30 March: Stop Cyberbullying Day

Increasingly, harassment and stalking is happening in and through digital communications technology. As we gain access and use stuff like blogs, mobile phones, social networking platforms like Orkut and Friendster, personal information displayed and shared may be used in targeted harassment.

Some examples of online harassment and cyberstalking include:

• Messages through email, chatrooms, blogs comments, forums and other internet spaces with sexual and/or violent undertones
• Unwelcomed or unwanted requests for sex, whether cyber or physical, where it is unwelcome or unwanted.
• Posting someone’s personal information -- name, contact details, identity card or social security number etc. -- on online spaces, like dating or pornography sites.

Such harassment can flow between online and physical spaces. Sometimes, the harasser(s) contacts or attempts to contact individuals offline through regular mail, telephone or in person. Either way, the harm is real. It makes digital spaces a hostile and dangerous environment for targeted individuals, and can leave her/him in a disabling context of fear.

Unequal power relations are present in online spaces, as well as offline spaces. According to wiredsafety.org, groups who are most frequently targeted are women, young people, people who are new to the internet, minority group members (such as ethnic or sexual minorities communities) and special ability groups.

Recently, a prominent female blogger* cancelled all speaking engagements at public events due to a series of harassment and threats of violence she received in several different blogs and blogging communities. She declared her choice to disengage with a blogging environment that accepts misogynistic and sexist statements as a matter of reality. In response, another blogger called for a Stop Cyberbullying Day on 30 March. This action calls for bloggers and content creators everywhere to take some time and address this issue.

If you feel like being part of this movement, make a loud stance against cyberstalking and harassment in digital spaces.

Take back online spaces!

• Write a blog post about harassment that happens online, or
• Post a picture or sketch or anything that visually expresses your thoughts about this issue, or
• A podcast about personal experiences, or
• Your own public service announcement and post it on your favourite video hosting and distribution platform
• Tag it! So it’ll be clear that you are part of an online community that considers such harassment unacceptable. Your post (if tagged as below) will be aggregated to this campaign site.

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*Her name or blog is not mentioned in respect of her conflicted desire for privacy and her stance.