Twitter Takes Another Step To Protecting Users

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Blogger

Hello, Twitter has been in the news as of late with its plans to crack down on cyberbullies and other internet abusers. Now they have taken another positive step in helping bridge victims between online reporting and real realm reporting to law enforcement officers. They are provide a new option in their Block and Report feature which enables victims to print off a police report to submit in their area.

Here is an article write up discussing the new measure and showing examples of how it will work in action. Please share this with others so they will be aware of the new feature.

http://www.itproportal.com/2015/03/19/twitter-tackle-cyberbullying-print-police-report-option/

Twitter CEO Says They Suck At Dealing With Trolls, But That's About To Change

By Carolyn Davies, Contributing Blogger

Finally the social media giant Twitter is taking action. Last month, their CEO, Dick Costolo took personal responsibility after the platform came under scrutiny for their role in the rampancy of cyber abusers leveraging their free and anonymous service as a tool to abuse and draw harm to targeted victims. Some of those victims committing suicide in response to the abuse and public humiliation received. In his own words, Mr. Costolo sent a memo to Twitter employees. He says: 

"We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we've sucked at it for years. It's no secret and the rest of the world talks about it every day. We lose core user after core user by not addressing simple trolling issues that they face every day.

I'm frankly ashamed of how poorly we've dealt with this issue during my tenure as CEO. It's absurd. There's no excuse for it. I take full responsibility for not being more aggressive on this front. It's nobody else's fault but mine, and it's embarrassing.

We're going to start kicking these people off right and left and making sure that when they issue their ridiculous attacks, nobody hears them. Everybody on the leadership team knows this is vital."

I am giving you the link for the full article. This is a big step for the company and can only lead to more and more improvement in online safety.

http://mashable.com/2015/02/04/twitter-ceo-trolls/

The Pattern of Internet Mobbing

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

Internet mobbing is defined as a repeated pattern of negative intrusive violational behaviour carried out against one or more targets and is the phrase most used in continental Europe as opposed to bullying. Mobbing consists of a host of damaging behaviours including constant criticism, refusal of valuing and acknowledging, undermining, discrediting, and humiliation of a targeted individual. 

Every mob has a leader who is either an extrovert or introvert. If this person is an extrovert, it is usually obvious who is inciting and coercing members of the group. However, if the leader is an introvert type, they are likely to be acting behind the scenes manipulating group members into harassing the selected target – introvert bullies are much more dangerous than extrovert types. 

In a mobbing situation, the leader typically incites supporters, copycats, or inexperienced, immature, and emotionally needy individuals with poor values, to engage in actions against a selected target. Once they do this, the chief harasser will often feel a strong sense of gratification and empowerment knowing they are causing such adversarial interactions. This is a salient feature of people with psychopathic personality. 

One technique used by psychopathic bullies is to empower lesser bullies by enticing them to positions of power and authority – things they crave. Once installed, the lesser bully’s lack of competence makes them dependent on the chief psychopath, resulting in a state of willing compliance. One characteristic of those lower down in the mob is that they lack the intellect to understand the nature and manner of their compliant subservience. But it is usually these that a targeted individual is deceived into fighting, blaming and trying to hold accountable, rather than the group leader responsible for the attack. One of the primary reasons psychopathic mob leaders get away with their behaviour repeatedly is that nobody would believe they could be capable of such viciousness.   

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.  

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.

Ignoring cyberbullies?

By Abigail Clarke: Contributing Content Blogger

When I was young, my eldest sister was bullied at secondary school. I remember her getting the proper sort of advice to ignore it and promised that it would eventually go away. As it turned out for her, the bullying did finally stop. But bullying has changed since then and her situation was tied to in person school days with peers looking to cause trouble.  Now, the internet provides a platform for a new type of bullying that operates differently so why is the advice in dealing with it still the same? Ignore it and hope it goes away? Sorry but this really does not work most of the time unless it's schoolyard bullying. Bullying is basically the same but the way it's perpetrated online is wildly different, and therefore, I think, needs wildly different defenses and countermeasures to fight it.

When a cyber bully is ignored, they usually ramp up their aggressive behaviours knowing they will eventually get a rise out of their target if they keep at them. They can easily recruit the aid of others to either inadvertently or directly gang up on a target. This is a way for them to share the blame by hiding behind others whilst carry out their aggression and creates the illusion they are actually in the right in what they are doing. By ignoring the cyberbully, several negatives are reinforced.  One, silence may give the perception that the bullied person is guilty of whatever is being leveled at them and makes it easier to convince others to join in on the aggression. Two, silence may signal weakness to the bully giving them the impression they are getting to the victim which prompts them to continue their activities and even increase them. The goal of many bullies is to coax and pressure their victim to suicide like it's some kind of sick dare. Three, silence shows the cyberbully that nothing is being done to stop them and that they can get away with the behaviour without responsibility. This encourages them to continue on and start to attack others. Silence can ironically condone the bullying.

So how do you deal with a cyberbully?  First of all, I suggest you don’t engage them directly.  Doing this is not the same as ignoring them but it is a way of cutting off the gratification they derive from their aggression. Without delay you should speak to whomever possible to reveal the bully’s activities. This may be simply going to adults or the websites hosting the activity. Cyberbullies prefer not to be revealed for what they do.  It also shows that in messing with you they will be held accountable and face consequences. One of the worst things a person can do is to be silent and internalise what is happening to them to the point they begin believing what is said about them and blame themselves. For adults who are being cyberbullied, my advice is the same.  Report bullying activity to company officials and to law enforcement. Never hesitate by thinking cyberbullying is trivial and will pass. It rarely does and should be addressed immediately.  It is so important to realise that the problem will not go away if you ignore it. Cyberbullying and abuse isn't the same is childhood bullying amongst children who can be stopped. When it's happening amongst adults that's a different playing field and the same rules don't apply.