Hi Ivy! Good to "see" you again. I hope all is going well for you and your family. I've been MIA for quite a while but hope to be around more regularly, as things have settled down somewhat. I've missed all my Crohnies and am glad to be back here at HW.
Last Septemeber there was a big scandal regarding cyber bullying at Rutger's University in New Jersey. One student, with some assistance from another, secretly taped a sexual encounter between his roomate and another male student. This video was then streamed over the web and as a result, the student committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge which connects New Jersey and New York.
Both of the students were charged with several counts of invasion of privacy with an additional hate crime bias based on the sexual component. The student who assisted made a deal to assist in the prosecution of the instigator of the event and agreed to perform 300 hours of community service over the next three years and undergo counseling for cyberbullying. The instigator was indicted on 15 counts, including invasion of privacy, tampering with evidence, witness tampering and bias crimes. The trial is set for February 2012.
Recently there have been several widely reported cases of bullying, both cyber and otherwise and it prompted a number of Public Service Announcements run on TV and radio as commercials aimed at teens and young adults carrying the message that "It gets better". There has also been a public outcry for laws specific to bullying of all sorts.