Cyberbullying?

What are the ethics of posting images of another to a public website?  Do the rules change when the parties involved are underage?  If I take an unflattering picture of you, and post it publicly without your permission, does that constitute "cyberbullying"? 

Mickey Philbrick is "mentally disabled", according to news reports. At 16, he is unable to read.  He is in the special-education track  at Messalonskee High School in Maine, which has an enrollment of about 1,000. His mother, Wanda Philbrick, maintains that the school culture encourages bullying, and is particularly upset about video and still pictures of her son have been posted to a  free file-sharing website.

In one newspaper story,

Mickey and others like him have become the target of Messalonskee High School students who bully their disabled classmates and make them do things they do not want to do.

In a different newpaper story, Wanda Philbrick is quoted

She said, “He’s been picked on, teased. They’ve manipulated him into saying things he shouldn’t and doing things he shouldn’t, because he thinks anyone who talks to him is being his friend.”

Some time in the fall, Mickey was in a "playful pushup competition" with another student.  A third student recorded the competition, using his cellphone, and uploaded the file to Putfile.com, a free digital media hosting service. 

Mickey came home and told his mother about the movie.  His mother believes the student posted the video in order to humiliate Mickey, which consitutes harassment or cyberbullying.

Two things about Putfile.com:  (1) is that it is difficult to find a particular file, unless you have a pretty good idea of the keyword, or the exact URL for the file.  (2) There are weak controls on what is hosted, and it is easy to find obscene or objectionable images. Putfile's TOS reads in part:

            1) Pornography, nudity, sexual explicit images, gruesome images,             images of death or abuse, and similarly offensive images are prohibited.             Putfile reserves the right to decide appropriate content, and will             delete images or entire albums at any time without prior notice. Putfile.com             will cooperate with all legal authorities if an investigation should             arise concerning material users have uploaded. Links to such content are also forbidden.

The Philbrick family feels very strongly that the student was engaged in cyberbullying, just by posting Mickey's image on the site, and wants the student expelled.   The school district disagrees, on two counts. 

The student's conduct, under the school's student handbook, does not constitute harassment, but misbehavior.  Secondly, school officials interviewed the student, and " it was clear he didn’t mean to be doing harm",   Superintendent James C. Morse said.

But Mrs. Philbrick is still upset.  She wants the student expelled.

Sources:
Maine Today
WMTW News
Kennebec Journal
Central Maine Morning Sentinel
Maine Today

I think this story is another instance of kids' use of technology outstripping the adults, to the adults' consternation.

My previous series on social networking (MySpace) and blogging for teens:

Part I--Blogging, social networking sites, schools, and risk for teen users
Part II -- Schools Banning Access and Banning Students' Online Presence
Part III--An Overblown Fear: The Internet Predator
Part IV--The Real Risk: Other Students' Cruel, Rude, or Illegal Behavior (or the Poster's Own Cruel, Rude, or Illegal Behavior)
Part V--The Benefits of Blogging, Personal and Educational
Part VI--What Should Parents and Schools Do?

 

Technorati: myspace

bullying

Comments

[Clark]

As a regular victim of good, old-fashioned bullying way back in the day, I can tell you that I would take cyberbullying any day of the week over atomic wedgies, swirlies or (gasp) the Dreaded Rear Admiral.

I would think that bullies, being generally a neanderthalic life form, would be hard-pressed to cyberbully your typical nerd/geek. Retribution would be swift and severe, with the bully's vital cyber-information posted to a dozen gay S&M chat rooms.

Perhaps that's why they pulled this on a mentally disabled student.

Remebr this bullies: 90% of your targets will grow up, train hard and be able to wear you like a cheap suit as adults.