How to beat cyber bullying

In a recent survey by the charity Beatbullying, nearly 40 per cent of young people said that they were nervous about going back to school because of bullying. Also, one in three children have revealed that they have been the victims of cyber bullying.

Cyber bullies target their victims mainly via mobile phone text and picture messages, prank mobile calls and social networking sites. The impact can be just as devastating as verbal or physical abuse. In January, Megan Gillan (15) of Macclesfield took a fatal overdose of painkillers after classmates instigated a bullying campaign at school and on the social networking site Bebo, where they posted spiteful messages about her.

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Parent alert on sexting trend

BY ALISON BRANLEY

Parents are being encouraged by education authorities to inspect their children’s mobile phones and personal web pages in a bid to reduce “sexting”.
There is a growing trend of children and teens sending provocative pictures or videos of themselves or others to their friends via mobile phones.

The name sexting comes from the term texting, where people send text messages to each other through their mobile phones.

There were at least three serious incidents of sexting reported in the Hunter and Central Coast last year.

In an information sheet sent home to parents, the NSW Education Department urges them to warn their children about sexual predators and to learn how to use and monitor their children’s mobile phones, Facebook and MySpace internet page accounts.

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New research reveals troubling security issues for iPhones

by Chris Foresman

Though Apple has added additional data security features to the iPhone with every iteration of the OS—including encrypting files on-device for the iPhone 3GS—vulnerabilities still exist. These issues are of particular concern to enterprise users, since sensitive corporate data may exist on any given employee’s mobile device. A new vulnerability revealed by security researcher Bernd Marienfeldt, however, shows that all someone needs to get at that data is the latest version of Ubuntu.

Noted iPhone data forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski demonstrated last year that common hacking tools could remove the data protection features that Apple added with iPhone OS 3.x and the iPhone 3GS. He told Ars that there are ways to get around both the on-device encryption as well as the encrypted backups that can be saved via iTunes. “The only benefit hardware encryption [as implemented] is that it makes wipes faster, by just dropping the [encryption] key,” he said. But even the remote wipe feature can be thwarted by removing a device’s SIM card.

Marienfeldt’s research revealed that standard hacking or jailbreaking tools aren’t even needed to get at the data. The latest version of Ubuntu (10.04) will auto mount the flash storage in an iPhone, allowing access to all of the information contained within. Files can be accessed even if a pin code is set.

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1-in-5 teens ’sexting,’ many under pressure

by ERIC WILKINSON / KING 5 NEWS

MILL CREEK, Wash. - The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has found one-in-five teenagers has sent or posted nude photos of themselves for friends to see. Another survey, being used by educators to dissuade teens from “sexting” found 40 percent of adolescent girls feeling pressured to send naked pictures via cell phone to their boyfriends. 20 percent of boys reported feeling pressured.

“It’s just what kids do these days,” says Steve Smith, the school resource officer for Mill Creek’s Jackson High School. “They have no idea the damage it can do and how permanent it is.”

Smith, an officer with the Mill Creek Police Department, also works at the city’s Heatherwood Middle School. He says he has seen cases of kids as young as 12-years-old sexting.

“We only see the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “There is a lot more of this going on than we know about.”

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Officer sends message about sexting

Police: Teens don’t realize social, legal consequences

By Katie Murdoch
Enterprise editor

MILL CREEK — Mill Creek Police Officer Steve Smith has seen this situation too many times — a teenage girl crying in front of him because a risqué picture she sent to her boyfriend is circulating on her classmates’ cell phones.

Sending images or messages via cell phone of someone naked, acting or dressed inappropriately or engaged in sexual acts is known as “sexting.”

While students are aware of what sexting is, many don’t realize the repercussions are often severe.

For starters, provocative pictures of someone under 18 is legally classified as child pornography. Carrying or sending the pictures can lead to being charged with a felony and could mean having to register as a sex offender.

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Ben Shifrin, Head of Jemicy School, Offers Tips on What to do if Your Child is Bullied

BALTIMORE, May 26 /PRNewswire/ — With the increase in the use of social media and many recent reports of extreme cases of bullying in the news, Ben Shifrin, head of the Jemicy School in Owings Mills, MD wants to inform parents about how they can best help their children if they are bullied. Shifrin emphasizes that parents need to understand the serious threat bullying poses and that parents need to be advocates for their children.

Shifrin also stresses that parents must recognize that with our children’s constant access to technology, cyber bullying has become a serious problem. It is the fastest growing form of bullying, with middle school aged girls being the most vulnerable. Parents must be aware that this form of bullying happens not just on the computer, but also on the phone via text messaging. Cyber bullying is particularly damaging to a child, since the bullying can occur 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which means the child does not have a safe haven.

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CyberBullies: Death Threats Are Real to the Victims

Cyber bullies who make threats to other kids online or through cyberspace need to realize those threats are perceived as real by the recipients and the law.

Last year, a teenage girl who had posted a death threat on the social nertworking site, FaceBook®, bacame the first cyberbully to be sent to jail in the UK. After four years of constant bullying at the school both girls attended, 18–year–old Keeley Houghton threatened to kill Emily Moore.

Cyberbullying is on the rise around the world as kids and teens find it easier and easier to bully others online or through some other form of technology like text messaging. Parents need to be aware of just how kids are using the available technology to make threats to and possibly harm other kids.

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Prevent teens from becoming sexting victims

Many of you have e-mailed me and my education director, Joel Mesa, in reference to “sexting” — what it is and what you as a parent can do — so here is what Joel and our Youth Crime Watch staff have put together to educate our readers.

Sexting is a dangerous new practice that can have serious legal and psychological consequences for your teen. It’s the sending of sexually explicit text or photographs from mobile devices. The photographs are often shared voluntarily, but sometimes a young person may be coerced into taking or sending these photographs.

Once the photos are sent, they can be used to bully, harass, intimidate or embarrass victims online or via mobile devices. Sexting can be a felony. Some teenagers who have sent or received explicit pictures have been charged with possession of child pornography. If convicted, your teen could be labeled as a sex offender for the rest of his or her life. (Although in this legislative session, the Florida House tried to remedy the statue, the Florida Senate killed it, therefore the convictions stand as a “sex offender.”)

In many sexting situations, the photos shared between boyfriends and girlfriends are often forwarded and shared with friends and classmates. Access to technology means that one photo can reach thousands in just a few hours via websites and mobile devices.

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Ways to stop bullying

In the December movie favorite, “A Christmas Story,” Ralphie and his friends cower in the presence of the neighborhood bully, Scut Farkus. That is, until one day when a snowball in the face provokes Ralphie to fight back and pound Scut into submission.

Back in the 1940s, when the movie took place, bullying wasn’t hard to spot. It was physical, verbal and always overtly confrontational. That’s how we often think of bullying today, and in fact, whether it’s kids or adults, face-to-face confrontations are frequently the way bullies go after their prey.

But it’s not the only way. Cyberbullying — through Internet social networks, texting and cell phones — can be as damaging as physical showdowns. And in some cases, it can be fatal, as demonstrated by the death of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old Massachusetts girl, who was targeted by classmates and hanged herself in January. The incident triggered widespread national publicity, reminiscent of other such incidents that have occurred and brought similar outrage and concern over cyberbullying.

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Are Mobile Companies Concerned with Your Security?

Mobile devices are becoming the new computers. With today’s mobile devices, we can create documents, programs, respond to emails, create photo albums, mini-movies, etc. We can also purchase goods and monitor our bank accounts on these devices.

Mobile devices are definitely very convenient for the person on the go. However, convenience does come with a price. When we use applications that can access our bank accounts, credit card info, and other personal information, there are security and privacy risks. Importantly, how secure is our private information? Are the services or applications we use on our mobile devices sharing our information with third parties? Can mobile services providers send us ads through text messages and other notifications to our mobile devices?

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