Brighton dad sets up cyber bullying charity (From The Argus)
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Brighton dad sets up cyber bullying charity
4:10pm Thursday 1st March 2012 in News By Bill Gardner
The Argus campaign for safer surfing
A dad is setting up a cyber bullying charity – because he feels police and schools “simply do not do enough” to support victims.
Scott Freeman from Brighton, whose own daughter was targeted by internet ‘trolls’, will launch ‘Cybersmile’ in the next few weeks.
The group will campaign for specific Government legislation to outlaw cyber bullying and will provide information, guidance, and advice to people of all ages who are concerned about online safety.
Scott said: “I have personally seen the damage that cyber bullies can do.
“It’s the anonymity and the lack of accountability but if there were real consequences then things might be different.
“But the police hardly do anything in my experience.
“We want to give children help and guidance so that they can stay safe. We’ll also be running workshops to promote an understanding of what’s happening.”
Difficult to track
Sussex Police told The Argus that none of its officers are dedicated to pursuing cyber bullies because they are “notoriously difficult” to track down.
A police spokeswoman also revealed the force has no policy on Facebook abuse despite the site being the most popular social network in the world.
She said: “We don’t have a dedicated unit or person that deals with online bullying.
“It’s very hard to prove what is going on but we are certainly taking it seriously.”
She added: “As Facebook is an international website, millions of people from all over the world use it.
"We need to gather evidence to prove who the person is for a successful prosecution to take place.”
Caroline Adams, from Sussex Police’s Youth Safety Intervention Team, also admitted there are no officers dedicated to detecting cyber bullies.
“It’s true that there is no specialised unit to deal with it. But the sad reality is that it is difficult to justify the manpower when it is so difficult to prove wrongdoing,” she said.
“We have got a computer unit but they tend to only deal with the most serious cases involving paedophiles.
“We do work very hard on preventing cyber bullying and giving kids advice about how to deal with harassment. But if that’s what someone wants to do it’s very difficult to stop them.”
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Comments(11)
Nightshade
says...
6:20pm Thu 1 Mar 12
Helmut Polisher
says...
6:55pm Thu 1 Mar 12
Archie Bun wrote:With you 100%
Nonsense, get over it. On Facebook you can choose who exactly sees your profile so if someone is giving you a hard time then block them. Or if you are worried about your kids on it then stop them going on it!
You just know the sort of people these children they are going to grow up to be....
Brenthere
says...
7:22pm Thu 1 Mar 12
There are also websites such as Formspring and Topix that are straight up bullying sites and it is irrelevant whether a child or adult goes there. Topix, for example, doesn't even make their users register for accounts so it is relentless bullying of children and adults alike and even if you try to ignore your reputation can easily be shot. Formspring has some really bad attacks too where cowards will post a question about someone or something and destroy another person's reputations. That is what must be understood about the internet.Staying off of Facebook, while certainly a good first step, doesn't really offer much protection. If you can't say it to someone's face, then you are a flat out coward.
brightonboy1
says...
11:16pm Thu 1 Mar 12
Helmut Polisher
says...
12:14am Fri 2 Mar 12
brightonboy1 wrote:A GOOD IDEA that your niece went through Hell and Back? You are not much of an Uncle I must say!
my niece went through hell and back on facebook i think its a really good idea
Archie Bun
says...
8:55am Fri 2 Mar 12
Brenthere wrote:Formspring is a site where some invites questions. Topix is a discussion forum on every topic under the sun. So hardly 'straight up bullying sites'. It's a hard world. Deal with it. You know what, it's what kids do, call other kids names. Learning to deal with it is part of growing up, instead of wrapping them up in cotton wool.
I had several thoughts on this. The Facebook comment may have some degree of accuracy but not entirely. An epidemic has occurred where fake Facebook pages are being set up attacking people. This has even occurred to those (mostly children) who aren't even on Facebook. This means reputations and lives can still be destroyed, so to claim simply block who can see your page isn't entirely accurate and is being naive. There are also websites such as Formspring and Topix that are straight up bullying sites and it is irrelevant whether a child or adult goes there. Topix, for example, doesn't even make their users register for accounts so it is relentless bullying of children and adults alike and even if you try to ignore your reputation can easily be shot. Formspring has some really bad attacks too where cowards will post a question about someone or something and destroy another person's reputations. That is what must be understood about the internet.Staying off of Facebook, while certainly a good first step, doesn't really offer much protection. If you can't say it to someone's face, then you are a flat out coward.
Archie Bun
says...
8:56am Fri 2 Mar 12
beaney
says...
10:39am Fri 2 Mar 12
Archie Bun wrote:Great idea Mr Freeman, No parent wants to see there child be bullied in this way .. i agree that when you are younger kids do call each other names but this type of bullying is on a different level to the odd name calling . so i would not say that i would wrap my child in cotton wool or any other parent would, but what you do try to protect them from is group bullying. Why should you stop your child using Facebook just because of bullying ? It should be the bully's that are not allowed to use Facebook. Well done for speaking out Mr Freeman and i am sure that you will get plenty of support from parents and children.
Brenthere wrote:Formspring is a site where some invites questions. Topix is a discussion forum on every topic under the sun. So hardly 'straight up bullying sites'. It's a hard world. Deal with it. You know what, it's what kids do, call other kids names. Learning to deal with it is part of growing up, instead of wrapping them up in cotton wool.
I had several thoughts on this. The Facebook comment may have some degree of accuracy but not entirely. An epidemic has occurred where fake Facebook pages are being set up attacking people. This has even occurred to those (mostly children) who aren't even on Facebook. This means reputations and lives can still be destroyed, so to claim simply block who can see your page isn't entirely accurate and is being naive. There are also websites such as Formspring and Topix that are straight up bullying sites and it is irrelevant whether a child or adult goes there. Topix, for example, doesn't even make their users register for accounts so it is relentless bullying of children and adults alike and even if you try to ignore your reputation can easily be shot. Formspring has some really bad attacks too where cowards will post a question about someone or something and destroy another person's reputations. That is what must be understood about the internet.Staying off of Facebook, while certainly a good first step, doesn't really offer much protection. If you can't say it to someone's face, then you are a flat out coward.
Archie Bun
says...
10:55am Fri 2 Mar 12
beaney wrote:Don't forget that if a child is bullied, then it's being bullied by another child. Don't demonise them. Most of it is not 'bullying' anyway. Parents should be monitoring their kids activity. That counts for the supposed victims as well as the supposed bullies. As for speaking out, i reckon his kid will get it worse thanks to him. And remember under 13s are not allowed to join Facebook.
Archie Bun wrote:Great idea Mr Freeman, No parent wants to see there child be bullied in this way .. i agree that when you are younger kids do call each other names but this type of bullying is on a different level to the odd name calling . so i would not say that i would wrap my child in cotton wool or any other parent would, but what you do try to protect them from is group bullying. Why should you stop your child using Facebook just because of bullying ? It should be the bully's that are not allowed to use Facebook. Well done for speaking out Mr Freeman and i am sure that you will get plenty of support from parents and children.Brenthere wrote: I had several thoughts on this. The Facebook comment may have some degree of accuracy but not entirely. An epidemic has occurred where fake Facebook pages are being set up attacking people. This has even occurred to those (mostly children) who aren't even on Facebook. This means reputations and lives can still be destroyed, so to claim simply block who can see your page isn't entirely accurate and is being naive. There are also websites such as Formspring and Topix that are straight up bullying sites and it is irrelevant whether a child or adult goes there. Topix, for example, doesn't even make their users register for accounts so it is relentless bullying of children and adults alike and even if you try to ignore your reputation can easily be shot. Formspring has some really bad attacks too where cowards will post a question about someone or something and destroy another person's reputations. That is what must be understood about the internet.Staying off of Facebook, while certainly a good first step, doesn't really offer much protection. If you can't say it to someone's face, then you are a flat out coward.Formspring is a site where some invites questions. Topix is a discussion forum on every topic under the sun. So hardly 'straight up bullying sites'. It's a hard world. Deal with it. You know what, it's what kids do, call other kids names. Learning to deal with it is part of growing up, instead of wrapping them up in cotton wool.
brightonboy1
says...
11:25pm Fri 2 Mar 12
Nightshade wrote:You should contact them to volunteer as I should imagine they will need the support considering they are a new charity.
Hats off to Mr Freeman, this has to be taken seriously. It is a cowardly way of really hurting a child. Being a father of three myself, I have witnessed what can happen on the internet. If the charity needs any help. I'd volunteer to help a worthwhile cause.
Archie Bun says...
4:27pm Thu 1 Mar 12