Meet the weird cousin of sexting called frexting

By Abigail Clarke: Contributing Content Blogger

Well now we’ve all heard and know all about sexting don't we? The online vermin where transmission of revealing erotic pictures of one’s anatomy to a romantic partner is sent through some form of digital media. We also know don't we how this oftentimes escalates to nasty cases of revenge porn where those pictures you intended only to be seen by a boyfriend or girlfriend you were surely to be with the rest of your life, are now painted all over the internet since you broke up with them recently? Not bad enough? Just listen to this:

Now there’s something new people are biting off their arm about called, frexting. This is the same thing as “sexting” except you send pictures of your derriere to your trusted friends, not your love interest. This happens to be much more popular amongst females looking for validation or encouragement from girlfriends they trust. Can you imagine? Who does this? Who thinks this is a good idea? Well, apparently, younger women feel a measure of safety in knowing that their BFF is not going to pass around a frext of them in their bra and panties to some random boy. Why does their BFF even want to see such a thing you ask? I've no idea.

It is also less likely that a female friend will use the image as a sexual stimulant or weapon. Why are they being send round this way again? All well and good, but what if you have a falling out with your best girlfriend?  It’s not as if that doesn’t happen all the time. This may put you right into the fire, and possible in worse shape than your old beau having at you. Although women fall victim to online harassment more than men, studies show they can also be more vicious in their attacks against others online. There seems to be somewhat of an exhibitionist mentality among many young women these days as they strive to find validation and empowerment through their physical appearance. This is the most unhealthy frame of mind and a mind frame that may lead to the most damaging experience of their lives.

Keep your derriere where it belongs is my advice!

Video: Cyber Harassment and Cyber Stalking: The New Frontier of Civil Rights in the Twenty-First Century

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

Hello, I've discovered and am sharing a lengthy but worthy video from Case University School of Law in the US. The first 10 minutes are background room noise with no speaker so fast forward your cursor prompt to roughly 9:45 inwards for the main introduction and 15:26 for the true start.The video discussion seminar is Cyber Harassment and Cyber Stalking: The New Frontier of Civil Rights in the Twenty-First Century. It's a bit dry but worth viewing. Raised are important questions facing us today and in the future with civil rights or free speech and how it bands to the legal processes not only in the US but around the democratic world.

A Society Dictating Moral Order Online Is A Vigilante Society Of Lawlessness

By David Simms, Senior Contributor
The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

There is a perspective floating around whereby cyber-bullying on social media is viewed as the result of society’s desire to create moral order online. In certain parts of the world shaming others for their mistakes by identifying what is morally right or wrong gives the ability for internet users to shape social codes and force conformity. A graduate student in Yogyakarta Indonesia faced the wrath of thousands of social media users after tweeting negative angry statements about petrol station staff in the city. People rallied together online demanding the student be banished from the province for her demeaning comments. As a result, police arrested her on defamation charges under the controversial Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) law established in that country.  Another case involved a commuting female worker complaining online about how pregnant women always get a seat wherever they board. In just a matter of hours, her post went viral and she faced a chorus of condemnation.

Countries such as Indonesia where ethnic and religious sentiments are very present in the social fabric of society, tend to see much more group mob-like behaviour when it comes to defending cultural or religious practices.  This drives people to utilise social media as a tool to criticise others they see as breaching the moral code. But is it right?

Contrastingly, a recent study by Pew Research Centre revealed that social media actually works to silence public debate in the United States. The study found Americans tend to not voice their opinions in social media, especially when they feel that their opinion is different from popular views.

Regardless of how you look at the issue, using the online platform to harass others into conformity or bash them because they disagree with prevailing views is wrong. This is not to say people should voice scathing negative opinions without considering the impacts of their statements on others. The bottom line is we should all be kinder and more conscientious when it comes to any online interaction. We must always consider how our comments will be taken but we must also restrain from taking up torches to silence others we disagree with.

A society dictating moral order online is a vigilante society of lawlessness and of that we should be very aware and concerned.

Dr. Gary Namie Describes 4 Bully Types

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

Dr. Gary Namie describes in detail 4 principle bully types one may find in the work-adult world.  Although these are descriptions of negative personalities and the typical methods of bullying they employ, each can manifest through the internet while at work or home.  It is an expose of immature adult behaviour. 

 

Cyberstalking Protections

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

Here is a news clip talking about the ease at which cyberstalkers can obtain information about you.  Residence addresses are easy to find on the internet and can be used to quickly pinpoint your location on a search engine such as google maps. Something as innocent as posting a picture of the area you live in could also be dangerous as GPS coordinates are sometimes embedded in photos or provide searchable information for the most intent of stalkers to track down.  

Phishing Has Surpassed Financially Oriented Aims

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

The familiar topic of Phishing has gained a higher profile in the world of cyber-stalking and for good reason. This online crime is a form of social engineering in which the attacker attempts to acquire sensitive information from a victim by insidiously charading as a harmless third party. Internet users need to be alert and aware that this is a particularly dangerous type of cyber-stalking in that it can initially appear overwhelmingly innocuous. Such attackers aim to craft the most convincing illusion that they can be trusted, often posing as sympathetic friends or even as legitimate-looking businesses or professionals. They then use acquired information to begin or further escalate a cyber-harassment attack. Often the end result is the extortion of money, blackmail, or simply humiliating and shaming a victim to the outcome of suicide. Sometimes a phisher will use urgent warnings or project themselves as trying to protect the target by giving false information of an impending threat or attack. In any case, these menacing individuals are devious and ultimately will deceive, take from, harm, or damage a victim to acquire gain.

It is important for people to understand that Phishing has been traditionally associated as a cyber-crime term with offenders primarily going after banking information, passwords, and credit cards. Most of us already know to be on high alert when receiving emails or attachments requesting we furnish our private details. However, Phishing has surpassed such financially oriented aims and adapted into a lethal form of cyber-harassment and stalking. Both sides of this coin need discussing.

Nothing on the Internet is Private Beware

By Carolyn Davis, Contributing Content Blogger

Nothing posted on the internet is private though even in this day and age there are still some who don't know this. Many are under the perception that personal information shared with friends remains with friends. Not so. The internet is ripe with cyberstalking. This short clip I share below suggests strange men as being the principal perpetrators of online stalking, but everyone need know a large proportion of cyberstalking is carried out by friends or others identified already as safe by the victim.

Doxing poses real dangers to online victims.

By Abigail Clarke: Contributing Content Blogger

A mere days ago I heard about a doxing incident. It wasn't named for what it was in the press of course! You would have to live in a bog to have missed the news. The story involved a situation where a woman claimed to have been gang raped. She took her story to Rolling Stone magazine who decided to publish it. The doxing came about when a blogger dug into the woman’s past finding her real name and other personal information which he used to threaten and intimidate her with. To justify his illegal degree of privacy invasion he claimed to be a vigilante of the truth and told her that he would post her personal information unless she admitted the story was false. He posted the information about her anyway.

Doxing is the activity of obtaining publicly listed or private information about a person to then use as a leverage of threat against them. Yes it was proven that the Rolling Stone story was indeed false, the larger point I want to make is the way which it was exposed. The privacy invasion, pressuring or intimidation of anyone, regardless of their alleged offense, should never be executed in the manner it was in this circumstance. This is cyber harassment in disguise and the blogger a cyber bullying criminal.

I was always taught that two wrongs don’t make a right!  What this blogger achieved was not a win for some kind of good. It was a strong message condoning the practice of ransoming a person’s private information and intimidating them. Using the internet to muscle people about or violate their privacy for your own means or gains, even under some alleged cause, is not an act of integrity or one any of us should applaud. Doxing is a crime and crimes should be punished!

Workplace Bullying Video identical to Cyberbullying Dynamic

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

I've found a thorough and excellent look at bullying in the workplace and how it negatively effects not just the victims but also the organisations in which it occurs. This clip does focus more on bullying in general but the same motivations, justifications, and consequences of the bully-victim dynamic are identical to cyberbullying so it's worth a look. This is it for me until after the holidays so I wish everyone a Happy Christmas and much prosperity in the new year!

Cyber-Stalking Has No Group Boundaries

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

Cyber-stalking is generally not a gender, cultural, or other group-specific phenomenon. It can be inflicted by anybody with an internet connection and can be received by anybody via the same. Whether the stalker has a particular personal grudge against their target or they enjoy the psychological high and sense of control they experience when damaging and harassing the lives of others they don’t know or have a personal connection to has no bearing on propensity toward any one group over another.

The latest statistics show that cyber-harassment is experienced almost equally among all groups. There are also interesting statistics showing people who have recently moved from one country to another, or whose parents are immigrants to a new country, experience a slightly higher frequency of internet harassment. Many in this group are also more likely to be perpetrators of the bullying and harassment. It is speculated that this has something to do with being a defense mechanism to preempt attacks against themselves.

(Series Piece 8) Anna Kavanaugh - Syndicated Columnist - Weekly Column - Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

Today we proudly publish for syndication this week's installment of our featured columnist, Anna Kavanaugh, and her brilliant column, Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. This is Series Piece 8 and an excellent read in her column series. Anna's is a distinctive and ardent voice of expertise and wisdom in defining and describing what she rightly deems a global pandemic of virtual confusion whereby a societal breakdown of empathy and compassion confuse and pose serious threat to legal boundaries and civilised conduct. In this piece she discusses some of the pathology and psychological tactics used by cyber-abusers and also offers up some empowering advice to online victims. It is our honour to now present you with another perceptive and powerful installment of Anna's weekly column. Comments are open on the full article page for feedback and to encourage discussion.

Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. (Series Piece 8)

Written by Anna Kavanaugh, Syndicated Columnist

Published for syndication by: The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards (GICSS)

“Just get over it,” they say.

“Grow some thicker skin, you big baby” they taunt.

“Enough with your drama,” they sneer.

These are just a few of the dismissive remarks used by cyber-abusers to further degrade their victims. They use childish statements such as these as tools of manipulation in their mental warfare, to make a victim feel trivialized and ultimately silenced. Victims who try to resist or speak out against the abuse inflicted upon them can commonly expect to hear these juvenile barbs in response. This is only a predictable posturing measure dually deployed for both deflection and minimization. However, in the mind of a cyber-abuser, there is a pathological justification trigger that gives creed to the words they say. They cannot comprehend the severe ramifications of their brutal abuse or the repugnance of the defamation campaigns and false realities they create to deliberately destroy their target prey. Nor do they understand the calamitous aftermath their victims are left debilitated by in the physical realm. Only if a cyber-abuser were to experience the trauma, injustice, damage, and personal violation of a public assassination campaign, would they understand that “letting it go,” does not apply. A victim cannot simply “move on,” from a cyber-abuse campaign. This is because, in the public domain, a smear campaign can propagate indefinitely, making the resulting damages to a victim’s life a perpetual crisis from which they feel there is no escape and no recovery. And that is precisely why we see so many of them turn to suicide seeking desperate relief from the ongoing trauma they sustain.

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Sexting Dangers

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

We are increasing the awareness and education of young people about sexting but they still are involving themselves in these behaviours. Young people need to fully understand the consequences of their actions. The price for these choices they could do penance for years and affect them and their futures in ways they aren't thinking about. Here is a video albeit it brief. I'm posting this as a short but worthy reminder that drives home the point. Nothing posted online should be considered confidential.

(Series Piece 6) Anna Kavanaugh - Syndicated Columnist - Weekly Column - Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

Another Monday has come round again and just as scheduled this morning we proudly publish for syndication this week's installment of our featured columnist, Anna Kavanaugh, and her brilliant column, Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. This is Series Piece 6 and an excellent read in her column series. Anna's is a distinctive and ardent voice of expertise and wisdom in defining and describing what she rightly deems a global pandemic of virtual confusion whereby a societal breakdown of empathy and compassion confuse and pose serious threat to legal boundaries and civilised conduct. In this piece she brings us an unparalleled address on the key psychological manipulations used by cyber-abusers through the pathological and cruel process she refers to as the dehumanization and deindividuation of online victims. It is our honour to now present you with another perceptive and powerful installment of Anna's weekly column. Comments are open on the full article page for feedback and to encourage discussion.

Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. (Series Piece 6)

Written by Anna Kavanaugh, Syndicated Columnist

Published for syndication by: The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards (GICSS)

"It’s you. Not me.”

This is just one of the psychological manipulations that cyber-abusers use to posture control over their victims. But, they’re wrong.

A study of the mentality and inner mechanisms that lie beneath the manifestations of the deviant and criminally minded behaviors executed by a cyber-abuser can be an intimidating and downright frightening experience. That is, until we begin to recognize the pathological commonality seen in all cyber-abusers that really makes these individuals seem rather ordinary. There is nothing unique about any of them and their predictability can be easily measured. They employ the same tactics and display the same triggered responses seen in their tell-tale escalation of abuse, and their deflective reaction to being exposed for that abuse. Once this is understood they become much less scary, which often allows victims to maintain a higher level of emotional strength for a longer period of time. But tragically, for many victims of cyber-abuse, this understanding does not come before they have fulfilled suicide as a means to escape the trauma they have endured. The relentless abuse and resulting damages sustained by a victim will eventually begin to erode their sense of spirit and scar them with profound wounds to their soul. By the time a victim seeks the desperate relief of physical death, they have already died. The act of suicide becomes only a means to an end of their ongoing pain and suffering.

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By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

Harassment and bullying are well known and experienced phenomena worldwide. This PSA talks about laws in countries such as Singapore, Australia, and the UK that are becoming tougher on harassment in general but more specifically on cyber forms of these crimes. These countries are setting the stage for a no-tolerance policy. Please share.

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

AVG Technologies (Anti-Virus-Guard) held a summit meeting to discuss a variety of important topics concerning evolving safety concerns for children on the internet. Below I've shared a very good teaser clip highlighting some of what was discussed during the meeting. Good information to have.

(Series Piece 5) Anna Kavanaugh - Syndicated Columnist - Weekly Column - Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

Monday has come round again and so this morning we proudly publish for syndication this week's installment of our featured columnist, Anna Kavanaugh, and her brilliant column, Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. This is Series Piece 5 and an excellent read in her column series. Anna's is a distinctive and ardent voice of expertise and wisdom in defining and describing what she rightly deems a global pandemic of virtual confusion whereby a societal breakdown of empathy and compassion confuse and pose serious threat to legal boundaries and civilised conduct. In this piece she brings us an unparalleled address on pioneering the internet and the responsibility we have to impart what she calls intrinsic wisdom into our small children who are the future of the cyber world. It is our honour to now present you with another perceptive and powerful installment of Anna's weekly column. Comments are open on the full article page for feedback and to encourage discussion.

Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. (Series Piece 5)

Written by Anna Kavanaugh, Syndicated Columnist

Published for syndication by: The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards (GICSS)

I still remember that first day. It was the mid-90's and the afternoon had come for the installation of my own personal home computer. I laugh as I recall my excitement, wonder, awe, and undeniable intimidation of this heavy cream-colored block of technology that was the most awkward monstrosity in comparison to computers today. At the time, it was a cutting edge, top of the line PC, and as one of the first in my circle of young friends to own one, I sure felt like some kind of newly appointed royalty, or at least the cat’s pajamas. It was such an innocent time and I feel a bit sad knowing the naivete of it all is now lost to nostalgia. I will always have my memories; when Alta Vista was the King of Search Engines, when type-chatting in real-time with someone in Australia felt like harnessing the great powers of the universe, when the buzzing and beeping of a dial-up connection was an anticipatory delight, and the words, “You've Got Mail,” sent shock-waves of joy straight through me.

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NASUWT Campaign for Change

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Content Blogger

Passing along this great bit of information for all interested and in the appropriate region to take part or make further inquiries. 

A UK organisation known as the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), has expressed concern about cyberbullying based on empirical data from a vast collection of teacher experiences. This is the largest teacher's union in the United Kingdom. The group recognises the extreme benefits of using current digital technology, but at the same time are alarmed at the routine abuse of social media, internet sites, and mobile phones in schools. They are now on a mission to campaign for change.

Here is a good article about what they are up to:
http://www.unite4education.org/uncategorized/uk-teachers-union-takes-on-cyberbullying/

and here is a link to their website for contact on getting involved: http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/

(Series Piece 3) Anna Kavanaugh - Syndicated Columnist - Weekly Column - Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

Today we again proudly publish for syndication our featured columnist, Anna Kavanaugh, and her brilliant column, Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. This is Piece 3 and an excellent read in her column series. Anna's is a distinctive and ardent voice of expertise and wisdom in defining and describing what she rightly deems a global pandemic of virtual confusion whereby a societal breakdown of empathy and compassion confuse and pose serious threat to legal boundaries and civilised conduct. It is our honour to now present you with another perceptive and powerful installment of Anna's weekly column. Comments are open on the full article page for feedback and to encourage discussion.

Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. (Series Piece 3)

Written by Anna Kavanaugh, Syndicated Columnist

Published for syndication by: The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards (GICSS)

Religion, righteousness, and freedom of speech are unquestionably three of the most misconstrued and misused principles throughout history. But until recently, there has never been a time when this reality rang more true. The advent of the internet has provided the perfect breeding ground for behavioral hypocrisy, the justification of heresy, and the undermining of basic human decency by virtue of self-proclaimed morality.

Cyberspace offers its users the unrestrained and anonymous opportunity to express opinions, create and disseminate false statements or damaging innuendos about others, and vent vitriolic abuse aimed at a specific individual or the world at large. Unlike any other time in history, information planted in the vast public domain of the internet can travel around the world in a matter of minutes, reaching an audience of multi-millions. And it does not end there. Information posted to various websites or preserved on social media venues self-propagates as new users happen upon it or are directed to it by various search engines indiscriminately presenting suggested search results and links to this material indexed from their web crawls. Yes, the internet is the water cooler of the modern era; the rumor mill of the age.

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(Series Piece 1) Anna Kavanaugh - Syndicated Columnist. Launch of Column - Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime

By David Simms, Senior Contributor

The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards

We are all quite excited to welcome the launch of our featured syndicated column brought to us by columnist Anna Kavanaugh, aptly called Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. We are now re-syndicating the first of several column series pieces written by Anna and syndicated prior to her joining of the GICSS. Following our run of her previously published weekly pieces, we will publish and syndicate Anna's continuing column forward. Anna's column is a brilliantly written and powerful series, the weight and expertise of which is easily recognised in the ace of her words as she puts a fine point of clarity on the complex and confusing crisis of cyber abuse. Anna's is a distinctive and ardent voice of expertise and wisdom in defining and describing what she rightly deems a global pandemic of virtual confusion whereby a societal breakdown of empathy and compassion confuse and pose serious threat to legal boundaries and civilised conduct. It is our honour to now present you with the following syndicated column. Comments are open for feedback and to encourage discussion.

Cyber Abuse: The Virtual Violent Crime. (Series Piece 1)

Written by Anna Kavanaugh, Syndicated Columnist 

Published for syndication by: The Global Institute for Cyber Safety and Standards (GICSS)

Recently, I enjoyed another of my routine marathon movie weekends, but this time with a twist. I found time to reflect on the profundity of the films I was revisiting, rather than skimming along the surface of the stories now naturally diluted in my familiarity with the scripts, actors and cinematic spectacles that films such as, “Braveheart,” “Troy,” “Gladiator,” and “The Passion of the Christ,” have given us. While these films may have been an unlikely catalyst, I suddenly found myself considering the pandemic of cyber-abuse through a lens I had not looked through before. The questions that have arisen for me are not ones I really want to ask, mostly because I fear the answers, but I more fear the consequences of failing to search for them. And so ask the questions, I will.

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Parental Responsibility in Raising Responsible Internet Users

By: David Simms, Senior Contributor

The internet has exploded with bullying, harassment, and other hate activity that has taken the lives of many and effectively crippled the lives of so many more. What has created such a havoc-ridden climate?  Small children are mostly influenced, whether they believe it or not, by the adults in their lives. From them they learn manners, right from wrong, and how to interact with the world. They are formed by watching what adults do and how they treat others. This has been going on since the beginning of time and is why parenting is such a critical responsibility accountable not only to the family unit but to all those we come in contact with throughout life. It can be monumentally confusing to a child when they witness their parent or other respected adult, treat others harshly and with disrespect especially if they are not accustomed to this. It only takes one event to rock the sensitive and impressionable reality of a child. Children can intrinsically sense something wrong about inconsistent behaviours they observe. Unfortunately, if they are exposed to this on a regular basis, their own inner compass of right and wrong can be overridden. This is usually the beginning of acting out in the same manner they have seen in adults and is typically reinforced by other children they interact with at school and may lead to physical bullying others. Realistically though, most children do not become playground bullies because most of us shy away from physical aggression. 

However, the internet lends itself as an easy platform on which to release passive aggression on others. It is this reason it has become so dangerous.  Children, and adults, who would normally never be involved in physical confrontation, become the most aggressive and cruel creatures when online. This is seeded in the experiences they had, and the observations they made, when a younger age.  It is also coupled with the fact that the internet world is perceived as detached, almost as a fantasy game where people, feelings, and lives are not real. This makes for a dangerous recipe and outlet for aggression and harm to others.

As adults raising children in the computer age, there is a new and unexpected responsibility incurred. We must educate children from a very young age that the online world is a very real place where people can be harmed.  Children must be made to understand that their actions online can hurt and destroy others and that it is not acceptable, just as it is not acceptable to harm others in the street. They must know there are rules to abide by that cannot be broken and that they will be held accountable for what they do online. Adults must be more aware of their own actions in front of children.  It is only in these ways that positive change can occur and a true difference can be made.