The ease by which information is disseminated through current internet and social networking technology provides tremendous benefits for society’s thirst for immediate and comprehensive knowledge of events as they occur. This technology may also, when abused, magnify and enhance the deleterious effects of inappropriate conduct and disclosures. A recent New York Times article eloquently described the potential harm of this developing phenomenon by suggesting that the lawlessness of the Internet, its potential for casual, breathtaking cruelty, and its capacity to cloak a bully’s identity, all present slippery new challenges to this transitional generation.1

Cyberbullying typically takes place when at least one individual uses technology to harm or threaten another. Some conduct has become so commonplace that a whole new parlance has developed to describe a variety of cyberconduct. The conduct may take the form of “cyberstalking” (following victims when they go online), “impersonation” (hacking into a victim’s computer or creating fictitious profiles including pretending to be the victim, signing the victim up for e-mail lists such as junk mail or pornography, or performing illegal or immoral acts in the name of the victim), “denigrating” or “dissing” (spreading untrue gossip or rumors about a person), “sending malicious code” (forwarding the victim a computer virus), and “outing” (sharing intimate information about the victim with others without the victim’s consent).2

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