WiredSafety's Teenangels Cyberbullying: Angels and Warriors

[brightmotor]

My sister had this happen kindof.

some bully on the net emailed her the laughing skull virus

We must fight hard to protect ourselves on the webs

[carogirl3]

Dear Perry,

This is Brietta, and I have a few important comments. I know all about internet safetey, and I love your videos. I used to sign up for a lot pf chatrooms that were supposed to be safe. Now I know they probably aren't. I used to do clubpenguin, but that's getting boring. I need a SERIOUSLY safe chat site. What should I do?

[MasataSanata]

The cartoon is a bit stereotypical but nevertheless informative. Good job.

[nuclearlion]

Didn't bullys use actual violence back in the day? Todays "cyber bullies" are not really bullies, more like assholes. as keegah said, "'cyber-bullying' can be halted with the little X button in the top-right corner of your browser window. Stop whining."

[TehRacooonODoom]

wow.

just wow.

[Derangedcow]

Billy forgot to connect through 7 proxies.

[roflmao1447]

i am going to steal your dog

[tomatoplz]

look at those sidelong glances yeesh I don't want these women to judge me like that if I call in

[SofaKingDanny]

Sadly, a lot of people don't take cyber-bullying seriously at all because they think that when you're posting on the Internet, it doesn't count as real life so they don't bother to think about other people's feelings. I think this is a very good message. It could be improved a bit but you've already gotten a lot of helpful critique so I don't really have anything new to say in that area.

[Keegah]

I do believe the Universal Internet F***tard Theory applies here.

Average Individual + Anonymity + An Audience = Instant bully.

Nevertheless, "cyber-bullying" can be halted with the little X button in the top-right corner of your browser window. Stop whining.

[Kiiiiiiiiitsuner]

If you close your browser, the cyber bullies win.

[Kiiiiiiiiitsuner]

If you close your browser, the cyber bullies win.

[desumania]

I think this is the greatest thing ever.

I say that with absolute sincerity.

[parryaftab]

the can and do. not often, but more than they realize.

thanks for your comment.

[ianboswell]

The problem here is that some online gaming industries might refuse to give out IP adresses for the sake of privacy.

"Fewer kids could do this if they realize they could get caught" The question is: Could they really?

[CowGuy]

Most IP's are static now a days. If the cyber bully new a thing or two about computers you could easily scramble and hide your IP so you can't trace it.

[KombuchaClock]

Hahaha, good stuff.

[MangaPunkSai]

So here we have a painfully politically correct multiracial superhero trio (one's even in a wheelchair!) and yet it's okay to stereotype online game players as hopeless weepy nerds?

[Ps360Facepunch]

Somehow i agree with this statement manga said.

[parryaftab]

Manga:

this was written and designed by gamers and game designers. They wanted to make it funny and a bit light.

sorry if you were offended.

[SplurgyA]

Surely if stealing is a component of the game, then there's nothing wrong with it? In games where you're not allowed to steal things, they just don't implement the stealing feature. This cartoon wasn't very well thought through.

[parryaftab]

thanks. as I mentioned previously, it wasn't clear enough that this was not theft within the game play. We're reworking it.

[vedicardi]

I'm going to the internet department of my police station right now!

[handicappedhero]

My mom is a public speaker on bullying.

[parryaftab]

great. where does she do her speaking?

[handicappedhero]

The Middle School Conference in St. Louis.

It's usually in July. Are you familiar with it?

[parryaftab]

no, I'm not. But so far the offline bullying experts tend to work apart from the cyberbullying experts. Wish her luck, for me.

[handicappedhero]

Sorry, thought I replied to this earlier. She speaks at an annual conference in St. Louis.

She's also recently published. I'll send you a note to her material.

[parryaftab]

In many cases, younger kids especially, give out their real address, etc. that makes an online threat relaistic as an offline one.

and online gaming harassment is a huge issue. But so is profile-harassment in social networking sites. that's why we work with them to try and stop and prevent it on social networks.

thanks for your thoughts.

we are all unpaid volunteers at wiredsafety. You would be a good addition.

think about it.

Parry

[theamazingbender]

Responsibility. Learn it.

[parryaftab]

you are right....several comments pointed out that the hacking wasn't clear enough and it might have been seen as game play. We'll be modifying the video to reflect that it was hacking.

it was the dog threat that took it out of the hacking only realm.

thanks for your thoughts.

we are listening. :-)

Parry

[IchieiChiaki]

Cool.

[Modernicide]

lol

[ARGHNAME]

ROFL

[jayjayjay]

While I did find myself laughing at it, I'll give you props for trying to illustrate bullying issues. Even if you get a lot of flack on the Internet for various reasons, it'll be beneficial for some kids to see such PSA's. Good luck in your messages.

[parryaftab]

thanks. :-)

we'll take anyway we can to get kids to learn more about this.

and laughing is good! lol

Parry

[lwoegaston]

Third, you don't explain what "trolling" is. The things happening to the victim can very well be a part of the game mechanics. Look up Eve Online, most of the user base are far worse than the troll described, and it's actually *encouraged*.

[parryaftab]

thanks...through comments here and in focus groups, we learned that it wasn;'t clear that this was harassment, rather than just a better gamer getting his items. we're reworking it.

appreciate the feedback.

[stringman271]

I lol'd too

[Rauffle]

It's not really cyber-bullying if the game has pvp and looting. Usually when someone is being a douche and stalking/camping you, you get your guild members to harass him to the point that he wants to quit. The police don't enforce what happens in MMORPGs, and you sure as hell couldn't get arrested for being a douche online.

[thewerecactus]

where is the conclusion? I wanna see the little snot get pwned!

[parryaftab]

I think it's better left to your imagination. :-)

but we considered it.

[nhpr]

That said, if someone was bothering this kid that much, he should've taken a break or stopped playing the game altogether. Kids need to learn their own conflict resolution skills and they don't get that from having mommy solve their problems for them. As they grow up, parents and teachers won't be there watching them every second of every day. It's this excessive hands-on approach that have lead to our litigious society, among other things.

[nhpr]

I'd just like to point out that it would be impossible to get an IP address of another person unless you're directly connected to them. In your scenario (a massively multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG), the two people would both be connecting to a company's server. Therefore, a subpoena would be needed to force the company to supply the IP addresses.

[sacrisesma]

I lol'd irl.

[mushroomjay]

I lol'd irl.

[Tavlov]

Not to detract from the issue or to force levity into a serious issue but Parry Aftab, I think you have one of the best names I've ever heard.

[parryaftab]

lol....

thanks

[WHATNINETHOUSAND]

I lol'd.

[Moother]

I lol'd irl.

[Outlandishlizard]

Also, I think that your resources might be better directed toward online harassment in less direct forms while gaming; it would make much more sense to focus your efforts on the daily harassment encountered while playing virtually any online game. (500 char cap is terrible)

[Outlandishlizard]

Firstly, I would like to point out a minor inaccuracy in your discussion of static/dynamic IPs-- what you say may have been true 5 years ago-- that mostly only corporations are in possession of static IPs, however, with the decline of dial-up, many personal connections now also use static IP addresses. (continued in next comment)

[parryaftab]

You are correct, but even with ever-on connections, you need a subpoena to get behind the ISP's assignment of that IP address. and every time the highspeed connection is dropped, a number is reassigned.

While there are many details we left out in describing this, we had to decide what was enough for the ten year olds viewers this was written for. :-)

thanks

[adrianmpike]

I think you're not giving most ten year olds enough credit, I'd wager they know a fair bit more about how the tubes work than you do. Tor or other anonymizers are fast becoming commonplace, so I think that attacking the effects of "cyber-bullying" is a losing battle, and you should be focusing more on eliminating it at the source.

Besides, what ever happened to shrugging it off?

[parryaftab]

shrugging it off is what we adivse if it's a one time thing and no real life threats are involved. This involved a real life threat and was repeated. A ten year old may be frightened by anonymous-appearing threats on his dog's life.

Six kids have killed themselves over the last few years after being cyberbullied. There may be more. I think we need ot arm kids with the information they need ot know when and how to report cyberharassment and when to shrug it off.

thanks

[Moother]

I lol'd irl.

[tunakbesfar]

So like, tor or anonymizer will they leave my cyber breadcrumbs omG?!

And police can just LOOK UP IPs without contacting the ISP and getting a subpoena without a warrant first!?? I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA!! "The right of the people to be secure in their..papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.."

[parryaftab]

actually, if the person is using a static IP (many have them these days) and no going through their ISP for one (in this case it was assigned to his father's website), no sobpoena is necessary. and a warrant is not needed to get a subpoena, in any event.

Probably cause for a threat would have existed had this been a real case.

[RupeeClock]

This has to be a joke, cybercrumbs? On my war jammers?

Whatever happened to just reporting a troll to a Games Master or administrator?

[videoCWK]

Apparently it's much easier to just go to the police.

[smbicsm]

I think you will have a VERY hard time getting kids to take this seriously. The message is important but you're going about it the wrong way. The most common form of cyber-bullying between children is not hacking each other's MMRPG accounts, but rather leaving abusive messages on mediums like MySpace or Facebook. Kids would be able to relate to that kind of scenario much more easily than this Everquest-style example. Most kids probably won't even understand the gaming aspect of this cartoon.

[parryaftab]

thanks.

we have several other animations on cyberbullying/profile bullying too. Game bullying is becoming a bigger problem with younger gamers (12 and under) these days. we thought we'd address this here.

Appreciate your comments.

Parry

[cprcomics]

game bullying lol it called smack talk.if one can't take it then don't play it.

[parryaftab]

I think that anyone who enjoys gaming should be able to play it without being harassed.

[zakbroman]

a trail of cyber bread crumbs?

ITT proxies, etc.

[c665]

true

[UNKNOWNFILE]

What we need here are some serious acting classes!

Still, pretty funny.

[abyssroxxors]

Oh please. I seriously doubt the police would care about a hacker in an online game. Usually, hackers are just banned.

[EmilyxisxawsomexD]

dude.. that kid who got bullied is my hero.

[Monkeygod06]

I'd hit that.

[mastermaxisme]

nice...

[firemissionary]

TBH, it moves too slow to keep anyone's attention. Unless it is a classroom type of showing, you are going to loose people. The addition of background music throughout the whole thing may help. It is a good message you are trying to portray, just you aren't going to get the penetration you are shooting for.

Other than that, it is a decent production and gets the point across.

Just some things to think about.

[parryaftab]

thanks....we'll see what we can do to speed it up.

I also understand that some of the kids are confused about the bullying, and think that because the boy lost tools and inventory items playing the game, we considered that cyberbullying. We'll clarify that it was through hacking and intimidation (threatening to kidnap the boy's dog in real life and making other threats), not through legitimate game play. Appreciate the feedback.

Parry

[parryaftab]

thanks...

[drtwilight]

Brilliant.

[cyberbullyguru]

My students love this take on Charlie's Angels. I've seen the teenangels in action on TV and they are pretty terrific.

It's hard to find resources that teach students about cyberbullying that affects boys. Game bullying is a big problem in our school.

can't wait for the next webisode.

CG