Facebook Bullying

Jasssss

Right i need as much help as possible.I have a son who because of a disability has been the subject of bullying for a long time.However I have just found out that these scum bags have now gone and signed up as him on a social networking site and have even tried to take a picture of him in school so that they can put a picture to his name.They have so far sent messages through this site claiming to be my son.These messages have gone to a hundred or so teenagers and are extremely abusive.I have never signed up to any of these sites myself and I am only really beginning to find out how they work.What can i do to stop this.I feel sick to the pit of my stomach.I dont want my son to be another statistic.Please help any advice I would truly appreciate.Really folks do the gardai do anything about this type of thing.

pickarooney

First step is to contact the complaints department of the social network site and demand the account be closed for impersonating someone.

E.g. for facebook, use this page: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=204546626249212

January

OP, I've moved your post to a thread of it's own as the other thread was very old.

Hobbes

Talk to the guards. They probably won't be able to do much at this point, but they will have it on file. also talk to Facebook and explain you have spoken to the police. In case they need to keep IP logs.

CrazyRabbit

Here's some useful information:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=204546626249212

Certainly report it to the Gardai. I don't think Irish law covers it as 'identity theft' although it should. Still, at minimum it is harrassment and therefore illegal.

If you can identify the culprits, they can be spoken to by the Gardai (and there parents). If worst comes to worst, you can get a court order barring them from mentioning your son on an website/text message etc.

Oh, and teach your son to have pity for these people. They are so sad that they have to bully others in order to feel better about themselves. It's pathetic really, and once he sees it that way, he won't feel so bad.

twowheelsonly

Do you have access to the page that they've opened in his name?

If so, make sure that you grab a screen-shot of some of the pages before it's closed down.

Bring it up with the school and with the parents of these bullies if you can.
As already posted,contact the complaints page of the site and they should close the page. They should have an email address for the creator of the page but it's unlikely that they would give you this without a court order.
Unless you make an issue of it with the school or the individuals then it's likely that they'll just open another page so make sure to follow up on it.
In my experience, confronting the bullies/school/parents with hard evidence will give them a schit attack. Most parents will be very reasonable and would be horrified to find that their kids were involved in something like this.

Screen Shot: On whatever page you want to keep a shot of, hit the 'Print Screen' (Prt Sc) on your keyboard.
Open 'Paint' from your start menu.
When it's open hit 'Ctrl' & V together (To Paste to the Paint page.)
This should open a copy of what was on the screen to Paint.
Click on 'File' and scroll down and click on 'Save As'
Give the file a name in the dialogue box and save it to Pictures or to a seperate file.

Moonbeam

Take screen shots as evidence.
Speak to the school principal.
Report it to the gardai and facebook.
These kids are doing this from home or their phones so a talk with their parents might help but maybe via the school is the safest way to do this.

lace

- The first thing you need to do is gain access to this page and see what's on it. Either create a Facebook account and search for it or ask a friend/family member (would any nieces or nephews around your child's age know the cluprits?) to log in and search for it. Avoid commenting on it and encourage your friends and family not to as getting involved online at this stage would tipp the culprits off.

- Once you find it, take screen shots of absolutely EVERYTHING, and do so quickly before the page is taken down. If possible, also take note of anything your son has told you about it (if he knows about it) and any episodes of stress or upset it has caused him.

- Next, report it as an abusive fake profile. Let the administrators know that you will be reporting it to the Guards and may go as far as legal action so ask that they keep a log of IP addresses logging in to this page.

- The next thing you need to do is make a report to the Gardai. Bring along any screen shots etc you have and explain the seriousness of the whole thing. Let them know that you've reported it to the school and the site but that you will consider further action if this is not resolved soon. Online bullying is a form of abuse and is being taken increasingly seriously by the Gardai and they should at least be able to support you in your effort to get this whole thing sorted.

- I also strongly suggest you contact the school. If these pictures are being taken on school property, they should be acting to put a stop to it as I'm sure they have a policy on mobile phones/smartphones/photography etc. Their anti-bullying policy should also cover online bullying. Don't accept anything less than a meeting with the principal. Explain your case - that you've been to the Gardai and that you're taking this extremely seriously and would appreciate it if they would take it seriously too.

- With the help of the school/guards, get in contact with the parents of these children. Let them know what their kids have done, show them the screen shots and incident reports and explain how much upset this has caused you and your family.

Through all these avenues, you should be able to resolve the issue and be sure that these bullies stop targeting your son. Don't allow anyone (lazy Gardai, school teachers, parents etc) fob you off or let this issue slide.

Jasssss

Hi I just want to thank you all for all your help.Yesterday to be honest I just could not think straight.I used the advice and copied the page onto a file I also have a print of it.I reported it to the guards.I also went and spoke to the principal,who said he would deal with it but to be honest I dont hold out much hope with him.While in the school I requested a copy of the anti bullying policy and cyber bullying is covered in it but it does not say in the policy what sanctions are given when any sort of bullying takes place.Is that the norm for a school or should there be clear sanctions laid out or is it up to the school on what action is taken.

Moonbeam

personally I think the cyber bullying is more an issue for the parents as it happened from home.
Well done for going and talking to the principal.
Have a good read of the bullying policy .

byhookorbycrook

Facebook is blocked in schools, so any of the cr*p that is happening is being done either on phones or at home. Sanctions vary, depending on each case.I'd look for a follow-up meeting,if this is happening duriing school hours