Summary

In the past, teens bullied each other in neighborhoods or on school grounds. Now, they can use the Internet to intimidate others, which is not as easily detected or investigated by parents or other adults. Cyberstalking, another form of harassment, occurs when people use the Internet and mobile devices to send or post messages of a threatening or sexual nature. Taken together, these forms of online abuse and crime comprise extremely challenging problems for society.

Cyberstalking and Cyberbullying helps teens understand these issues, giving them information to protect themselves and avoid bullying or stalking others online. Examinations of real-life cases will introduce teens to 13-year-old Megan Meier, who was driven to suicide as a result of cyberbullying from a classmate's mother posing online as a teenage boy, and the arrest of a man charged with stalking movie star Uma Thurman both online and in person. These true examples, coupled with smart text, will give teens the knowledge they need to avoid being a victim or a perpetrator.

Chapters and topics include:

• Who bullies and stalks people online
• How bullies and stalkers operate
• The consequences of bullying and stalking
• Efforts to fight online bullying and stalking
• Precautions and warning signs.

Specifications

Full-color and black-and-white photographs. Sidebars. Bibliography. Chronology. Endnotes. Further resources. Index.

About the Author(s)

Samuel McQuade III, Ph.D., is a professor and graduate program coordinator for the cross-disciplinary professional studies master's degree program in Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Applied Science and Technology. He has 30 years of experience as a practitioner, teacher, and researcher of criminal justice and security. He is a former Air National Guard security police officer, deputy sheriff, police officer and detective, police organizational change consultant, National Institute of Justice program manager for the U.S Department of Justice, and study director for the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also the author of Understanding and Managing Cybercrime and Encyclopedia of Cybercrime.

Sarah E. Gentry is a graduate student in the professional studies master's degree program at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She serves as a graduate research assistant for the RIT-led Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative. She has worked as a system administrator for both the RIT residential computing lab and the Society for the Protection and Care of Children in Rochester, NY. Gentry holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Science degree in multidisciplinary studies.

Nathan W. Fisk is a doctoral student in the Science and Technology Studies program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, studying the development and mobilization of youth Internet safety policies. He holds two master's degrees, one in communication and media technologies and the other in professional studies, and a bachelor's degree in information technology, all from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Fisk has worked on a variety of research projects and training workshops centered on fostering a better public understanding of youth computer crime and abuse, including the Rochester Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative and the RIT Computer Use and Ethics Survey.