<above pic: A recent case of a group of cyber bullies ganging up on a Miss World Singapore contestant>
I AM heartened to note that new laws against harassment, whether online or in everyday life, will be tabled by next year in response to Singaporeans' concerns about this growing menace ("Harassment a rising worry, laws to be tabled"; last Tuesday)
While it will be useful to enact laws that cover harassment in cyberspace, it remains unclear how this law will be enforced, given the significant number of social media users in the online world.
The same people who post nasty online comments will find it easy to delete, for instance, their existing Facebook accounts and start again under a new username. Their new identity will be unknown to other users as they continue to remain anonymous.
On Facebook, it is common for users to abuse the freedom of the Internet. For instance, one can impersonate another Facebook user by assuming a username that is identical to that person's name.
The imposter ends up misleading other users; worse still if he engages in abusive or cyber-bullying tactics.
Online harassment has gone unchecked for some time now, resulting in cyber-bullies becoming bolder in the way they behave online.
In extreme cases of cyber-bullying, young victims may be driven to take their own lives.
For instance, a few years ago, a student in the United States was filmed on a webcam by college mates when he was having sex. The video went viral and the student committed suicide.
The recent proposal to set up a tribunal to help mediate in harassment and cyber-bullying cases may be a step in the right direction, and will give victims an avenue to turn to for recourse and/or advice.
In the meantime, how do the authorities propose to deal with users who repeatedly assume new fake identities online?
Ada Chan Siew Foen
*Article first appeared on ST Forums (25 Nov)