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What To Do |
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What To Do If It Happens To You! |
| There are several avenues for action, depending opun who the cyberbully is and what the cyberbully has done. Victims do have recourse, and cyberbullies can be stopped, and sometimes even prosecuted for criminal or civil offenses. Federal, state and local laws protect individuals and personal property from bias-based prejudice, slander and defamation, vandalism, sexual harassment, assualt, and other criminal intent and actions. New Jersey law also criminalizes the use of the internet and electroinc communications devices to commit harassment and stalking. (SB1616, enacted August 24, 2001.) Harassment broadly consists of the intentional crossing of your emotional or physical safety boundaries. Again, stalking can begin online, but then transfer to In Real Life stalking. |
- Act Immediately! The longer you wait, the harder it is to successfully identify the subject.
- If You Are Receiving Death Threats or believe yourself or your family to be in immediate physical danger, dial 9-1-1 immediately.
- Do Not Engage In Any More Communications With That Person. Do not respond at all. It will help your "case" if you can prove you are not participating in the chat, or doing anything else to provoke it. You do not have to open or read any printed messages, either.
- Open A New File Folder, Name It "Abuse", And Use It To Save All Messages, in whatever manner you have to. If it is text, save it directly in your new folder, or copy and paste it to a Word document. If live, try to record the conversation. Write down the content of the message, the daet and time it was sent and/or received, and the caller's name and number,
- Print Copies of all messages. In Chat Room or Message Board, Print Screen and copy/save.
- If You Haven't Already Followed Our Advice, Now Is The Time To Immediately Tell An Adult You Trust - a parent, gaurdian, teacher - someone! DOn't Wait! It is not you fault, you are not alone, and you cannot handle this by yourself! Be Safe!
- Start A Journal. Record and entry every time the sender or caller contacts you. including the username, date, time and method. Names of any witnesses. Note whether you were able to save the message, and the document name. Record your emotions at that time - ho wthe message made you feel.
- Try To Identify Who The Sender or Caller Is. Many times, the cyberbully is someone you know! Try to indentify the person based upon your relationship and their motive. Try to make a list of names of anyone who might be angry with you, or generally dislike you.
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If it happened in school, or if you are being cyberbillied by another student, tell your teacher, principal, guidance counselor or school resource officer what has happened. Bring printouts of the messages or Web pages or anything else that can show them whathas been going on. New Jersey law has mandated that schools have policies and procedures in place to deal with bullying, harassment and intimidation.
If you are online: Every person online has a screen name and an Internet Service Provider (ISP) (username@ISP.com). Record the cyberbully's username and ISP. Sometimes you will not be able to tell because the person will use an anonymous remailer, (e.g. HotMails!, Yahoo!). In that case try to print out the "full header." (Sign onto www.haltabuse.org/headers for instructions for most major Internet Service Provider)
If it is a voice mail or mobile text message: Try to indentify the caller/sender through that person's voice, user name or telephone number. Many units have a built-in memory or memory card which can store a limited number of sent and received messages, and which identify the call number, so check your "recent calls" log. Dial *69 to identify the originating call number.
Contact Your Service Provider (telephone company or Internet Service Provider) to report the harrassment, adn to ask for assistance inidentifying the sender or caller, obtaining a copy of the data, tracing the messages or call(s) and investigating the abuse. Provide them with copies of the messages. Go online to find how to contact your Internet Service Provider. Instructions are usually listed under "Member Services" or "Terms and Conditions." You will also be able to print out a copy of their user agreements, which forbid the type of behaviour and abuse you are facing. Send an e-mail. Follow that up with a person-to-person call. Personal communication is still more effective than electronic ones!
Also Contact The Sender's Service Provider (telephone company or Internet Service Provider) to report the harrassment. Most providers have user agreements expressly forbidding abuse, and can cancel the sender's service. Procide copies of messages.
When To Contact Local Law Enforcement: If the contact continues after yo uhave asked the cyberbully/harasser to cease adn you have notified your Service Provider, you should contact your local police department for an interview. Be sure to have the potential evidence you have collected ready to show to the officer.
Other "online" cybercops also are available to help you - most notably, www.safetyed.com (for minors), www.haltabuse.org, and www.web-police.org. |
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