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stories filed under: "jerks"
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
bullying, canada, cyberbullying, jerks, laws, teachers



Now Canadian Teachers Want Cyberbullying To Be A Criminal Offense

from the overreact-much? dept

At some point, people need to realize that there are some people out there who just do jerkry things. In fact, at some point or another, probably most everyone is a jerk to someone else. It's no fun to be on the receiving end of someone being a jerk -- but it happens. However, in the last few years, there's been this silly focus on trying to turn online jerks into criminals. We've already highlighted such an effort underway in the US, but now a bunch of teachers in Canada are pushing to make cyberbullying a criminal offense. Yes, it's important to deal with cyberbullies, but charging them with a crime clearly goes too far.

28 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Politics

Politics

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
bullying, cyberbullying, jerks, laws



Should It Be Against The Law To Be A Jerk Online?

from the well,-it-may-become-law-soon dept

In large part due to the sad story of Megan Meier, we're suddenly seeing a rush for politicians to rush through "anti-cyberbullying" that make cyberbullying illegal. It's hard to see how such legislation will pass constitutional muster, but it seems to be more along the lines of previous legislation attempts to "protect the children" that will do little to actually protect children. Certainly, kids getting bullied is a problem -- and cyberbullying can make it that much more difficult for kids who feel that they "can't escape" as the bullying can follow them outside of school. But that doesn't mean that tossing kids in jail for taunting other kids is the answer. At some point, people need to realize that there are people out there who are going to act like jerks -- and throwing people in jail isn't going to change that, though it likely will lead to frivolous lawsuits whenever some folks get upset about something someone else said to them.

48 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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