New Media Issues - Cyber Harassment

Hi guys, i am here to update my blog with the topic of new media issues. There is a lot of new media issues in this era and they are being categorized under credibility issues, brand identity issue, campaign issues and security issues. Today, i am going to talk about the cyber harassment which is under the security issues.

Cyber harassment refers to online harassment. Cyber harassment or bullying is the use of email, instant messaging, and derogatory websites to bully or otherwise harass an individual or group through personal attacks. Cyber harassment can be in the form of flames, comments made in chat rooms, sending of offensive or cruel e-mail, or even harassing others by posting on blogs or social networking sites.

Here is some cases about cyber harassment:
The Megan Meier Case

Megan struggled with attention deficit disorder and depression in addition to issues with her weight after her daughter hanged herself in a bedroom closet in October 2006. About five weeks before her death, a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans asked Megan to be friends on the social networking website MySpace. The two began communicating online regularly, although they never met in person or spoke on the phone. 
In mid-October, Josh began saying he didn’t want to be friends anymore, and the messages became more cruel on October 16, 2006, when Josh concluded by telling Megan, “The world would be a better place without you.” The cyber bullying escalated when additional classmates and friends on MySpace began writing disturbing messages and bulletins. Tina said on the Foundation website that it was about 20 minutes after Megan went to her room after leaving the computer that the mother found her daughter had hanged herself in her bedroom closet. Megan died the following day, three weeks before what would have been her 14th birthday.

The Jessica Logan case 

Jessica Logan was an 18-year-old Sycamore High School senior who sent nude photo of herself to her boyfriend, but the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the photo was sent to hundreds of teenagers in at least seven Cincinnati-area high schools after the couple broke up. According to the University of Alabama's cyber bullying website, the cyber bullying continued through Facebook, MySpace and text messages. Jessica hanged herself after attending the funeral of another boy who had committed suicide.

I choose to talk about this topic is because this is a serious problem that cannot be deny in this technology era. It might be happening at all around the world in every minute as long as the internet is existed. Hence, you can imagine the seriousness of this problem. This cannot be despite but need to be solve properly in order to protect the users of new media as every users of new media would have the possibility to become the victims of it. 

In order to protect yourself as a new media users which might face cyber harassment, here is some solutions that you can do to protect yourself when you are encountering cyber harassment.  

1. Recognize the situation for what it is: Online harassment. It can also be referred to as cyber bullying, but regardless of the name, know that this is a sign of weakness for the perpetrator. As upsetting as it can be, recognize that it's extremely important that you DO NOT respond to this person. Engaging with the bully often only makes matters worse. They feed off their victim's misery and pain.
2. Make a copy of the message, photo or video. The best way to do this is to copy the URL of the specific webpage where it's happening. Then screenshot the webpage, just in case. This action can help you when you need the evidence. 
3. Contact the website operators by phone, email and any contact submission forms that they have available on their site. Request that they take the content down immediately, and let them know that you're filing a case with your local police department. Remain persistent. Continue calling and emailing the website operators until the content has been removed. If they still have not action about it, you can take the consideration to sue them. 
4. File a report with your local police department. While some police departments have an "Internet crimes division," many do not. So unfortunately, in many cases the police can only get involved if your life has been threatened. 

In conclusion, cyber harassment is a serious issues and it is hard to handle as new media have a powerful influence to all the users, no matter positive or negative. Hence, all of us have the responsibility to stop or prevent this issues from happening. 

Thanks for reading for all my blogs.