So. The very infamous case of Dharun Ravi has left him with 10 years of jail and guilty on all counts (including bias intimidation, harassment, and invasion of privacy), with a possibility of appealing the ruling, although it won't get rid of the jail time completely. In fact, had he pleaded guilty in the first place, Ravi would have only been sentenced to 600 hours of community service and probation. A teeny-tiny bit better than 10 years in jail, but that's just me.
But here's the bigger question.
What are universities going to do now about cyber bullying? Now, it's not just about Ravi, but about Rutgers, and every other university out there. After all, the suicide of a student reflects badly on a university, and that is the understatement of the century. As an NYU student, I've heard many horror stories about the effects of harassment (check out the floor of Bobst Library...). While people may argue about whether or not what Ravi did was considered "harassment" - he in fact, was not charge with Clementi's actual death - there's no doubt that what was done, had a part in the suicide. Which means, in an age of the ubiquitous social media, college administrations are under more pressure to do something about it.
In this article from WNYC, the writer raises a very interesting point about the fine line between freedom of speech and harassment. With internet censorship (re: SOPA) at the forefront of our nation's issues, it's definitely hard for university administrations to find a solution to cyber bullying. And it's even more difficult to figure out what cyber bullying is.
I'm sure everyone at some point in their Facebook lives, has had their account hacked by a friend, a relative, or maybe some stranger who just got lucky guessing your password. Most of the time, these hackings result in nothing more than, say, funny status changes and a sudden awkward profile picture. For most, it's just annoying.
But is it cyber bullying? I'll admit, I'm guilty of having done said "hackings" to others' Facebook accounts for fun. But when a friend hacking turns into an enemy hacking, things can get ugly, and there's no set solution to fix that. In fact, one of the only ways to prevent cyber bullying is to confront the person or tell someone else about it, but you can't guarantee that someone who has already been beaten down so much will come forward.
The unfortunate thing about freedom is that "with great power, comes great responsibility" - meaning some people decide to act irresponsibly or dangerously with the freedom they are given. So what are universities to do? Can they really impose any sort of cyber bullying act that doesn't restrict their students' freedom to use the internet as they please?
