What Is The Federal Cyberbullying Law?
Cyberbullying is a destructive action that can have horrible consequences to sensitive or emotionally disturbed children and teenagers. Although there is a proposed law against cyberbullying in the works, it has not yet passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
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History
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The federal cyberbullying law, also known as the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, was a bill introduced to the House of Representatives on April 2, 2009. As of March 2010, the house has not passed the bill.
Megan Meier
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Megan Meier was a teenager who committed suicide in 2006 after being bullied online by a neighborhood family using a fake MySpace account. Meier is only one of a growing number of teenagers that have taken their life due to cyberbullying.
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The Legalities
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The law forbids the following conduct, "...any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior." Proposed punishment would range from fines to up to two years in prison or both.
Protest
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Some civil rights groups argue that the proposed bill violates first amendment, or free speech, rights. Opponents also argue that cyberbullying is no different traditional bullying and should be handled on a local level rather than nationally.
Support
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Several states, such as Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, and Maryland have already passed laws against cyberbullying. Additionally, many social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have their own policies against cyberbullying.
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References
- Photo Credit moody teen image by pixelcarpenter from Fotolia.com
