Ethics+and+Legislation

Many laws have been passed in order to help prevent and stop cyberbullying. In New York, the H.B.A 04028 law says that it is now a misdemeanor if you fail to report hazing and bullying. This law also prohibits bullying, both traditional and cyberbullying, on school property. The Commissioner's Regulation 100.2 and Education Law 2801 is now requiring every board of education to have a code of conduct that they thoroughly enforce. It must have disciplinary actions for any type of bullying whether it is physical or emotional. There was also a bill passed by the New York senate in June of 2010 called the “Dignity for All Students Act.” It makes sure all students can be in a public school free of harassment and discrimination based on any differences between individuals. (Hinduja and Patchin, 2011)

Some ethical problems that go with cyberbullying have to do with the contribution to society and human well-being. Not only cyberbullying, but any type of harassment, does not “protect fundamental human rights” and respect the diversity of the each person. Cyberbullying also harms the victim because there are commonly negative consequences from it. (Association for Computing Machinery, 1992) The average teenager that has not been involved in cyberbullying generally has much higher self esteem than victims or offenders of cyberbullying. There has been a positive increase in suicide rates of people between the ages of 10 and 19 and many others in that age group have contemplated ending their life. In the past few years there have been many high profile cases where teens end their life because of being harassed through some time of electronic device. In a study with 2,000 randomly selected middle school age students, 20% of them have seriously considered committing suicide. The students that scored highest on the suicidal scale were the ones who have, in some way, been involved in cyberbullying. (Hinduja and Patchin, 2010b)



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