Mal Fletcher comments on a new bill introduced this week

Mal Fletcher

Kudos this week to British MP Angie Bray who has introduced a bill aimed at curbing the rise of cyber bullying.

The proposed laws, which the Government says it will back, would see cyber stalkers imprisoned for up to two years.

Ms Bray proposed the change after a constituent said her 14-year-old daughter had been "verbally raped" by an older man. The girl received 2,000 texts over a period of 18 months. Prosecutors failed to secure a conviction.

The new laws would also give prosecutors more time to build a case. Until now, getting convictions in cases involving social media sites, for example, has been difficult.

Rates of child bullying online have risen sharply over the past few years. This is a clear case of social media being used in very anti-social ways.

Studies have shown that with all forms of online bullying, there are three prominent assumptions being made.

The first is the assumption of anonymity made by those who send offensive messages. Allied to this is a safety-in-numbers mentality which says, "Among so many voices online who, aside from my victim, will take any notice of mine?"

Actually, there are ways for law enforcement agencies to track the identities of users and, in the end, what goes digital stays digital. No matter how anonymous one might feel in sending a tweet, or how quickly one might delete it thereafter, a permanent record is always left behind for those who know how to find it.

The second assumption bullies make is that their victims are helpless individuals who can put up no effective defence. Sadly, this is too often borne out, at least in the emotional damage done.

Legally, though, the situation is changing. Hopefully, a change in the law will also bring a greater awareness and vigilance on the part of parents and caregivers.

On their own, laws don't always change behaviour. They do, however, bolster the confidence of victims or those close to them, encouraging them to fight back in the knowledge that wrong doing will not be tolerated by the wider culture.

There is also an often unconscious assumption made by the public at large that because we use personal devices like mobile phones to access the internet, it must be a private and secure environment.

In fact, the internet is more a public thoroughfare than a private road. Even after 25 years, it is still in many respects a very insecure, wild west environment.

We already have strict laws dealing with harassment, threats of violence and slander. It is high time we saw those laws applied to social media.