Individual protection against cyberbullying

Essentially, this comes down to the responsible use of information and communication technology by individual users. Children and teenagers must pay attention to personal security on the Internet. The following advice should be considered:

• Use privacy settings to restrict access.
• Avoid posting personal or sensitive information that might be used by a cyberbully.
• Be careful about what information you reveal in chat rooms, restricting it to information you are comfortable with revealing, and before you post, carefully consider whether and how it might be used by a cyberbully.
• Restrict the amount of personal information you give out, and block persons whom you do not know or whom you instinctively feel are not trustworthy;
• Be wary of agreeing to meet persons you know from the social networks. I If you decide to meet them, do so in a public place and take along someone trustworthy.
• Avoid indulging in sexual displays through information and communication technology. Once these pictures are online, cyberbullies have more material to work with and the pressure increases. This can lead to demands to meet and to engage in actual sexual activity with the bully.
• Do not put personal information online, such as age, gender  or address . Check regularly to be sure there is no information online that could be used to harm you. Not replying to cyberbullies can lead to their losing interest. Bullies thrive on responses from their victims. Your lack of response can defuse the situation.

Cyberbullying should be reported to parents, teachers or school counsellors. Reporting the bullying to the police, either by the victim, the parents or the school, may result in a criminal prosecution, assuming that the bully can be identified and that there is sufficient evidence that the conduct falls under a relevant criminal offence. Abusive or threatening e-mails, messages or other posts should be kept, as these can provide useful evidence for both the bullying and the identification of the bully.