advisory/ onlinesafety/
Biegler S. & boyd d (2010) Risky Behaviors and Online Safety: A 2010
Literature Review (DRAFT) Harvard University, Berkman Center
for Internet & Society. http://www.zephoria.org/ files/
2010SafetyLitReview.pdf.
CONCURRENCE
Patricia Agatston, PhD. Cobb County School District Prevention/
Intervention Center Co-Author of Cyberbullying: Bullying in the
Digital Age, Cyberbullying: A Prevention Curriculum for Grades
3-5, Cyberbullying: A Prevention Curriculum for Grades 6-12
(Hazeldon) Website: http://www.cyberbullyhelp.com Email:
[email protected]
Warren J. Blumenfeld, Ph.D. Department of Curriculum and Instruction,
Iowa State University Recent research article: LGBT and Allied
Youth Responses to Cyberbullying: Policy Implications,
International Journal of Critical Pedagogy Website: http://
www.ci.hs.iastate.edu/profiles/warren--blumenfeld.php and
http:// www.news.iastate.edu/news/2010/mar/cyberbullying Email:
[email protected]
Stan Davis Founding Member of International Bullying Prevention
Association Author of Schools Where Everybody Belongs and
Empowering Bystanders (Research Press) Website: http://
www.stopbullyingnow.com Email: [email protected]
Mike Donlin MCD-Consulting. Formerly with Seattle Public Schools
Prevention and Intervention Services -position eliminated due
to budget reductions and loss of Title IV funds Co-author of
Middle School Cyberbullying Curriculum (http://
www.seattleschools.org/area/ prevention/cbms.html) Email:
[email protected]
Elizabeth Englander, Ph.D Professor of Psychology and the founder and
Director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at
Bridgewater State College Delivers anti-violence and anti-
bullying programs, resources, and research for the state of
Massachusetts Website: http://www.bridgew.edu/marc/ Email:
[email protected]
Christopher J. Ferguson, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of
Behavioral Sciences, Texas A&M International University
Research focus: Examining violent behavior from a multivariate
format, examining the combined impact of genetics, family
environment, personality, mental health, and media violence.
Website: http://christopher.ferguson.socialpsychology.org/
Email: [email protected]
Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. Co-Director, Cyberbullying Research Center,
Associate Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal
Justice, Florida Atlantic University Co-Author of Bullying
Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to
Cyberbullying (Sage Publications) Website: http://
www.cyberbullying.us Email: [email protected]
Robin Kowalski, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Department of
Psychology, Clemson University Co-Author of Cyberbullying:
Bullying in the Digital Age, Cyberbullying: A Prevention
Curriculum for Grades 3-5, Cyberbullying: A Prevention
Curriculum for Grades 6-12 (Hazeldon)
Website: http://www.cyberbullyhelp.com Email: [email protected]
Sylvia Martinez President, Generation YES GenYES students help teachers
use technology in classrooms, supporting effective technology
integration school-wide and providing peer leadership to
address issues such as digital citizenship and safety Website:
http://genyes.com/ Email: [email protected]
Jason Ohler, Ph.D Professor Emeritus, Educational Technology,
University of Alaska Professor, Media Psychology, Fielding
Graduate University Author, Digital Community, Digital Citizen,
Taming the Beast- Choice and Control in the Electronic Jungle
Website: jasonOhler.com/dcEmail: [email protected]
Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. Co-Director, Cyberbullying Research Center,
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Department of
Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Co-Author
of Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to
Cyberbullying (Sage Publications) Website: http://
www.cyberbullying.us Email: [email protected]
Russell A. Sabella, Ph.D. Counseling Program, College of Education,
Florida Gulf Coast University Former President, American School
Counselors Association Website: http://ww.guardingkids.com
Email: [email protected]
Shaheen Shariff, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Integrated
Studies in Education/ Principal Investigator, International
Project on Cyber-bullying, Faculty of Education, McGill
University, Montreal, Quebec. Canada Author of: Confronting
Cyber-bullying: What schools need to know to control misconduct
and avoid legal consequences (Cambridge University Press) and
Cyber-Bullying: Issues and Solutions for the School, the
Classroom and the Home (Routledge)
Website: http://cyberbullying.brinkster.net/ Email:
[email protected]
Alison Trachtman Hill, MPA PhD candidate in Sociology at The Graduate
Center, City University of New York (CUNY), studying the ways
in which culture and gender socialization impact girls'
identities and relationships in online communities. Critical
Issues for Girls Website: http://www.ci4g.com Email:
[email protected]
Jenny L. Walker, Ph.D. President, Cyberbullying Consulting, Ltd.
Speaker, consultant and expert on cyberbullying and positive
uses of technology among youth Website: http://
www.cyberbullyingnews.com/ Email: [email protected]
______
[Whereupon, at 11:53 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]