The Fight Against Cyber Bullying

                The issue of Cyber Bullying has always been around but now there has been increased pressure in Britain to extend the punishment for those who commit that crime. The main supporter of this move is Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, who wants to take a greater stance on the subject. Initially the sentence that the crime had was six months, but this move is pushing for the sentence to be increased to two years. Chris Grayling has said that this government proposal is against the “internet trolls who are poisoning our national life.” This has led to me think of the act of “Trolling” on the internet and how far people are willing to go to punish people for these acts that they commit online.

                The Internet is a dark place filled with many people that can be really nasty. Some of them can even be in middle school. However, who is really to be blamed when the perpetrator is that young?  Recently a Georgia court has ruled that the parents of a 7^th grader can be held liable for his actions. Initially the 7^th grader was caught for making a fake Facebook profile of a female classmate and then posted “fat” images of her and making explicit comments. However after he was caught and punished, the page stayed up for 11 months. The parents of the girl sued the boy’s parents and claimed that the parents are liable for the content because they neglected the content that the boy made.  This is an interesting point because it reflects the poor parenting that brought up this issue. Not only did the parents not teach the boy to respect other people in general, they neglected the crime that the kid committed. The only way to fix cyber bullying is to fix the poor parenting that kids are growing up with. The internet is a huge place that people can get lost in and lose their identity. That is why parents should teach their kids the right etiquette so that they can avoid problems like these. In my opinion, I feel that the parents are at fault for the decisions that their kids make at such a young age. However, if they are older I feel that they are not as responsible for their kid’s actions.

                This leads into increased time for criminals that commit cyber crimes. Is it reasonable for them to serve the same amount of time as a second degree felony? Using the word “trolling” isn't the definition that people should use in order to punish them. Words like cyber bullies, criminals, and extremists are the words that should describe the people who commit heinous crimes that affect other people. It shouldn't be narrowly defined as the internet “trolls” who do stupid stuff to annoy other people. Also who is to blame when kids commit these crimes against each other? Should the parents also face consequences when their kids commit internet crimes or should they be freed from the consequences? Since the crimes can be committed so easily on the internet, the kids and parents should be sentenced for negligence and bad parenting.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141016/17421928853/dangerous-rulings-georgia-court-says-parents-may-be-liable-what-their-kids-post-facebook.shtml

http://phys.org/news/2014-10-britain-threatens-internet-trolls-years.html