Cyberbullying (2)

Berlin schools wake up to the phenomenon of bullying via the Internet - cyberbullying, or as it is called in German: "Cybermobbing". The media became alerted because of a case of severe agression, spilling over from the web to the street, when one 17-year old boy couldn't stand the vicious virtual attacks on his girlfriend anymore. He had read these vitriolic comments on http://www.isharegossip.com/, a sick but successful commercial venture, inviting schoolkids to share their nastiest gossip on their website and advertising that this is 100% anonymous. The web in general, and websites such as these in particular, have taken the filthy gossip on the school bathroom door to a different level. Where the author of the note on the bathroom door ran the risk of being caught, this website allows children to spit out their venom for all to see, from the seclusion of their bedroom. In that same secluded bedroom, the cyberbullying victims read what others have shared about them. Some kids let it all out. Comments such as "sie ist die grösste schlampe, jeder junge kennt diese hure" ("she is the biggest tramp, every guy knowns this whore") and "wir sollten die drecks türken endlich abschieben" ("it is time we deport these filthy Turks") are harsh and shocking to anyone with a sane mind, but must be extremely hurting when aimed at specific classmates, whose names are mentioned in such messages. Even though these messages contain slander, racism and even incite violence, this gossip site can't be banned. The company who owns isharegossip.com was founded in New Sealand, and the site's actual host is based in Sweden, protected by the Pirate Party. This party is, among other things, looking to strengthen privacy rights on the Internet. The case of isharegossip.co, shows that the Web, next to being an endless source of information, has the potential to be dangerous and damaging. Strengthening privacy rights might be positive in the case of Wikileaks, but can be counterproductive when it serves to protect pedofiles and immoral sales people.

Improved legislation is one thing to fight this, training teachers and students, and making them aware of the dangers and effects of cyberbullying is another. Schools need to open up, and not act as if the Internet and their students' behaviour on the digital highway is none of their business. Teachers and school management need to enter the dialogue, both in the classroom, during assemblies, in smaller groups, as well as online, hosting online chats about the problems children are having with gossip sites or other kinds of cuberbullying. Why should schools not use Facebook for this kind of dialogue, thereby creating a closed and safe discussion platform that is familiar territory for the kids. Also 'spamming' such gossip websites with chunks of unrelated information, and overcrowding them with sensible comments may take away the fun of posting more gossip, as well as remind the kids that adults read these sites as well. I came across an entire Wikipedia entry on Karl Marx in between the other comments. Interesting choice of reading material - although intended to bore visitors off the site, no doubt. The latest battle against www.isharegossip.com seems to be successfull: Upon opening the website tonight, I saw this message:

"Mobbt das Mobbing! "Achtung! iShareGossip bringt die Posts auf die Seite Hauptmeldung, die am meisten bei "Gefällt ... " angeklickt und kommentiert wurden. Also: Mobbing-Posts NICHT anklicken, nicht kommentieren, sondern ignorieren. Anti-Mobbing-Post sooft wie möglich bei "Gefällt ..." (egal ob ... mir oder mir nicht) anklicken und kommentieren".

Basically it is using the website's own design against itself: the most often 'liked' comments get moved to the homepage, so the more people click that they 'like' an anti-bullying message, the higher the chance that it gets moved to the opening page. 414 people 'liked' the above message, so that this now welcomes the visitors to this site. I like it!