The document discusses the issue of cyberbullying among students and teenagers. It notes that while cyberbullying is a serious problem, there are no clear laws around it and existing laws provide inadequate solutions. It examines different policy options that have been proposed to address cyberbullying, such as the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, but many of these proposals face issues around freedom of speech. Non-legal measures are also discussed, such as educating students and parents on internet safety and monitoring internet use. Overall, the document analyzes the challenges around creating effective laws and policies to combat the problem of cyberbullying.

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Cyberbullying:
Current Legal
Issues in EducationSabrina McAnally
IL 571

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Introduction
 Cyberbullying between teenagers/students is a growing problem with
teenagers and the use of social media. With no specific laws
pertaining to cyberbullying itself, it is a serious issue that needs
attention from lawmakers.

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Introduction
 Megan, a 13 year old student, was a victim of cyberbullying when
she became a part of an online relationship with Josh. The
relationship became negative which resulted in personal attacks of
her character. This led to Megan committing suicide. It was later
found out that “Josh” never really existed. The fake account was
created by her neighbor’s mother in an attempt to find out what
Megan really thought about her daughter. Situations like this have led
to an increased need for laws to be made specifically related to
cyberbullying.

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Introduction
 The Internet creates a virtual world that can result in very real
consequences for people and students have a hard time
differentiating between the two.
 The veil of anonymity is a growing problem among students and
teenagers alike.
 This creates a challenge for parents, schools, and policy makers to
provide protections for children.

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Opinion of Implications of Quality Decision Making in
Regard to Legal, Moral, and Ethical Repercussions
 Cyberbullying lacks legal action in many states.
 Some states categorize it under harassment/stalking
 Those provide inadequate solutions for the problem.
 Regulation of online speech treads on delicate constitutional territories
 In efforts to make the Internet safer, lawmakers must be careful to not invade on
individual’s freedom of speech.

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Opinion of Implications of Quality Decision Making in
Regard to Legal, Moral, and Ethical Repercussions
 The Center for Disease Control and Prevention classify “cyberbullying” as
an emerging health problem.
 Their aren’t many legal remedies for this problem.
 The ones that do exist lack solutions for such a unique problem.
 Internet communication can be spread in mere seconds with the click of a
mouse, so there becomes more than one contributor to the cyberbullying
tactic, and THAT makes this problem hard to combat.

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Policy Options for Solving the Problem
 Often times, citizens can rely on tort law as a possible action
against cyberbullying
 This could fall under defamation
 The problem with this is that it is hard to target and the victim doesn’t always
receive justice
 Example: the victim must prove that statements were false, that they caused
damage to reputation, etc.
 Those things are hard to prove resulting in no action taken against the cyberbully

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Policy Options for Solving the Problem
 Communications Decency Act
 Seeks to prevent obscenity on the Internet while promoting
protected forms of speech.
 The problem with this is that only individual creators of the content can be
held liable.
 This does not address the problem of sharing content, screen capturing and
reposting, etc.

9. z Policy Options for Solving the Problem
-Proposed Legislation
 Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act
 Proposed by California Representative Linda Sanchez
 Would impose a fine and up to two years imprisonment.
 Both parties in the House of Representatives criticized it as
unconstitutional and a restriction of speech.
 Proposed Internet Safety Act
 Would require recipients of federal funding under the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 to promote safe Internet use among
students.
 Passed in the House of Representative, but still sits in the Senate.

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Political Strategies used to Solve the Problem
 Because cyberbullying is a severe problem in schools and
because school systems lack clarity in dealing with the situation
in a correct legal matter, the Supreme Court is being asked to
give schools the clear direction they need to respond to
cyberbullying appropriately.
 Another strategy suggested is to revise the Communications
Decency Act to require websites to remove defamatory content
upon notification.

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Nonlegal Measures to combat Cyberbullying
 Educate and train parents how to handle social media accounts with
children in their household
 Schools should educate children in Internet safety
 Teachers should be trained how to identify and respond to cyberbullying.
Once they recognize the indicators, they can communicate warning
signs to parents in an attempt to be proactive.
 Parents and Teachers should monitor Internet use of students/children.

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References
King, A. V. (2010, April). Constitutionality of cyberbullying laws: keeping the online
playground safe for both teens and free speech. Vanderbilt Law Review,
63(3), 845+. Retrieved from
http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.uwa.edu/apps/doc/A227596548/LT?u=n
aal_uwa&sid=LT&xid=167b94cd