Cyberbullying and privacy: New forms of social aggression

• Author: Lesley A. Jacobs
• Pages: 93-112

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#chapter5

CYBERBULLYING AND PRIVACY:

NEW FORMS OF SOCIAL AGGRESSION

A. INTRODUCTION

Bullying is a fr ustratingly plastic mode of expressing aggression. Tradition-

ally, it has been conceived primarily in aect ive, physical terms. e stereo-

typical bul ly engages in open acts of physical aggression, largely on school

property and during set times. Only recently has there been much recogni-

tion that bullying ca n be social, not just physical. is insight is especial ly

pertinent given that the primar y victims and perpetrators of social bu llying

are girls. Bullying had long been accepted as a rite of passage for children

growing into maturity and adulthood. It was widely tolerated; indeed, in

some instances, bullying was even seen as a useful activ ity to toughen chil-

dren up. But now the debilitating and oen profoundly negative impact that

sustained bullying can have on a child is widely acknowledged. e rami-

cations of someone being made to feel small during the most vulnerable

phase in life can echo throug h the entirety of life.

is chapter focuses on cyberbullying among children and youth.

Cyberbullying represents a new form, or perhaps more accurately, a new

digital platform for social bullying. Bill Belsey, who coined the term, de-

nes cyberbullying as involving “the use of information and communica-

tion technologies to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behaviour by an

individual or group that is intended to harm others.” Cyberbullying should

be viewed as an intentional wrongfu l act, although perhaps one commit-

ted without full appreciation of its consequences. Although cyberbu llying

 See Shaheen Sha ri & Rachel Gouin, “Cy ber-Dilemmas: Gendered Hier archies, Free Ex-

pression and Cyber-Sa fety in School” () . Atl antis: A Women’s Studies Journal .

 Bill Belsey, “Cyberbully ing: A Real and Growi ng reat” ATA Magazine (Fall )  at .

Privacy Rights in th e Global Digital Economy94 |

is intentional, the fact that bullies are t hemselves oen children or youth

means that judgments of individual responsibility a re rarely simple or clear.

Neither smart advertisements (the focus of Chapter ) nor privacy invasions

by social network friends (the focus of Chapter ) constitute cyberbullying.

But cyberbullying ca n still be traced, in part, to v iolations of privacy rights.

is chapter advances an understandi ng of cyberbullying and how to

combat it that is designed to provide further insights into the appropriate

paths to justice for privacy rig hts issues that arise in the everyday lives of

Canadian youth.

B. TAKING CYBERBULLYING SERIOUSLY

Bullying is a major youth issue in Canad ian society. In a presentation to a

Senate committee, Bill Belsey, president of Bullying.org, reported that there

are as many as , cases of bullyi ng in Canadian high schools every

yea r. A survey conducted by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation found that

 percent of Canadians consider bullying a serious social issue. Much of

the focus for taking bul lying (and cyberbullying) seriously has centred on

measuring the aect ive impact of bullying on the victi m’s emotions and

academic prospects. Empirical evidence has shown, too, that most bul lies,

like their vict ims, suer from some form of psychological distress. is

distress might be brought on by external factors or develop as a conse-

quence of engaging in bullying. Any approach that puts the primary em-

phasis on the immediate psychological harm and societal costs of bullying

is, however, limited in the solutions it can conceive and risks not taking

cyberbully ing seriously enough.

) Affective Approaches and Their Limits

Aective approaches regard the consequences of cyberbullying as stigma-

tization, loss of self-esteem, social ostracism, a nd social exclusion for the

victim. While these aectively determined consequences are undoubtedly

 Shaheen Shari, “Cybe r-Dilemmas in the New Mil lennium: School Obligat ions to

Provide Student Safe ty in a Virtual S chool Environment” () : McGill Jou rnal of

Education .

 A Wayne MacKay, Respectful and Res ponsible Relationshi ps: ere’s No App for at: e

Report of the Nova Sco tia Task Force on Bullying and Cyberbullyin g (Halifax: Govern ment

of Nova Scotia, ).

 Marilyn Campbel l, “Do Cyberbullies Su er Too? Cyberbullies’ Perceptions of t he Harm

ey Cause to Other s and to eir Own Mental Hea lth” () : School Psychology

International .