Topic > What is Cyberbullying in Today's Society - 2440

Yes, it's easy to tell when someone is being bullied in some form, but legislators at the state and federal levels are running in circles about it. Many cases of bullying were reported and that's when lawmakers finally realized how harmful these situations actually are. The federal government has established requirements for off-campus behaviors, such as cyberbullying, to be regulated by the school. For a school to take action, there must be a clear disruption to the educational process or a depiction of a real threat. (Donegan R.). State governments have also been going around in circles over bullying laws, and it took a good number of cases to finally decide that something needed to change. In 2006, there was a case in Missouri involving cyberbullying. A fake social media account was created to harass someone who ended up taking his own life. The case of United States v. Lori Drew has sparked much debate. The court ruled that they could not hold Drew responsible for the harassment that led to the suicide due to the lack of legal fulfillment. They enforced the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This act is not for bullying but for prosecuting theft of electronic devices, but in this circumstance it was used to enforce social media terms of service. The terms require users to comply with a series of rules, which “required truthful and accurate registration, refraining from using information from social networks”.