Cyber slammed Kids are getting arrested for raunchy online bullying. It's definitely offensive, but is it against the law? - - - - - - - - - - - - By Amy Benfer July 3, 2001 | The first indication that the seemingly obscure practice of cyber-bullying might have reached outrageous proportions was an item in the New Yorker titled "The New Bathroom Wall." As much as one can discern from the understated style of the Talk of the Town section, the incident in question was not so much a harrowing news event as it was an amusing anecdote about teenage life or, at worst, a parable about how affluent Manhattan parents have access to just about anyone they need, including the district attorney. Regardless of the gentility of the prose, however, the details packed a wallop. It seems that students in the Manhattan interschool system -- a consortium that includes the kind of private schools that parents train their children from age 3 to attend -- had decided to pool their vast collective brainpower to find out who was the biggest "ho" in their ranks. To do so, they enlisted the services of Freevote.com, a free Web site that lets users create a virtual voting booth. More at: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/07/03/cyber_bullies/index.html 299,729,458 metres per second It's not just a good idea: it's the law.
