LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to
proclaim January 15-21, 2012, as Cyber Bully Awareness Week in the State
of New York

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize official
weeks that are set aside to increase awareness of serious issues that
affect the lives of citizens of New York State; and
WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long-
standing traditions, it is the sense of this Legislative Body to memori-
alize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim January 15-21, 2012, as Cyber
Bully Awareness Week in the State of New York; and
WHEREAS, The mission of Cyber Bully Awareness Week is to look after
and protect the young people of the State of New York from the effects
of cyber bullying; and
WHEREAS, Often, bullying is no longer about the strong picking on the
weak in the schoolyard; the physical assault has been replaced by a 24
hour per day, seven days a week online bashing; and
WHEREAS, Students are using instant messaging, e-mails, Facebook,
Twitter, other social media sites, chat rooms and websites they create
to humiliate a peer; parents can no longer count on seeing the telltale
physical signs of bullying such as a black eye, bloody lip or torn
clothes; and
WHEREAS, The damage done by cyber bullies is no less real, and can be
infinitely more painful; peer approval is very important to children;
subsequently, cyber bullying can have a negative or even destructive
emotional effect on victims, ranging from hurt feelings to intense
anger; it can also result in significant depression and in the most
severe cases has even resulted in violence and suicide; and
WHEREAS, The statistics on cyber bullying are shocking; 42% of chil-
dren have been bullied while online; one in four have had it happen more
than once; 35% have been threatened online; nearly one in five have had
it happen more than once; 21% have received mean or threatening e-mail
or other messages; 58% admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to
them online; more than four out of 10 say it has happened more than
once; 53% admit having said something mean or hurtful to another person
online; more than one in three have done it more than once; and 58% have
not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that
has happened to them online; and
WHEREAS, While cyber bullying is often done by children who have
increasing access to technology, it is by no means confined to children;
the problem is compounded by the fact that bullies are often anonymous
and never have to confront their victims; this makes it difficult to
trace the source, and encourages bullies to behave more aggressively
than a traditional "physical world" bully; and
WHEREAS, Cyber bullying is accomplished in many ways, including:
Flaming, a type of online fight in which an individual sends or posts
electronic messages that are deliberately hostile, insulting, mean,
angry, vulgar or insulting; Denigration also known as dissing which
occurs when a person sends or publishes cruel rumors, gossip or untrue
statements about a person aimed at intentionally damaging the victim's
reputation or friendships; Bash boards are online bulletin boards where
people post anything they choose and generally the postings are mean,
hateful and malicious; Impersonation occurs when someone pretends to be
or poses as another person, usually accomplished by breaking into some-
one's account, by stealing a password and perhaps changing it, or by
maliciously using that information provided by a friend; Outing occurs
when someone sends or publishes confidential, private, or embarrassing

information, online; Trickery is when a person purposely tricks another
person into divulging secrets, private information or embarrassing
information, and publishes that information online; and Exclusion is an
indirect method of online bullying, intentionally excluding someone from
an online group or community; and
WHEREAS, Furthermore, Harassment is when the electronic bully repeat-
edly sends insulting, hurtful, rude, insulting messages; Happy slapping
is a relatively new type of bullying which occurs when an unsuspecting
victim is physically attacked, in person, as an accomplice films or take
pictures of the incident and then the image or video is posted online or
distributed electronically; Text wars or attacks are when several people
gang up on the victim, sending the target hundreds of mails or text
messages; Online polls ask readers to vote on specific questions, often
very hurtful and demeaning, such as "Who is the ugliest person in the
fifth grade?" or "Who do you love to hate?"; sending malicious code
intentionally, to damage or harm the victim's system or to spy on the
victim; images and videos are also a rapidly growing concern due to the
prevalence and accessibility of camera cell phones, photographs and
videos of unsuspecting victims, taken in bathrooms, locker rooms or
other compromising situations which are being distributed electron-
ically; and Griefing involves chronically causing grief to other members
of an online community, or intentionally disrupting the immersion of
another player in their game play; and
WHEREAS, It is imperative that there be greater public awareness of
this serious issue, and more must be done to increase knowledge and
attentiveness at both the State and local levels to support and protect
our youth, our most precious resource; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim January 15-21, 2012, as
Cyber Bully Awareness Week in the State of New York; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New
York.