Distance learning: cases of cyberbullying and "zoombombing" on the rise
In the last month, 121 cases have been reported by the Carolina Foundation, one of the associations that monitors and fights harassment and illegal activities on the web.
The last one dates back to a few days ago.
A teacher, referent for legality in a large institute including Brianza, reported: «We were doing a video music lesson. As we listened to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and talked to the kids about the message of universal brotherhood contained in the Ode to Joy, we discovered that, at that very moment, some students were chatting with each other on smartphones. In the secret whatsapp group, from which teachers were excluded, the very young students - all between 13 and 14 years old - were offending a disabled girl, with very heavy and unrepeatable insults against her physical defects ".
To signal all this was the girl's mother, in tears in front of the computer connected with the video conference and with the teacher who was still talking to the pupils.
"Insults and unrepeatable profanity, thoughts and feelings that we would never have suspected of finding in our students" - this is, as reported by the Headmaster - of a "model" class with high school average students.
But it is just the last case: distance teaching is causing the cyberbullying alarm to explode in all the virtual classes in Italy.
"The reports come to us from schools, speakers, associations, sports clubs and are ever more numerous," reports the Foundation again.
Among the 121 cases of cyberbullying involving children and 89 involving teachers, there were 9 cases of "sexting" and 4 cases of "revenge porn" ; 23 Telegram groups in which images of minors were improperly shared, including one incident of grooming.
Just to clarify:
The neologism sexting refers to the sending of sexually explicit messages, texts, and/or images over the internet or, even more quickly, via smartphone.
Of course, if the parties involved are adults and consenting, sexting is legal.
The sending of such materials to non-consenting subjects can instead configure the extremes of the crime of harassment or stalking.
Revenge porn , on the other hand, is revenge pornography: posting personal photos of your ex-partner on social networks to get revenge.
The "Youth and Quarantine" survey, promoted by the National Association of Technology Dependencies and Cyberbullying, in collaboration with Skuola.net, which interviewed 9.145 young people between 11 and 21 years of age, helps us understand how much the excessive use of technology perceived as necessary in 90% of cases as the only way to maintain contact with friends in this period, however, appears to be nothing socializing.
<< We are noting – underlines Giuseppe Lavenia, psychologist, psychotherapist and president of the Association – an increase in anxiety disorders and depressive states, resulting in real panic attacks, among adolescents >>.
Bulli Stop, the National Center against Bullying, has launched an initiative to make known faces of the show talk with the boys who are locked in the house: and has already collected some complaints.
<< Last Tuesday, in just over two hours, during the live broadcast with Leo Gassmann, the winning singer of the youth section of the latest edition of Sanremo, and the guys from Bulli Stop, three teenagers took courage and wrote to us privately to ask for help >> – explains Giovanna Pini, president of the Centre.
Save the Children also warns: lockdown and self-isolation measures are exposing children , especially girls, to serious risks, such as being victims of cyberbullying.
And then there's the latest frontier of online bullying, "Zoombombing," or intrusions during online lessons , which " is severely testing the work and peace of mind of our teachers and students during distance learning hours during the health emergency caused by the new coronavirus," as Rosa D'Amelio, president of the Campania Regional Council, denounced during the "Distance Learning" webinar involving students at the "Can. Samuele Falco" comprehensive school in Scafati.
The Zoom platform itself, alerted to the increase in cases, announced an update to ensure greater security from 9 May.
For video calls organized through PMI or Personal Meeting ID (the unique code that identifies the "virtual room" of each account) a sort of "waiting room" will then be activated so that even if an attacker or an uninvited user were to enter in possession of the code could not break in because his entry into the conversation would still be subject to a green light.
However, it is always important to remember that insults and violence online are considered crimes.
Although there is no single provision in our legal system that punishes such behaviors in their entirety and specificity, and the forms, locations, and ways in which bullying manifests itself can be the most varied and desperate, these can, however, result in different forms of crime such as: threats, defamation, harassment or disturbance of the person, damage, beatings, and injuries.
However, the strong conditioning of the psycho-physical integrity of those who suffer it remains a common denominator.
When we talk about bullying, we repeat, we are referring to a set of acts of intimidation, abuse, physical and psychological oppression, committed entirely voluntarily by one individual (the bully) against another weaker individual (the victim).
As we have already mentioned , these behaviors very often fall within the scope of crimes prosecuted and punished by the penal code and, therefore, if reported, end up opening proceedings under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court.
However, if the so-called "bully" is under the age of fourteen (and therefore not a chargeable individual) , a report can be made to the Police Commissioner , requesting that the latter intervene with a warning.
The Quaestor, in fact, having carried out preliminary investigations aimed at verifying the truthfulness of the narrative, summons the under-fourteen-year-old, together with the operators of parental responsibility and warns him orally, inviting him to cease his activities or to conduct in compliance with the law. Specific minutes of this meeting are drawn up.
However, the data remain extremely alarming.
In the final analysis, the data regarding the personality of the child victim and / or author of these criminal cases is also interesting.
From the analysis of the samples examined, it would appear to be completely independent of variables such as: ethnic origin, economic status, no criminal record and family background, and destined to undergo a drastic increase.
Cecatiello Law Firm advises its clients on the best management of juvenile criminal proceedings.
Cecatiello Law Firm, Milan. Marriage lawyer, divorce lawyer, specialized in family law, child rights, juvenile criminal. Contact us.