Cyber crime & bullying

Other names for cyber crime include: spam, virus software, spyware, trojans, cyber bullying, cyber stalking, prank calls, sexting.

Can you think of any more?

Cyber crime basically means computer crime. As the number of computers in the world has grown, so has the number of computer crimes.

Most people think of illegal downloads or online identity theft when they hear about cyber crime but there’s more to it than that. It includes other crimes that you may not associate with cybercrime that are more serious than you might think.

Spam is the emails you get but didn’t ask for. It’s illegal for people to carry on sending them when you’ve said that you don’t want them.

How to block spam?

It is hard to find any program or software that will 100% block spam. As technology improves people will find new ways to send out spam emails. The best thing you can do is take advice from your internet provider - for example BT, Yahoo, SKY. They will have spam filters and systems in place so you can report spam emails.

Obscene content is when you have words or images on your site (or social network profile) that could offend other people, e.g. racist words that could encourage hatred of other races.

It includes sending images on your phone, even if they’re images of you (known as sexting) which could also end up online.

Cyber bullying is the electronic version of bullying. Instead of calling someone names to their face, you do it on sites like Facebook or send them threatening texts.

Facebook has created a really useful guide that you can use to help you use their site safely. What can I do to prevent or address cyber bullying?

As of July 2010, Facebook has now introduce a new 'panic button'. You can now have a panic button on your facebook page where you can report abuse and get help from other agencies about staying safe online. Click here to find out about getting a panic button on your page.

Prank calling is when you call someone without a proper reason, e.g. calling them and breathing heavily down the phone.

Although there are many joke prank calls which are legal being on the receiving end of prank phone calls can be very stressful and frightening.

Prank phone calls become illegal when the caller(s);

• Pretends to be someone with legal authority, for example a police office.
• Calls the emergency services (999) with made up information.
• Makes threats and uses threatening language.

Happy slapping is when you attack someone and you or your friends record it, e.g. hitting them and recording it on your phone. 

You don’t have to hit someone to be guilty of happy slapping. Even if you just record it, you could get up to two years in prison.  

Sexting is when people send inappropriate text messages to other people. This includes photo messages.

By sending indecent pictures of a person under 18 on to someone else you could be breaking the law.

If you were to have an indecent image of another minor, you would technically be in possession of an indecent image of a child, which is an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Like bullying, cyber crime can lead to more serious crimes, fines or even prison. The effects can be more severe than bullying because it can be done any time, any where.

If you have information about cyber crime, be fearless and let us know anonymously.

Other names for bullying include: harass, mob, tease, abuse, stalk, make fun of.

Can you think of any more?

Bullying is when you harm someone over and over again, e.g. calling them names, hitting them, stealing from them or even leaving them out of things. It doesn’t just happen at school – it can happen anywhere.

Stalking is when you follow, watch or talk to someone a lot when they don’t want you to. 

If you stalk someone so much that it becomes ‘harassment’, you could get a ‘restraining order’ making it illegal for you to go near the person you stalked.

There’s a fine line between bullying and crime. Bullying can easily spill over and become serious crimes like robbery, assault or even murder, e.g. beating someone up after calling them names. 

The effect of bullying on the victim can be severe, e.g. they could commit suicide because of the bullying. 

If you have information about bullying-related crime, be fearless and let us know anonymously.

Hate Crime is when you commit a crime against someone because you are prejudice against a person or entire community’s individuality. This could be as a result of their religion, race, sexual orientation or disability.

You could be accused of committing hate crime if you send nasty emails or facebook messages making fun of a person’s individuality.  It can also be extended if you are physically aggressive to someone because of the same reasons. In the eyes or the law it’s more serious than normal, e.g. race hate assault is more serious than assault.

This is the name given to people who are prejudice against gay, lesbian or bisexual (LGB) people. Prejudice means that an individual or group has hatred, intolerance and often fear against a particular group of people.

Homophobic Crime

Feeling this negative towards a particular group of people can lead to some individuals committing crime against LGB people. Like all hate crimes it will be treated more serious than usual.

There are a number of different crimes that could be classes as homophobic. This would include;

• Writing insulting graffiti on someone’s property
• Robbing someone just because an individual is LGB
• Attacking or assaulting someone just because an individual is LGB
• Bullying (online or in person) just because an individual is LGB

This is the name give to people who are prejudice against individuals who are transsexual or transgendered. Prejudice means that an individual or group has hatred, intolerance and often fear against this a particular group of people.

Transsexual – this is the term given to a person who acts in a way that is different from their birth gender (male or female).

Transgendered – this is the term given to an individual that has changed their gender since birth and is now accepted to be the opposite sex (male or female).

Transphobic Crime

Feeling this negative towards a particular group of people can lead to some individuals committing crime against transsexual or transgendered people. Like all hate crimes it will be treated more serious than usual.

There are a number of different crimes that could be classes as transphobic. This would include;

• Writing insulting graffiti on someone’s property
• Robbing someone just because an individual is transsexual or transgendered.
• Attacking or assaulting someone just because an individual is transsexual or transgendered.
• Bullying (online or in person) just because an individual is transsexual or transgendered.

Many people think racial hate crime is about committing crimes against people because of the colour of their skin – whilst this is true it also includes things such as people’s culture, nationality and even their language. Like all hate crimes the police will treat crimes fuelled by racism more seriously.

There are a number of different crimes that could be classed as racially motivated. This would include;

• Writing insulting graffiti on someone’s property
• Robbing someone because of their nationality.
• Attacking or assaulting someone because of their nationality.
• Bullying someone (online or in person) just because of their nationality.

Before we take a look at disability hate crime it is import to explain exactly what we mean by disability.

The definition of disability from the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

‘A disabled person is explained as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’

Disability crime is the name given to any crimes that are committed against someone as a direct result of their disability. Like many of the other hate crimes in this section this is often fuelled by a prejudice. Prejudice means that they an individual or group has hatred, intolerance and often fear against a particular group of people. With disability crime sometimes victims are only targeted because they are more vulnerable.

There are a number of different crimes that would fall under the category of disability crime. This would include;

• Writing insulting graffiti on someone’s property
• Robbing someone just because of their disability.
• Attacking or assaulting someone just because an individual disability.
• Bullying (online or in person) just because an individual disability.

If you have information about hate crime, be fearless and let us know anonymously.