" Do Something Internet bullying, commonly known as cyberbullying, has been a difficult issue to identify and fight against for years. Schools struggle to expose cyberbullies and uncover their victims without interfering with the freedom of speech, which is protected by the First Amendment. There have been cases where cyberbullies have been able to avoid financial damages, when they are truly guilty, by pleading this infraction. It is important to not collide with the rights of others, but it is necessary to protect every American’s right to, “life, liberty, and property,†which is a right given by the Fifth Amendment. The implementation of an off-campus cyberbullying protection law should be adopted in every state because background …show more content…
Des Moines, the free speech of students was strengthened while they are in school. In the ruling, schools were given restraints in order to control unprotected free speech that, “would materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school.†The off-campus protection law will give schools a strong grip on cyberbullies who have ruined and/or taken the lives of others. The Ryan Halligan Case (1989-2003) consisted of harassment and cyberbullying between his 5th and 7th grade years in school. The cyberbullies pretended to be his friends and acquired an array of personal information that they shared through online messages and eventually developed into rumors about Ryan being gay. Ryan hung himself in the family bathroom on October 7, 2003. Criminal charges were not filed because no cyberbullying laws existed during that time in Vermont, but if there was a law that allowed schools to see what these cyberbullies are up to, then justice could be served for those being tormented