January 12, 2005
Spider-Man against cyberbullying
Westchester County has hired an expert on "cyberbullying" to talk to students, teachers, parents and police about young people who harass their peers with mean-spirited Web sites, text messages, cell-phone photos and other high-tech tools, writes USA Today.
Parry Aftab, from wiredsafety, will be assisted by Spider-Man under an arrangement with Marvel Enterprises Inc. "Kids will listen to him," she said, pointing at a man in a Spidey outfit during a news conference.
Aftab said that while schoolyard bullying has always been a problem among teenagers, "We didn't have the power to communicate what we were doing to 700 million people with a click."
A key issue in dealing with such problems is how to involve law enforcement without violating free speech rights, especially since much of the harassment is generated at home rather than at school.
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