Be Cyber Smart and supported or introduce Mandatory ID for any cyber user & bully pays

Voterland in this matter I think you are wrong.
We have history of talking about our true IDs here.
Not a lot about Bullying, but some.
I fell for the not revealing your true name is cowardice rubbish.
And suffered for it twice.
I advised a poster against unmasking,and was ignored, but she was harassed and badly.
My full name, address, even more,is known to GY.
But for century's writers have written under other names, for sound reasons, here at least bully's do not survive.
Many have been hurt by unneeded unmasking or saying too much on say face book.
Privacy matter even more in cieber space in my view.
Consider this, would you welcome every poster in to your home, or want them to know its address?

Cyber bullying can be devastating for some, as can any form of bullying. I don't though believe that taking anonymity away from on line interactions would reduce much of it, it's more likely that would be just more tools for the bullies to use against others.

My own impression is that bullies are often the first to complain of being bullied, it's one of the tactics used to enlist others to join in.

There may be ways to make such idea's work but given how poorly we do at making other safety nets work I have serious doubts the likelihood of such ways being implemented successfully.

I can recall threats of legal action being used regularly by a couple of former posters on this forum to try and silence other posters. Not on the basis of a credible case but in my view on the basis that many people just don't have the resources to defend themselves against such a battle and on line interactions just are not worth the risk.

I've seen plenty of other accusations of bullying by some who were in my view very prone to bullying behaviour, claims of bullying appeared to be a tactic to try and enlist support to attack someone with a dissenting view.

So while I really feel for those genuinely suffering from cyber bullying I suspect that the cure would be far worse than the cause.

R0bert

I don't understand why people don't block those that annoy them? Why tolerate people being [expletive] online when it's SO easy to remove them from your consciousness.

I'd have to agree with StG. These people who seek to bully or intimdate others through the medium of the internet, delete,and block
'em for good. Though, I suppose when you're a fragile young teen, easy said than done.

Further, I'd also have to agree with BELLY when he says any form of identifying process, should not be considered for the many reasons he stated herein. Least of all, many folk would not feel comfortable expressing their true beliefs and views if their true identity was available to all and sundry.

The ID which would help eliminate cyber bullying would not be publicly available any more than our health or drivers licence are. It would be on a government file accessible only to Police or internet crime investigators. Most of our personal details are already on government files so this would be no significant addition. Cyber bullying does not just come from putting too much on Facebook etc. It can come from work enemies who have a person's email and can drive a person to suicide. No privacy would be compromised more than it already is by what we suggest.