Educators, law enforcement, public servants try to respond

Tom Mauer (sp?) (Sheriff from Ohio) - "Everyone has a story, a reason why this issue becomes important to them. My turning point came about 6 years ago. A 12 year old child hung himself after being bullied about being overweight."

Aaron Brown (?) (South Brunswick, NJ School District) - develops curricula for South Brunswick teachers and parents.

Sheriff Grady Judd in Florida - bullying incident that went up on Youtube. He knew that the video would go up on the Web no matter what so his office decided to be the one to release it.

JustinBrookman (Chief of the Internet Bureau - New York Attorney General's Office) - girl whose Facebook account was hacked and could not get the malicious content removed. Reached out to FB and consent order has helped turn FB into one of the most responsive social networking sites around.

Lisa Hicks-Thomas (Deputy Attorney General for VIrginia) active in online safety for kids. Federal laws were much tougher than our state laws, so we changed that. One of the biggest changes came out of the Parent-Educator group. Also PSA contest. "The best ambassadors for our kids are our kids."

Andrew Newman (Deputy to Westchester Country Executive Spano). Bullying is a big problem in Westchester. Parry has really helped us. Created a video and sponsored a summit to get the word out. Bring government, industry, families, kids.

Valerie Smits (sp?). Technologist and educator in Wisconsin. Sacred passage from children to adults. Standards of the Heart teaches compassion. Also, 21st century skills. "We struggle with how best to respond and banning everything (like texting) may not be the best response."

FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harper. She used to work for the NY Attorney General in the mid-90s when the Internet was first taking off. First became aware of these issues via Operation Rip Cord (Child Pornography). What do we do at the FTC? Cyberbullying tends to fall under criminal rather than civil law (where the FTC operates). 3 pronged approach - law enforcement, consumer education and business education.

Moselle Thompson, Commissioner US Federal Trade Commission. Now on Facebook's Advisory Board.

"The kids who are most at risk online are the same kids who are at risk offline. The kids who are bullying online are the same ones who are bullying offline."

Lets not lose sight of the role that parents need to play. Remember that a 13 year old is 13. And they make 13 year old decisions. Lastly, competition is good in this area. Cooperation is important. But we need competition in tools to fight this arms race.