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Cape Town - With the exponential growth in internet access and services, children face an increasing risk from cyber bullies while parents remain unaware, says an international survey.
According to research by security firm Kaspersky Lab in conjunction with B2B International, 22% of parents cannot control what their children see online and 48% are concerned that children may be bullied.
"Children need to develop a sense of morality when they are interacting with other people online, just as much as they do when they are communicating offline. This will give them more empathy and reduce the likelihood of them opting to engage in cybercrime or cyber bullying," said David Emm, security researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
Kaspersky said that cyber bullying is more dangerous than traditional bullying because young people spend more time online with their social circle.
Social media sites such as Facebook and others make it easy for bullies to establish fake identities and harass people.
Legal precedent
"Social media, when used correctly is a benefit to society and facilitates the social good. However, it can also be abused resulting in harm through cyber-bullying and online harassment," specialist technology attorney Russel Luck recently told Fin24.
Legal precedent in SA shows that courts take a dim view of bullies, regardless of which platform they choose to engage in their acts.
"South Africa has seen its first case of defamation through social media in Heroldt v Wills 2013 (2) SA 530 (GSJ). Justice WiIlis held that statements made on Facebook by an ex-friend (who was also his business associate) were published on the social media platform and defamatory and wrongful," Luck said.
However, the relative anonymity of the internet makes is easy for bullies to attack and socially isolate victims as the tactics are shared with multiple online users.
Watch this disturbing online video on the effect of cyber bullying:
In SA, under the Protection from Harassment Act (Act No. 17 of 2011), the court merely has to see face value of harassment evidence to grant the victim a protection order.
"If the court is satisfied that there is prima facie evidence that the respondent is engaging or has engaged in harassment" the court may issue an interim protection order, the act says, in part.
But that assumes that the cyber bully can be traced.
Bully identification
While victims can, in theory, apply to the courts to serve internet service providers (ISPs) with demands to reveal identification details of bullies, the process is tedious and many social media firms are based outside of South Africa's national borders.
Kaspersky said the most responsible course of action is for parents to teach children not to reveal too much information about themselves online and use the web responsibly.
"It's also important so that they understand, from an early age, the potential dangers associated with some online activities," Emm added.
Have you been a victim of online bullying? Tell us how you dealt with it by clicking here.
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