INDEX
INCIDENTS OF CYBERBULLYING 4-5
IMPORTANT POLICIES FROM OTHER SCHOOLS 6-7
SURVEY 8-9
INTERVIEW 10-13
POLICIES AGAINST CYBER- BULLYING 14-15
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 16
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Disclaimer
All personal information will be kept confidential due to
privacy reasons
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INCIDENTS OF CYBERBULLYING
1)Identity Theft:
This was an incident that occurred in our school. Due to
privacy issues, we are not revealing any kind of personal
identity.
The victim is student X and the perpetrator is student Y
Student X came to know from her friends that someone in Facebook
was using her identity to talk with them. X informed the same to her
mother who in turn registered a complaint on Facebook and the
cyber police station. After negotiations between the Facebook and
the police station, Facebook removed this account immediately.
When the IP was tracked, it led to Y who was in the same class as
X. When the police questioned Y, they found out that Y was an
introvert and wanted to converse with friends, tempting her to do
this. When the mother of X came to know this she sympathized with
Y and withdrew the case.
CAUSE:
Lack of Awareness. The student was not aware of the
seriousness of the issue
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2)
This was a case shared with us by a cyber cell officer of
Ernakulam during our interview with him.
One student came up with a complaint saying that his profile had
been made with his photo and all the messages were sent to girl
students. His parents were summoned to school. He claimed that
he didn’t do it and when we tracked down the IP details, it led to
another student. Perpetrator was not even in high school. This
victim faced bullying in such a manner that he was in depression
and could not go to school. When we questioned the perpetrator he
said that in the football ground they had some rivalry, which made
him do this.
Again in another case, a teacher’s profile was made with her photo
and explicit photos were shared. The teacher was questioned.
When we tracked it down, the perpetrator was the same student
mentioned before. When questioned the student stated that this
teacher punished him for a fight in school.
During the course of the investigation, we got to know that the
perpetrator was living with his foster parents. From the investigation,
we concluded that societal issues, family issues etc played a major
role in how a person is tempted to do things like this.
Causes:
Lack of counseling. Even though the student was brought up
by foster parents, no proper counseling was provided.
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IMPORTANT POLICIES FROM OTHER
SCHOOLS
The Choice School, Tripunithura:
Frightening, Degrading or Disgraceful Acts use of obscene
language:
Attempting to sexually assault any person through written, verbal or
suggestive gestures, signs, pictures or publications in any form
including electronic/multimedia/social media which frightens, degrades
or disgraces another person will be considered an offence and breach
of school rules. Practice of any of the above will be a punishable
offense.
Use of Cell phone, iPods and other electronic gadgets:
Responsible and wise use of gadgets/devices/social media, under
strict supervision, is the whole and sole responsibility of parents. Any
student found causing mental or emotional trauma to any student,
teacher or any staff of the school through any of the media, will face
disciplinary action according to the severity of the incident.
REVIEW:
Helps to prevent harassment and protect the privacy of each student
by prohibiting, assaulting and publishing private pictures.
Holds the parent responsible for the actions of the student, hence
preventing the students from illicit activities
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Global Public School:
Students are not permitted to use, possess, download or search for
any program that is designed to reduce or bypass network security.
Students will not look for distasteful images or bad language whilst
online and will report any sites containing this if they come across
them accidentally
Students must understand that they can only access sites relevant to
educational work in school and they are not permitted to access social
networking sites or visit sites not related to his/her curriculum
Students must not attempt to deliberately hack into the School
network.
REVIEW:
These laws focus mainly on preventing hacking and viewing restricted
sites.
It also restricts the students from ignoring the instructions of the
teacher and viewing irrelevant sites
NOTE:
We couldn't access policies of our school which is a major
shortcoming
(Detailed in the suggestions page:15)
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SURVEY
In order to gather information for our project we conducted a
survey among our batchmates. We received a total of 61
responses.
1) Have you or someone close to you experienced cyber bullying?
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Some suggestions on policies against cyber bullying
1) Create awareness programme about cyberbullying
2) Students should be made aware of rules against
cyberbullying
3) The School should make sure that social media platforms
are safe for their students to use.
4) There needs to be a proper system for identifying and
complaining on cyber bullying
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INTERVIEW
We interviewed an official from the cyber cell, Mr Binoy Joseph
Highlights of the interview are listed below:
Interviewer: Based on your personal experience,which cases are
commonly seen under cyberbullying?
Officer: The most commonly seen cyberbullying cases are through
social media in the form of harassment, targeted trolling etc.From the
days of Orkut,we migrated to Facebook and now to Instagram.Then
comes group gaming activities.
Interviewer: Sir,you had mentioned that social media is the major
cause of cyberbullying.The next question arises,that is,from an
individual point of view,what is the step-by-step process an individual
should follow if he/she faces cyberbullying?
Officer:You may not be in a position to draft a mail or go to the station
directly. So instead ,if it is a social media site and the bullying
continues and it is demoralizing for you,the first step is to log off from
the site so that no more messages come.The next step is to block
those kinds of messages.Before blocking and deleting the
contents,save the messages and mails that have come.These are the
digital evidence that you have to present while you give a
complaint.While reacting to bullying,you have to resist the urge to
respond directly to the person. Certain social media sites like
Facebook have the option to report a post.Then share it with a trusted
adult like a parent,teacher or a counsellor.If you are flooded with these
messages and it is taking a toll on your mental health,you have to
dwell on your positive qualities to overcome this negativity.As you all
know,a friend in need is a friend indeed.You should all have a trusted
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friend.You can easily convey the message to them.These are the
primary steps one should follow in such a situation.
Interviewer: Sir those were some important points you stated there.
We would like to know how the cyber cell works. Can you help us?
Officer:First of all,let me differentiate between what is cyber cell,what
is cyber police and what is cyber dome. A complaint is to be given in
cyber police stations, as cyber cells cannot directly take complaints.
So cyber police stations started with 20 police districts. For example,if
it is Ernakulam district, we have 2 police districts here,that
is,Ernakulam City and Ernakulam Rural. Once you have a
complaint,you can directly approach, send a mail or direct a complaint
to the cyber police station.Cyber police stations function just like a
normal police station.We have an Inspector heading it and a set of
policemen,who are trained in investigating cyber crimes. Considering
the pandemic situation, a complaint can be lodged through mail as
well.
Interviewer: Sir,you just explained the victim’s point of view of action.
If the cyber cell receives a complaint against cyberbullying,what all
provisions are available for the cyber cell to take action?
Officer: First of all,you cannot directly address the cyber cell.You have
to address the cyber police station.Once a complaint is received,they
take all the digital documents or evidence which is provided and then
they contact the service provider and ask them about the person who
had made the profile, the mobile number associated with the account
and all the evidences are pulled out from them.Once they obtain the
required information,they will connect to the concerned service
provider here.For example,if the IP is of Asianet,they have to address
Asianet and give the details.From the phone number,they get the
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customer application form itself with the photo.Once they get it,the
legal procedure starts.This involves two ways.For example,if you
lodge a complaint and do not want to register a case and only a
warning is required,just by lodging a complaint,a case is not
registered. 80% of the reporters do not want a case to be
registered.They only want to give a warning as such.In such a
case,we give a notice to the perpetrator,call them to the police station
and give a strict warning to them,if the complainant insists no case is
required. If the complainant insists a case needs to be registered,the
entire picture changes. An FIR is lodged,the first information
statement is taken,the court procedure starts against the perpetrator
and whatever provisions under the law comes,legal action
proceeds.The perpetrator has to face the court and the usual
procedure goes on.That is the difference between lodging a complaint
and registering a complaint.
Interviewer: Sir,what do the punishments include? Is there any
difference based on age?
Officer: THe provisions for minors come under Juvenile Justice
Act.That is the only difference. It consists of different tenures and
types of punishment.
Interviewer: From school management,what all provisions can the
school allow in order to prevent cyberbullying against students?
Officer: Make policies.If it happens at school,the school has take
action on that.Schools are also at crossroads about what to
do,whether to approach the police,whether to register a case and so
on.The parent also comes into the picture.Ultimately,the consent has
to come from the parent to register a case as such or give a complaint
to the police.Only if the parent and school are together, can they
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take action against bullying.The parent has to play a major role
because these kinds of bullying are happening in the physical world as
well as in the virtual world.So there has to be a policy to define on
what to do,in case of cyberbullying,how to prevent it. It is like a
process.You can have a calendar as such.For example,for the month
of January,you can plan a set of activities related to online abuse..In
that way,rather than just putting stickers and awareness posters that
are ineffective,take input from students and make an activity so that it
is more interactive and students can come up with more
ideas.Contests can also be done for posters,captions etc.
Interviewer: Sir, what advice would you like to give students of our
age to prevent cyberbullying?
Officer: Using social media is the first thing I would like to tell you
about. Digital footprint is anything and everything you post on the
internet. Whatever you do on social media,be it likes, dislikes, posting
pictures, audio messages all form a part of your digital footprint .It
remains forever. You cannot erase it. Even if you delete it, the logs
are there in the server.You have to be very careful while posting
anything on the internet.The message I give is,’Think before you
post.’T stands for whether it is true.H stands for whether it is honest,I
stands for inspiring,N stands for necessary,K stands for kind.You
should restrict your privacy policy.Use it in a way that only your friends
can see you.You need to develop a social media etiquette because it
will definitely influence your future.This is because,after you pass and
go for job hunting,nowadays,companies check social media profiles of
candidates.This includes who you are, what is your character.
Everything can be pulled out from your social media profiles through
digital footprints. Do not keep on accepting friends unless you know
them well.This prevents cyberbullying to an extent.Words are very
powerful,especially in social media. Use them wisely.
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POLICIES AGAINST CYBER-
BULLYING
Preventive measures to be taken in
school
1. Provide a panel for cyber-crime related
complaints
● This can help the guardian of the victim to seek help from
the school in case of cyber bullying against a student.
● This might even tempt parents, who are reluctant to go for a
complaint, to take action due to the support provided by the
school.
2. Form an anti-cyber-crime club
● This can help victims or friends of victims to report a cyber
bullying case through the club.
● The club can also monitor the programmes on cyber crimes,
hosted by the school.
3. Strict observation in computer labs
● During a computer period, the teacher in charge has to keep
strict observation on the use of computers.
● Students who access the internet without permission can be
reported to the formed Anti-cyber-crime club.
4. Awareness for the students
● Students must be provided awareness on preventing cyber
bullying
● Awareness on actions to be undertaken if they become a prey of
cyber bullying must be provided to students
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In case of a report against cyber
bullying, following actions should be
undertaken:-
1. Informing the parents of the victim:
● In case of a student becoming a victim of cyberbullying, parents
should be informed immediately.
● The parents should be taught the preventive measures to take
against the cyber bully.(Measures explained in the interview
segment).
2.Counseling for the victim:
● The victim may be mentally down due to cyberbullying. This
should be solved by a professional counselor.
● Moral support should be provident to the victim
3.If the perpetrator is a student:
● His/her parents should be called immediately and should be
explained the seriousness of the case.
● The perpetrator should be provided with counseling.
4.Going for a case:
● If the parents of the victim decide to go for an official complaint,
the closest cyber police station has to be approached.
● The school will wholeheartedly cooperate with the police
department for the investigation.
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General suggestions
1)School should make the handbook
accessible:
● The school handbook should be accessible through the school
website.
● Anyone seeking the rules of the school should find it easy to
access.
● Everyone part of the school family should be able to access the
policies.
2)A department should be created to form new
policies and maintain them:
● This department should be flexible and open minded towards the
changes in different areas, especially IT.
● Students must be made part of this department so that they can
also have a voice in school policies
3)School should maintain a calendar for
activities that provides awareness
(This was suggested by the cyber cell officer whom we
interviewed)
“The school can have a calendar as such. For example, for the
month of January, you can plan a set of activities related to
online abuse. Instead of awareness webinars, take inputs and
suggestions from students and make interactive activities in
which students can come up with more ideas. Contests can also
be done for posters,captions etc.”
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Thank you
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