According to the group, some people do not take this kind of bullying seriously since the persons responsible are usually anonymous or the attacks are indirect. What they don’t know is that these attacks can be harmful, leaving the kids feeling vulnerable against the harassments.

As an answer to these growing concerns, popular networking sites have introduced a button that allows users to get in touch with child protection workers in case they feel violated online. On the part of the parents, the campaigners are also encouraging them to actively participate by helping their kids to protect themselves.

The group also gives several tips of precaution to children to prevent such abuse from happening to them such as maximizing the security and privacy features of the sites, removing unwanted contacts and getting help from somebody who can help. They are also encouraging kids to keep themselves safe by protecting their information such as log-in details and passwords from anybody.

The girls, who are aged between 15 and 17, pleaded guilty to harassing a girl by posting derogatory and racially aggravated comments on the said social networking site. The case was heard at the Newton Abbot Youth Court.

The cyberbullies commited racial abuse and even called the victim ‘a slut’. On May 6, one of the defendants accessed her Facebook account and changed her status which said “is it me or does everybody hate..” and named the victim. This post spurred other people to comment about the victim and added derogatory and racist comments, specifically her ethnic background.

The main instigator was ordered to pay £30 compensation to the victim and a six-month referral while three-month referral order was given to the other four defendants.

Mobile phones are usually used by students to record videos of their teachers and are then uploaded to social networking sites such as Facebook or other media such as Youtube which can be seen by anybody.

In response to these scenarios, CCOO has drafted a guide for teachers who find themselves on this situation. The union believes that laws which protect the teachers have paved way for these attacks to occur less.

However, the secondary school teachers’ union Apia says that there is no decrease in the attacks. They claim that cases do not reach the courts since teachers are pressured to not report them.

Included on the conditions of the charges include banning the defendant on using other electronic means to talk about the victim as well as ignoring each other at school. The court also urged the girl to comply with the order until the next court date and advised her that she could be facing more charges if she doesn’t.

The allegations regarding this case arose together with the heightened national concerns about online bullying, following the suicide of a gay New Jersey college freshman on September.

In Aspen, local law enforcers and school administrators are escalating their outreach to parents and students about cyberbullying.

According to the Massillon police, the female victim was waiting in the lunch line when another 17-year old girl slapped and pushed her head against the wall many times while another 17-year old girl recorded the incident using her cell phone. The police also confirmed that the video of the assault was later passed around to other students of the school via text messaging.

The juvenile is expected to face misdemeanor assault and other telecommunication charges in the Stark County Family Court. Both of the students who did the assault were reportedly suspended. The Massillon police were able to obtain and review a copy of the video.

School Resource Officer Ben Barrett estimated that he has received about 20-25 reports of bullying since the beginning of school year. Most of these cases are associated with the use of technology.

This is the latest among the series of suicide cases of teens that experiences bullying. The phenomenon has already been named among researchers and in media as “bullycide”. Cyberbullying has triggered a series of fervent debates in courts, schools and state legislatures on how the behavior should be addressed.

There are however, legal debates on how to categorize cyberbullying and how to draw the line between unacceptable bullying and free speech. In some bullying cases, criminal prosecution is specifically challenging since in addition to causation, prosecution should also show intent and some incidents of cyberbullying might not meet the standard.

However, there are also related incidences and reposted effects of bullying which can be felt on the web. Based on the report released by the National Crime Prevention Council, 43% of teens have experienced different forms of cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is prevalent among the age group of 15-16 and found to be more common among girls than boys. This accounts 57% of the girls who have or are experiencing cyberbullying as compared to 43% of boys.

The NCPC has also listed several forms of cyberbullying such as sending threats online or by mobile phone, and name-calling other people. The group also stressed the harsher and more far reaching  which resulted into cases of suicide among teens.

An 18-year old woman was sent in young-offenders institute for three months after being found guilty after trial in the Worcester Magistrates Court of England. The court has proven that it was the woman who posted death threats on Facebook, a popular social networking site. This case is thought to be a landmark case with the first jail sentence for cyberbullying.

Aside from the threats on Facebook, the defendant also faced previous convictions because of bullying the victim, one for criminal damage and the other for assault. The defendant originally claimed that the death threat on Facebook was written while she was drunk but police found out that those threats remained on her Facebook account for about 24 hours.

She first noticed the signs when her pupils would always giggle and look away. It took her almost a year to realize what’s going on with her class. She searched the names on her pupils on Google and was surprised to see her photograph and a whole year of comments about her.

She notices that the sexual content and curses were explicit and all the things that the pupils would do to her such as wanting to shoot her on the face, stab and burn her. She is, however, unsure if there is any sexual intent. The incident was reported to the police and she encouraged her co-teachers to do the same if they go through the same ordeal.

The task force employs trained, tech savvy cops who disguise as vulnerable children on social networking sites which cater mostly to young people. These sites are also popular to adult predators that are looking for young acquaintances. When a meeting with the predator has been set, he finds himself arrested by no-nonsense cops instead of finding the vulnerable child.

Of the 200 nabbed suspects, the Attorney General Office reports that they have prosecuted 142 which have resulted from 139 guilty pleas while 3 were found guilty by jury. The project was conceived with the efforts to curb crimes associated with using the internet.