I am getting to the point where I am going to need to read an analysis of cyberbullying laws.
The first thing I know of is that all cyberbullying laws were illegal before the laws were passed. Harassment online is just as illegal as harassment in real life, you aren't supposed to publically display pictures of someone who hasn't given you permission, and all that jazz.
Yet when a law sort of "Doubles up" on a previous law there are generally three reasons for this
1) It is there to make charges easier (Breaking and entering is this)
2) It is there to make the charges harsher (Hate Laws are this.)
3) Shortening the trial period by eliminating proof requirements.
I guess what is worrying me about cyberbullying laws is because I am afraid they will go too far. It is always centered around people who have committed suicide and yet I "know" that someone who is mentally unstable can commit suicide for little provocation. There is less talk about how these laws make sense and need to be passed and more talk about how there are victims.
So I have to look at it like this. Logical prose on these laws isn't going to happen because the average person doesn't want to hear how these laws make sense, how they needed to be updated, and how they change the law. They only care about the emotions behind these issues. So my goal is not to be sucked in but rather try to find the buried arguments that are being told somewhere else. It shouldn't be the case that they will take cyberbullying laws and create internet wide censorship or the eliminating of people being able to keep their identity online secret. It is simply a emotion based coverage of laws that were probably being drawn up for years not based around suicide but based around adapting harassment and privacy laws for the internet.
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Here is a short form
I am worrying over nothing. The reason why the media is focused on the victim side of cyber bullying is not because these laws are being passed in reaction to these tragedies but because these new laws make sense and allow the law to more easily react to internet based crimes. The media is just sensationalizing as usual because that is what draws the most interest.