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Despite all of the press coverage devoted to this scam, it is hard to believe how effective it continues to be at relieving people of their hard-earned money. Preventing yourself from falling victim is extremely easy though–simply ignore unsolicited email. Just as you would do with traditional postal mail or people on the street, just refuse to give money to strangers. Besides, it can safely be said that 99% of most average Americans need not do business with anyone in Ghana, Togo, or Nigeria anyway.

Email lottery scams are very similar in nature to the previous scam but instead rely on fooling the recipient into thinking they have won a large sum of money rather than asking for help. In this case, the scammer, posing as the lottery’s “claims agent”, gets his money by requiring a “processing fee” before he or she can release the winnings to the victim. Again, protecting yourself from this scam is simple. If you didn’t buy a lottery ticket, you are in no position to win one. Lotteries tickets are not generated from thin air. Furthermore, legitimate lotteries cannot require winners to pay a few in order to claim their prizes. Any real fees, charges, and/or taxes that could legally be imposed must be subtracted from the winnings rather than assessed beforehand. Lastly, lottery email scams almost always originate from “freebie” email accounts offered from sites like Yahoo! or Hotmail. They almost never originate from “custom” addresses using their own unique domain names.

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Another all-too-common email scam revolves around the scammer posing to be an authoritative figure at an institution with whom you do business (i.e. a bank or merchant). Their email requests you to verify your records with them by logging into your online account. Clicking on the so-called login verification link embedded within the email leads you to an impostor site designed with the sole purpose of conning you into revealing your username and password. This one is particularly dangerous, as the fraudster can user your login information to delete your account, commit identity theft, or even bleed your bank account dry.

Chain letter scams are another form of all-too-common email trickery commonly seen these days. Although cloaked in many colors, a popular chain letter scam involves fake offshore companies enticing the victim into participating in an investment scheme by sharing their bank details and convincing their friends and relatives to follow suit by forwarding on the email. Chain letter scams are not new, however, as one of the most famous ones was seen as early as 1997. At that time, millions of email users began receiving email claiming to be an offer from Microsoft which paid out thousands of dollars if individuals forwarded on the email. Dozens and dozens of variants have been created ever since, ranging from phony investment schemes to sob stories preying on one’s emotional side.

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If you receive an email even faintly resembling one of the above, the best advice would be to delete these emails right away. More often than not, these emails fall in the “too good to be true” category and nothing other than centuries-old scam tactics modernized for the Internet-age. For those who just can’t seem to resist, at least verify the email’s credibility through an independent “hoax-checker” website like Snopes or HoaxBusters. These sites can not only put your curiosity to rest but also serve as credible sources to back up any emails you forward on to your friends and family in efforts to stop them from furthering these nuisances on to other innocent bystanders. At the very least you should warn the person who sent you that the email is bogus and should no longer be forwarded.

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Oil-Eating Bacteria to Clean up Oil Spills

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The oil-spill has been one of the biggest issues the environmental, health, agricultural and financial sectors have been tackling, and scientists in Europe have sequenced the genome for an oil-eating bacterium, which could lead to faster, more efficient ways to clean up oil spills.

That certain bacteria have the ability to metabolize oil isn’t a new discovery of course. Back in 1989, bacteria were used experimentally in attempts to clean up the 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez after it ran aground off the coast of Alaska. Though it made little to no difference back then, now that researchers have a complete blueprint for the oil-hungry bacteria: Alcanivorax borkumensis, they’ll have the ability to optimize the conditions for these bugs, enabling them to soak up the hundreds of millions of liters of oil that enter our waters each year. [Source]

Tumor-Fighting Immune Cells to Attack Cancer

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Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have created a large, well-armed troop of tumor-seeking immune system cells to locate and attack dangerous melanomas. Dr. Antoni Ribas, the senior author of the study says: “We’re trying to genetically engineer the immune system to become a cancer killer and then image how the immune system operates at the same time.”

In the study, melanomas grown in mice used an inactive HIV-like virus to serve as a vehicle to arm the lymphocytes with T cell receptors, which caused the lymphocytes to become killers of cancerous cells. A reporter gene, which glows “hot” during PET scanning, was also inserted into the cells which helps researchers track the genetically engineered lymphocytes after they get injected into the blood stream, make their way to the lungs and lymph nodes, and then home in on the tumors wherever they may be located within the body. The team created and injected about one million genetically engineered lymphocytes into a mouse but say that in humans, the number of tumor-seeking cells needed to fight the cancer is approximately one billion. The researchers say, if all goes well, human studies of the process could begin in approximately one year. [Source]

Engineered Tobacco Plants as Biofuel

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Finally putting tobacco plants to good use, researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University have identified a way to increase the oil in tobacco plant leaves, with the aim of using it as biofuel. This is a promising prospect, one, because it offers an alternative to exploiting plants that are used in food production, and two, because tobacco plants generate biofuel more efficiently than other agricultural crops.

The challenge researchers faced was that this precious oil is mostly found in tobacco seeds, and tobacco plants only produce about 600 kg of seeds per acre. However, they have now found ways to genetically engineer the plants so that their leaves express more oil. According to one of the project’s researchers, Dr. Andrianov, they have been able to modify plants to produce 20-fold more oil in the leaves. Andrianov says “”Based on these data, tobacco represents an attractive and promising ‘energy plant’ platform, and could also serve as a model for the utilization of other high-biomass plants for biofuel production.” [Source]

Cheap, Effective Genome Sequencing Technology

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Personalized healthcare is increasingly being applied to develop more effective treatments for disease and prevent a wider variety of conditions. Genome sequencing is one the most critical tools for personalized medicine, as it provides the individual genetic information necessary for the effective diagnosis and targeted treatment of particular diseases. Last month, a new collaborative agreement between Roche, a leader in biotechnology and research-focused healthcare, and IBM, one of the world’s largest technology companies, has them joining forces to develop a nanopore-based sequencer that will directly read and decode human DNA quickly, efficiently and affordably.

Their goal is to reduce the cost of sequencing an individual’s genome to between $100 and $1000.Currently, companies such as San Diego’s Illumina, which specializes in array-based solutions for DNA, RNA and protein analysis, charge anywhere from $9,500-$19,500, an already drastic drop compared to its previous $48,000 price tag.

In order to reduce the cost so significantly, the new partners want to be able to perform true single molecule sequencing, that will decode molecules of DNA as they are threaded through a nanometer-sized pore in a silicon chip. This approach should deliver significant advantages in cost, throughput, scalability, and speed compared to other sequencing technologies currently available or in development. [Source]

Stem cell culturing without the use of animal substances

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Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, one of Europe’s largest medical universities, have managed to produce human stem cells without the use of other cells or substances from animals, in a completely chemically-defined environment. Embryonic stem cells have, up to this point, been cultured with the help of proteins from animals, ruling out the possibility of using them for treatment on humans. Now, they are cultured on a matrix of a single human protein: laminin-511, a part of our connective tissue that acts as a matrix that our cells can attach to. The possibilities are tremendous thanks to this scientific breakthrough that will give scientists the ability to develop different types of cells, which can be tested for the treatment of various human diseases. [Source]

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1. Teamviewer

Holding the #1 spot on PCMag’s list is Teamviewer, a program that lets you connect to any PC or server around the world within a few seconds. As anyone working in the IT industry already knows, the second anyone finds out you “know about” computers, your phone number will get passed on to aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends of friends of friends. Using Teamviewer, you eliminate the draining process of trying to explain everything to someone who doesn’t understand anything about IT, and can instead remotely control their computer as if you were sitting right in front of it, getting the job done quickly and effectively. Teamviewer requires no installation, just a simple Internet connection and running the application on both sides. Best of all of it’s free and secure.

2. Avast! BART CD

The avast! Bootable Antivirus & Recovery Tool (BART) CD is a bootable CD, giving you the capability to detect and remove virus infections on a computer. It can do a complete malware cleanup of your computer and also contains tools for editing registry files as well as a tool to check and fix disk errors. This great program costs $149 per year and is primarily intended for corporate and service personnel use. If you are looking for something free, for personal use, Free Registry Cleaner is very highly rated and works on all versions of Windows, up to Windows Vista. It has a disk cleanup utility, startup manager, uninstall manager and process manager. Reviews also claim it finds a lot more keys to remove than other registry cleaners.

3. Ubuntu LiveCD

If your Windows computer won’t boot anymore, one of the easiest methods to access your data is to use Ubuntu LiveCD. LiveCD is a bootable, workable version of the operating system that runs from the CD/DVD drive, but you can also run it on a USB flash drive. It is completely free and gives you access to all the files on your hard drives. You can also run memtest to check your RAM and Disk Utility to check the hard drive and edit drive partitions. You can even make a customized live system to create a bootable Ubuntu LiveCD from scratch without having to start from a pre-existing LiveCd.

4. TRENDnet Network Cable Tester

The TC-NT2 is a comprehensive cable tester for network professionals. Its user-friendly features enable network installers to accurately check pin configurations of various voice and data communication cables for lengths of up to 300meters (984 Ft.) It also includes a master unit that transmits test signals to its corresponding remote terminator to verify cable reliability. TRENDnet Network Cable Tester costs $52.99.

5. ReProfiler

ReProfiler is a free tool for manipulating user profiles on Windows 2000 up to Windows 7. ReProfiler permits easy reassignment of Windows user profiles, which have become detached from their accounts. ReProfiler offers a quick and easy way to see which profile is associated with which user and if a problem is evident, it then provides an intuitive and straightforward means of correcting the profile ownership.

6. Anti-Static wristband

The Anti-Static wristband prevents static shocks when performing any maintenance or repairs on a computer. It dissipates harmful static so you can install or remove parts without fear of damaging your computer.

7. LookInMyPC

LookInMyPC is an excellent free tool when you’re having troubleshooting problems. It tells you exactly what’s going on with your computer, generating a complete, comprehensive system profile that includes information on all installed hardware and software.  It also provides full system diagnostic information like details on running processes, installed services, startup programs, Windows updates, active network and Internet connections, event log detail, and much more.

8. inSSIDer

A must-have for any IT professional or computer geek, inSSIDer was the Winner of InfoWorld’s Best of Open Source Software Awards. This free tool scans networks within reach of your computer’s Wi-Fi antenna, tracks signal strength over time, and determines their security settings, including whether or not they’re password-protected. Created by MetaGeek, inSSIDer is an alternative to network scanners like NetStumbler in that it works with Windows Vista, Windows 7, and 64-bit PCs.

Here is the link to see all 17 IT tools listed in the PC Magazine article.

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As you may know, we are rooted in one of the most beautiful and only truly bilingual cities in North America: Montréal. Each and every member of our team speaks both English and French, and they will be more than happy to answer you in any of the two languages. So, if you call us and hear “bienvenue!”, remember that it does not only convey our pleasure to serve you, but also our proud origins.

One of our dearest wish for you is to have the chance to experience the liveliness and diversity of our city. Can you imagine the joy we had, when we saw this article, 36 Hours in Montreal, in the NY Times yesterday?

So, whenever you have time, don’t hesitate to drop by and say “bonjour”!

Post from: Sherweb Blog

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Erasing and Formatting Your Computer Isn’t Enough

In 2003, two students from MIT bought 158 used and formatted disk drives from a wide variety of locations. From there they were able to extract over 5,000 credit card numbers, secret corporate financial information, detailed personal and medical information, along with many gigabytes of personal emails and pornography. Simply deleting data from your computer doesn’t actually get rid of it completely. The file information is maintained in a directory so your OS can find it, making it easily retrievable by anyone with the will, the software and the know how.

Disk Wiping is the Way to Go

A disk wipe is one of the most secure methods for “burning the evidence” so to speak. Since information cannot be completely erased from your hard drive, disk wiping will overwrite your hard drive with data many times, making the old data irretrievable after reformatting. The process is not only limited to your hard drive, but can literally wipe storage devices like CDs, RAIDs and thumb drives clean. A medium security level wipe used by the government (DoD 5220.22-M) overwrites a hard drive six times.

The following is a decent tutorial to help you completely wipe your hard drive before selling or donating your old computer, or to simply start over with an immaculate slate.

Microsoft Supplies Cofee to Cops

In June 2007, Microsoft secretly distributed a free device called COFEE, which means Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, to various law enforcement agencies across the globe. The device comes in the form of a USB key and it contains a suite of 150 forensic tools to help investigators quickly extract forensic data from hard drives that may have been used to commit cybercrimes such as identity theft, online fraud, child pornography and illegal filesharing. Thousands of police officers in over 15 countries around the world are currently employing the device to collect evidence before the data can be wiped.

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Hackers Supply the Public With Decaf

Less than two years later, hackers developed and released a tool to oppose Microsoft’s forensic bundle and called it DECAF. The application scans your computer and can tell you if there’s any COFFEE in it. The hackers who created the program promise that later models of DECAF technology will not only notify users that their computer is under investigation, but will also lock down the machine.

Border Guards Can Inspect Your Laptop for No Reason Whatsoever

If you have any incriminating images or information on your laptop, you might want to clean them out before crossing the American boarder. In April 2008, three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided that federal agents have the right to search your computer for forensic evidence. Border guards can also seize and examine all of your mobile devices for periods up to several months. So make sure your digital cameras and cell phones don’t have anything you wouldn’t want the federal government to use against you in a court of law!

Forensic Evidence Can Tell if a Murderer Will Kill Again

“In 2008, inmates released long before their maximum sentences expired killed two police officers in Philadelphia, last year one killed a Pittsburgh police officer, and eight days ago a murderer who was twice paroled allegedly slaughtered four people in Northampton.”  (source)

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To help parole boards make better decisions before releasing potentially dangerous criminals into the world again, University of Pennsylvania professor Richard Berk has developed a computer system which can predict criminal behavior. This sounds a lot like the film Minority Report, where people get arrested based on telepathic evidence suggesting they will commit a crime in the future. But apparently by gathering years of prisoner data, Berk has learned to forecast which ones are most likely to remain violent and which ones will be good upon release. Probation departments in Philadelphia and Baltimore have already implemented Berk’s computers to monitor prisoner behavior, and Berk has received a $228,000 grant from the parole board to further develop his system due to release in 2011.

Microsoft Word Betrays BTK Killer

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From 1974 until 1991, Dennis Radar Bound, Tortured and Killed ten people in Wichita, Kansas. He might have gotten away with it too, had technology not caught up with his cockyness. The BTK Killer was famous for writing taunting letters to the authorities and the media, describing his past murders and outlining his plans for future ones. In 2005, Radar sent his latest taunt in the form of a 1.44 MB floppy disk to KSAS-TV, a FOX affiliate in Wichita. Using forensic software EnCase, the police were able to recover some metadata embedded in a “deleted” Microsoft Word document. They discovered the name “Dennis” as well as the “Christ Lutheran Church,” and from there it wasn’t long before they found Radar, gathered previous evidence to put all of the puzzle pieces together and placed the BTK Killer under arrest.

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Jean-Jacques Annaud's 1981 "Quest for Fire"

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Back when fire was the actual latest technology, there was no wondering about one’s origins, and evolution was still a blurry concept. Blaze was not up for grabs and when Caveguy finally got a hold of it, his quest was only at a rough beginning.

Then, much later, Caveos Guyopoulos, one of many Caveguy’s earliest antiquity descendants, was a living witness of the original perpetual Olympic Torch, representing the flame once stolen by Prometheus from the God of the gods having whole Mt. Olympus exclaiming: “Great Zeus!” Fire was definitely a keeper.

The new BlackBerry Torch 6 OS

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As for our two fellows, nowadays Research in Motion (RIM) is aiming no less with its new BlackBerry Torch, the brand new 6 OS-featured smartphone that will ignite on August 12. The mission is clear: getting back the market share lost to Apple and its iPhone. Like Caveguy, BlackBerry needs its Torch under full control, but unlike him, BlackBerry DOES have the burning ambition to reduce the competition to ashes. Mobilo inferno!

SherWeb to take part in the bonfire

As for us at SherWeb, we are proud and excited to support RIM’s BlackBerry Torch.

“It is the first smartphone to support BlackBerry 6, which has been previewed recently on the Inside BlackBerry Blog.”, claims Pierre-Olivier Descoteaux, Marketing and Communications Manager at SherWeb. “It opens up many new opportunities for our developer community from enhanced Java applications to game changing web applications or Widgets using HTML5 and CSS3.”

Until the BB Torch strikes, stop aping Caveguy and get a head start by downloading the new developer tools and simulator supporting BlackBerry 6.
BlackBerry demo

Post from: Sherweb Blog

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As amazing as this was, this was touch screen technology at its most basic. Things have become a little more exciting since then.

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Moviegoers were extremely impressed in 2002 with the touch screens used to solve future crimes in Minority Report.  But in 2006, Jefferson Y. Han, a research scientist at NYU blew people’s brains apart when he transformed the concept into reality.  During the annual Technology Entertainment Design conference (TED) in California, Jeff introduced multi-touch interface technology to the world.  On a rear projection drafting table equipped with a multi-touch sensor, he demonstrated how users can manipulate what they see on a computer screen using all ten of their fingers at the same time, shifting items around, expanding, compressing, and rotating images, independently of each other or as an entire unit.  The main difference between Han’s technology and Spielberg’s sci-fi interpretation is the fact that we still have to physically touch the screen, whereas Tom Cruise wore gloves equipped with sensors, but rest assured, people are working on that.

He went on to found the company Perceptive Pixel which would produce and distribute the technology to sectors like medical imaging, mapping, broadcasting, defense and  intelligence.  Anyone watching the 2008 presidential elections witnessed the practicality of multi-touch technology as CNN kept viewers up to date using their “Magic Wall.”

In 2008, Microsoft adopted multi-touch technology to transform an ordinary coffee table into a revolutionary super tool.  With the incredible popularity of the iPod, iPhone, and the most recent addition to the i family,the iPad, Apple  already capitalized on the word “touch” when it came to computer interaction.  There were even April fools jokes about an upcoming iTable.  But as computer screens are reaching furniture-esque proportions, and the jokes are becoming ever more real, Microsoft was wise to capture the spirit of the latest technological trends by calling their latest baby: Surface.

Multi-touch technology combined with surface computing is radically transforming our relationship with computers.  Films like Minority Report, The Matrix: Revolutions and District 9 have all included multi touch interfacing in their predictions for the future, a future we are already beginning to experience today.  The way business meetings take place, the way doctors perform surgeries, the way pilots fly planes (or the way anyone operates any vehicle for that matter), the way you scope out an exotic destination for your next family trip, all will eventually shift towards a more vivid, more dimensional, more fingertip-friendly experience.  Kramer’s going to need to add a new chapter to his book about coffee tables!

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In December 2009, your name, profile picture, gender, current city, networks, Friends List, and all the pages you subscribe to, became publicly available information on Facebook. So, when I began my research for this article, I started by looking at my own privacy settings. After a little digging and clicking, I was alarmed by many of the things about me that were made public. How our information gets classified amidst Facebook’s frequent changes can often be very confusing for users and I seemed to be in the dark about my Facebook privacy.

Privacy used to be an opt-out feature on Facebook, which restricted the visibility of a user’s personal information to just their friends and their “network” (college or school). Now, privacy is opt-in, and the default privacy settings for a Facebook user’s personal information have become very permissive. Too permissive if you ask me.

Matt McKeon a developer at IBM Research’s Center for Social Software, created infographics that illustrate the evolution of Facebook privacy from 2005 until now. Just to give you a visual idea of how much Facebook’s privacy policies have vacillated within five years, I have included McKeon’s graphs for 2005 and for 2010. The concentric rings on the graphs show the groups who can see a given slice of information, if you leave the default settings in place.

2005

2010

When You Share (status updates, photos, links, videos etc..) By Default “Everyone” Can See

Carefully go through your Facebook privacy settings because your Facebook information became completely public unless you’ve specified otherwise. And they’re tricky buggers about it too. Even the “Recommended” subsection will suggest that your status, photos, posts, family and relationships, be public to EVERYONE. And by everyone, they mean family, friends, friends of friends and the whole darn Internet.

To actually check your current privacy settings, you have to click on a little, tiny blue “View Settings” link, which is casually thrown into the last sentence of the Basic Directory Information section on the Choose Your Privacy Settings page.

1. View Settings

2. Basic Directory Information Page

Once I was on the Basic Directory Information page I discovered that anyone searching me on the Internet (because by default anyone CAN search me on the Internet) can see my interests, my hometown, my education, work experience, and who my friends are. You can edit these settings as you see fit. You can also enable or disable the Public Search function by going into the Applications and Websites section of the Choose Your Privacy Settings page, clicking the tiny, little blue link that says Edit Your Settings and disabling the Public Search funciton.

1. Choose Your Privacy Settings: Applications and Websites: Edit your settings

2. Application and Websites page: Public Search

While you’re on the Applications and Websites page, you may also want to check what information about YOU is available to applications, games and websites when your friends use them. Your name, profile picture, gender, networks and user ID (along with any other information you’ve set to everyone) is available to friends’ applications unless you turn off platform applications and websites.

Back on the Choose Your Privacy Settings page, you will find another little, tiny blue link that says Customize Settings.

1. Choose Your Privacy Settings page: Customize Settings

2. Customize Settings Page

This will show you all the things you share (posts, family, relationships, birthday, religious and political views etc…), things others share (photos and videos you’re tagged in, your comments on posts, whose wall posts you can see) and your contact information (phone numbers, IM screen name, address…). I found myself again disheartened to discover that Facebook had already preset these options so that anyone can see them. You should go through each and choose whether or not you want everyone, friends of friends or friends only to have access to this information or even customize it so only you can.

PHOTO PRIVACY

You will find the option to edit your photo album privacy in the Customize Settings page. You will find the tiny, little blue Edit Album Privacy link at the bottom of the Things I Share subsection. Click on it, and you will be taken to a new page which contains your profile pictures and all your photo albums.

1. Choose Your Privacy Settings: Customize Settings page: Edit Album Privacy

At this point, I was pretty well fuming from all orifices when I saw that “Everyone” was again used as the default setting and that I had to manually change the settings so that only my friends could see my pictures. Again, I went through every album and set them so that only my friends could view them. I don’t need strangers falling upon my pictures and finding me in my Tootsie Roll costume from last Halloween.

Posting
Before you post a status update, link or anything else, you can click the lock icon to choose who can see it. You can also go into Block lists and edit your lists of blocked people and applications.

1. Choose Your Privacy Settings Page: Block Lists

2. Block Lists page

This section lets you block people from interacting with you or seeing your information on Facebook. You can also specify friends you want to ignore application invites from, and see a list of the specific applications that you’ve blocked from accessing your information and contacting you.

“The Age of Privacy is Over”

For those who want to be searched and found, those who use Facebook for marketing/business purposes, it’s ideal. For those who are using Facebook to stay in touch with family and friends, like I am, having all this personal information floating around on the World Wide Web is an eerie thought which could potentially be very dangerous. Alas, the longer I’ve been on Facebook, the more geared towards advertisers, marketers and businesses it has become. Facebook believes the future will mark an end to privacy. But is Facebook  creating that future for us?

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Entertainment that will get the whole family to Kinect, according to a CNET review “The idea is to integrate Kinect with Microsoft’s entire living room play.”  The Kinect is capable of simultaneously tracking up to six people, including two active players for motion analysis with a feature extraction of 20 joints per player. Users will be able to control Netflix movies and TV shows through their Xbox Live using simple hand gestures and voice commands. With Kinect, you can also video chat with Windows Live Messenger users, and other Xbox 360 users. Twitter, Facebook and Zune applications are also available with the system.

Kinect is compatible with all Xbox 360 consoles. Some of the games available as of now include Dance Central, Joy Ride, a racing game where you control the steering wheel with your hands, and Kinectimals, a game where kids can raise their very own wild animal and take adventures on a magical island. You can even get in shape with Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Workouts are created for you based on your specific fitness level. You take fitness classes designed by famous trainers-to-the-stars. As you exercise, you receive specific feedback on your every move.

(Watch Kinect, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved:)

How it Works

Kinect uses a 3-D depth camera to capture the movement of your whole body, and goes as precisely as to track joint-motion. Range camera technology, interprets 3D scene information from a continuously-projected infrared pattern. The image sensor reads the light back as code, which is then translated into data that the game console can use.

The one reported drawback of the system is that it is specifically developed to be used standing up. So if you’re snuggled up watching a movie, or want to nestle yourself into the couch to play a video game, gesture control is greatly reduced. Though the Kinect is a great way to get people off their couch, the technology should work as optimally when you’re sitting as it does when you’re standing. This is a feature Microsoft may want to improve on.

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What is Cyberbullying?

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The National Crime Prevention Council defines cyberbullying as “the use of the Internet, cell phones or other devices to send or post, text or images, intended to hurt or embarrass another person.” Almost half of all American teens have been affected by cyberbullying . In a 2004 survey of 1,500 students between grades 4-8, 58% reported that they had not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that has happened to them online.

One 2010 study by the Cyberbullying Research Center says that one in five middle-school students have been affected by cyberbullying. A study of Internet harassment in Pediatrics found that physical and Internet bullying peaked in 8th grade but declined by 11th grade.

Tweens are most vulnerable because this is when the frequency and intensity of bullying is at its peak. Confidence is at its lowest, the stress to fit-in at its highest. Peer-pressure and fear of social ostracization, may prevent kids from telling adults if they are getting bullied or sexually harassed online. Experts who study cyberbullying say it can be more damaging to victims than traditional bullying. As tweens are prone to be impulsive, they may engage in more risky behaviors, and in some instances cyberbullying has led to fatal outcomes.

Tragedy can be eye-opening

The notorious case of 13-year-old Megan Meier stirred widespread fear about the dangers of cyberbullying. Meir’s hung herself in her closet after being the target of a cruel MySpace hoax orchestrated by the mother of an ex-friend of Meir’s. They were also neighbours. Ryan Halligan, also 13, took his own life after being encouraged to do so by one of his middle-school peers. He was repeatedly sent instant messages from middle school classmates accusing him of being gay on top of being “threatened, taunted and insulted incessantly”.

Dealing with Cyberbullies: A Group Effort

24/7 responsibility for other people’s children is not what teachers and administrators signed on for. Why should students’ behaviour on weekends be a school’s problem? This is the difficult conundrum schools are faced with when trying to figure out how to deal with cyberbullying. Their responsibilities and level of authority are undefined. The processes for handling cyberbullies are still in the trial and error stages. Moreover, the Internet makes it tricky to prove who the culprits really are. (A recent New York Times article provides personal accounts of how schools are grappling with cyber-bullying.)

So far, the California state legislature passed one of the first laws in the country to deal directly with cyberbullying. This law gives school administrators the authority to suspend or expel students who commit cyberbullying. At least 13 states have passed such laws, including Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington, with other states also considering similar measures.

Laws do make people’s rights against cyberbullying- and the consequences for it, more clear. But every case is particular, and judges find themselves nonplussed when it comes to  issues concerning school searches (can a principal search a cellphone like they would a locker or a backpack?) and the protection of student speech. Some school administrators have also raised concerns about pedophile accusations if they happen to fall upon an indescent sext message on a student’s cell phone.

Solutions

Internet attorney, Christopher Wolfe, states that schools have a responsibility to protect victims of cyberbullying. “You must have some punishment that is on the books in the school regulations, and you must have rules and regulations about appropriate use of Internet tools.” Schools can provide parents and students with a handbook that details their Internet policy. Anti-bullying committees and groups can also provide a safe-place for victims as well as help raise awareness on the dangers of cyberbullying and the importance of digital responsibility.

Subscription services are also available to help parents monitor their child’s activities on social networks. A NYTimes article outlines some of the major ones. You can track all your child’s online activity, some marked as safe, some as potentially dangerous. Other items are explicitly red-flagged, like a Facebook friend who is considerably older, or a posting with a keyword like “kill” or “suicide.” Filtering or blocking software can be used in schools and at home to prevent teens from accessing social networking Web sites. But don’t put it past your teens to find a way to circumvent the blocking software.

Dr. Parry Aftab, an Internet privacy and security lawyer and executive director of WiredSafety, a group that educates about online safety, says the services are no substitute for good parenting techniques, like frequent conversations about Internet activities.

In the eighties, we were living in a material world, now we are living in a virtual one. In this digital age, we are constantly adapting to new technologies which is why some type of consensus and subsequent education on digital responsibility is a good thing for everybody.

Post from: Sherweb Blog