What is cyber harassment or cyber crime? Crimes that use technology are crimes that are gaining ground in the present. The more advanced the technology is, the more it would be difficult to catch the criminal. Let us have a look at one of them.
There is as much evil in the present world as it is good. For every good deed a person does, there is someone somewhere performing an evil deed.
Why Cyber Harassment is Difficult to Prove?
Assault, burglary, rape, and murder are not something people get shocked upon hearing anymore. We do feel the pain of the victims and their families, but we won’t be stunned. It is because these have become so prevalent that it has become a part of the contemporary folk’s existence.
Do you not find it sad?
Crimes happen every day, and they do not bother us.
The criminals have become so accustomed to committing crimes that they have started finding new ways to surprise us with their nefariousness.
Since technology can be considered to be on its pinnacle in the 21st century, we all use it. From the air conditioning to our computers and the social media we use on it are examples of technology. The technology was meant to bring us more convenience with all that it could do for us, and it has.
However, as I said, for everything good in this world, there is something equally bad. So, today we would be delving into the bad side of technology and looking into how the criminal masterminds use it in their deeds and make life difficult for us.
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The Appalling Reality of Cyber Crime
We are all familiar with crimes; they are that common. A sub-division of crime that we may not be too familiar with is that of the cyber crimes.
A crime is characterized as a cybercrime when there is a criminal activity done using a computer.
You must be aware of the term hacking, which is when an unauthorized person or malware breaches your computer or personal accounts and takes any or all information. Has your social media account ever been hacked? Mine was hacked once, and the culprit posted a tweet claiming that I was bisexual, it is a horrid memory. Coming to the point, hacking is one example of cybercrimes.
There are other categories as well; these can be phishing, identity theft, and cyber harassment, amongst others.
Cyber Harassment:
Today, we would be focusing on one of these, and that is cyber harassment. Harassment of any form is appalling, but when others witness that harassment, it becomes become even more aggravating.
And that is cyber-harassment for you.
Although cyber-harassment or cyberbullying is done through electronic means, the most common cases are found on social media. People start posing absolute rubbish about someone, and because that rubbish is unique in some ways, other people accept and re-post the same things repeatedly. They may even start a hashtag for it, a trending one at that. All of this may seem fun and gist to the bully, but the victim undergoes immense emotional turmoil that, in many cases, has to lead them to take their own lives.
Yes, harassment, physical, emotional, and virtual all have adverse effects on the victims’ minds. And the appalling nature of it mandates a stop to it.
The Innocent Victims Of Cyber Harassment
When you would hear the age group which has the most number of cyberbullies and victims, you are bound to be stunned. It is teenagers; those innocent looking 13 to 19-year-olds can be mean to their bones when they get agitated.
Teenagers use social media more actively than adults since they have more time on their hands and no full-time jobs.
We know that in High School, our children are on their own; there is a high likelihood that they would be bullied to some degree in school. I think the bullying toughens up even the softies. However, when it starts having a mental impact on the child’s psyche, it becomes a problem, and that is what has happens when the bullying is taken to the internet.
A senior not letting you sit on your favorite seat at lunch and the same senior starting a vicious rumor that you have herpes on Facebook is not the same.
Another thing about rumors is that they spread faster than a wildfire and keep getting bigger and angrier. A rumor about herpes can quickly become one that refers to the victim as a molester. And you know what kind of a response a molester is going to get on social media. The victim’s entire life can be affected by it.
A Story Of Social Bullying:
A few years ago, a picture was floating around the internet with a girl and another girl kissing. One of them was identified as a local in my community, and the kind of abuse she had to endure on social media was unlike I had seen anywhere. The social media bullying turned in to hate mails and death threats from God knows who. Finally, her family took out Installment Loans and left the city to start afresh; they were so desperate. And the girl was only 15, so what if she kissed another girl? Only if people understood it, wouldn’t things have been different?
The Ambiguity in Cyber Laws
Sometimes cyberbullying becomes a problem to prove in the court of law. The reason often cited is the freedom of speech. Everyone in a democracy has the right to speak up their minds, even if it hurts the sentiments of the person they are talking about.
- If I posted a tweet on Twitter saying that Hugh Grant is a terrible actor and needs to rejoin acting school before taking on his next film. This tweet might get a lot of likes and retweets and might even commence a campaign condemning Hugh Grant’s work.
- Obviously, he would notice it. He might even be emotionally hurt by reading the tweets of thousands of people criticizing him.
- However, he cannot sue anyone. He can try, but the chances of him winning are slim to none unless a miracle happens. It is merely because of the right to speech that is executed in the tweets.
Final Lines
People are free to speak whatever they think, anywhere they think, and they would not need to pay for their words, no matter how insensitive. This leads to an unfair ambiguity in cyber harassment.
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Author Bio: Hey! I am Henry Williams, a fintech professional with an overall experience of 10 years in the industry. Currently, I am working as a senior executive in Financeever UK, where I have been assigned to formulate various loan deals according to the requirements of the borrowers.
Featured Image by kalhh