What if...

Anonymity

– does it make the perpetrator more or less responsible?: regardless of the insult being anonymous or not, it still should be taken seriously, just because the perpetrator is anonymous, it does not make him less or more responsible, as he/she still gets to see the effects of his insult on the person.

Harassment

– what does it involve?: Harassment is basically disturbing an individual, many people don’t realize this but, cyber bullying has the same effects as physical bullying, it disturbs the persons mind, thus making the insulted or targets to feel depressed, feel like they don’t belong or something along those lines, these kind of mind-sets relate to teen suicide.

Duty to provide a safe or study environment

– what roles do schools and teachers play?: A student that is cyber bullying should at least be given detention or be sent to a guidance councilor for a period of time, a teacher can help investigate who the perpetrator is or help comfort the student that is getting bullied.

Right to freedom of expression

– what limits should be placed on it?: The rights to freedom of expression is normally abused by the general public, this makes them think they’re entitled to say or write anything they wish, but in fact, there are limits that are or should be placed on it, and that is, the person expressing their thoughts or emotions should not express them in a demining or hurtful way.

Right to security of person

– should people be protected from written or verbal attacks?: It shouldn’t be against the law to insult a person, either by writing or verbally saying it, it should just be against school policy and frowned upon by the law.

Defenses and confounding factors

– what makes a possibly libelous statement okay?: To make a possibly libelous statement okay is that the statement should both be true and not too hurtful, only then is a libelous statement understandable.

Truth

– when the statement is accurate: If the statement is accurate, it shouldn’t be put in a format where it is meant to hurt or demine the other person, the impolite truth shouldn’t be spread too widely either, as this may affect the person indirectly.

Fair comment

- a legitimate journalistic intent: In cyber bullying, a third party should be the only person stating a fair comment is a third party, and not the impetrator nor the insulted, as they may have different views on the story, the “fair comment” should be made by a neutral person.

“The reasonable person”

- how offensive does something have to be before it becomes libelous?: For something to become libelous, it has to be extremely offensive and at most times, untrue, like an insult to the persons parents or false insults, that are just made up to hurt the person in a very serious way.