The scourge of school bullying has moved beyond the classroom and into the realm of the internet, making it difficult for schools to distinguish between what does and does not fall within the limits of their responsibility.

Inspector Timothy Zammit, head of the Police’s Cyber Crime Unit, says that the educational system in general needs to be aware of what is occurring on the internet.

Bullying, he points out, does not happen in isolation purely on social media sites such as Ask.FM and Facebook.

“What is going on on the internet is an extension of what is taking place in real life. In the past, schools adopted the approach that what takes place until the child boards the school minibus is their responsibility and what takes places at home is not. Nowadays, schools have started to realise that what is starting off in the classroom is continuing on the internet.”

So-called cyber bullying is not a crime in itself. Rather, the different types of harassment to which a person may be subjected are what constitute a crime.

“From a legal point of view you do not find the words ‘cyber bullying’ or ‘bullying’ in Law. What is illegal is the form that cyber bullying takes.” Inspector Zammit elaborated by saying that if someone punched you in the face, this would not be a question of bullying by punching; it is classified as “harm”.

“If I break your laptop just to bully you,” he said, “that is ‘wilful damage’. If I offend you, this is ‘insults and threats,’ which is a criminal offence.

“Our law does not distinguish between those crimes taking place in real life and those taking place in the virtual world, the reason being that if we are going to have a law for the internet itself, that law would have to be constantly updated. We are fortunate to have legislation which is pretty much technology neutral.”

 

‘Ask.Fm is not bad in itself’

In response to a story carried last week in this paper on the bullying suffered by Lisa Maria Zahra on Ask.Fm, the site reported that it has 34,000 Maltese users. A social welfare agency said it receives three reports a week of abuse of adolescents on Ask.Fm.

Inspector Zammit believes that sites like Ask.Fm should not be demonised. He says that it is the people who are using the tool irresponsibly who are breaking the law, not the website itself.

“We do not consider Ask.Fm as being different from any other social network. It is a tool; it is there to be used. Some people, a minority, are misusing it and abusing the tool.

“With 34,000 Ask.fm users in Malta and around 200 reports filed a year, if we combine the complaints received by Agenzija Appogg and the Police concerning misuse of this site, Ask.FM is on the same level as any other social network and the internet itself.

“That’s one of the reasons why we are taking the approach that Ask.fm is not bad in itself, it’s the people who are abusing it that are breaking the law.”

Inspector Zammit does concede that the anonymous element on Ask.Fm does facilitate abuse, but the website is cooperating with the Maltese authorities.

“The site’s administrators are still retaining information on anonymous posts, and when requested by the Police are passing on this information. In actual fact, they are not facilitating the crime, it is simply a function on the website that is being misused.”

He explains that there is a very fine line between getting the Police involved in online bullying cases and treating the matter as a social issue. He says that the Be Smart Online campaign has helped the Police cooperate more with other stakeholders such as Appogg and the Commissioner for Children in order to determine the best way of handling such cases.

“I may come across a situation that is not a crime in itself, but would be more relevant to the Internet Hotline Team within Appogg. If there is a minor issue of bullying going on, do we want to go down the route of taking children to court? Or is that a social issue?

“Usually we try to leave Police intervention as a last resort. If it’s something that can be addressed at school level, then it is best handled there. If it cannot be handled at school level, or is too complicated, then we can maybe involve the Education Department or Appogg. This also shows children that the consequences of wrongdoing escalate, depending on the severity of their actions.

“It is ultimately, however, the parents’ decision as to whether or not they want to involve the Police. The Police are duty-bound to investigate every criminal complaint. We will still investigate online insults because it is a criminal offence.”

 

What constitutes ‘indecent material’ is subjective

Much like cyber bullying, Maltese law does not make specific mention of “child pornography”. Rather, the law uses the term “child indecent material”.

Such a wide-ranging term does not provide a restrictive definition to what type of material would be considered illegal. Inspector Zammit explains that in such situations, the Police look at the context of the material found.

“A photo of a baby having its nappy changed is considered acceptable in a photo album. Is it considered acceptable when such a photograph is exchanged over the internet or is included among a collection of similar photographs?

“It is all about context. Each case is treated on its own merits. When we are talking about child abuse, and indecent child material, we are talking of around 15 to 20 cases a year, which is not a lot. Most of the cases are related to possession rather than the production of such images.”

The Cyber Crimes Head points out that social media is being used and misused by all types of perpetrators.

“Fraudsters no longer have to be savvy people wearing a smart suit. They are now using social networks. An individual who wants to maybe befriend you for other purposes will obviously use a social networking profile.”

 

Unsupervised internet access a ‘recipe for disaster’

Inspector Zammit drives home the point that parental supervision and communication with their children are vital in order to pick up on and prevent instances of abuse and bullying carried out through the internet.

“The element of parental supervision is very important. Although children know how to use technology they are not aware of the dangers. A parent, although not as conversant as the child in the use of technology, will probably be able to figure out that there is something wrong. Parents should also look for changes in the behaviour of the child and know where they can seek help.

“If we simply give a child access to a device and we don’t supervise it, it is a recipe for disaster. A few years ago we used to talk about the importance of the computer being in a common room in the household where the parents can look over the child’s shoulder to see what they are doing.

“With the use of smart phones or laptops we cannot say keep a child away from technology, rather, you have to teach a child how to make best use of technology and address situations that they are uncomfortable with.”

Inspector Zammit says that parents can always feel free to contact the Police or Appogg through its internet abuse hotline.

“From an educational point of view, we do not have to keep on solely addressing the formal academic qualifications; we have to prepare children for their adult life. If we keep them sheltered throughout their childhood, they will eventually realise that the adult world is not all a bed of roses.” 

 

Cyber Crimes Unit faces ongoing battle

Inspector Zammit admits that the Cyber Crimes Unit faces an ongoing battle with new technologies emerging regularly.

 “From a resources point of view, technology is advancing continuously and we can never say that we have done enough. The moment I say that, it’s admitting defeat. The Cyber Crime Unit started off in 2003 and received one report a week. Last year, it handled two new cases almost every single day.

“Statistics alone, however, do not do justice to the actual work that is carried out by the team since the complexity of every case has increased. When I joined in 2007, a seized computer would normally have an 80 gigabyte hard disk drive. Nowadays, a computer system bought for home use would have a 2 Terrabyte hard disk drive – that is around 2000 gigabytes. Also, the number of devices available to each person has multiplied. This means that it is not just the amount of equipment seized that is increasing, the amount of data that has to be processed has increased drastically.”

The Unit is active in going out into the community and raising awareness on the dangers of internet use.

“The Cyber Crime Unit visits schools around two to three times a week. I am aware that Appogg, through the Be Smart Online and the Commissioner for Children also hold events in schools and youth organisations.”

The Malta Communications Authority has a teacher tasked with carrying out internet safety presentations in classrooms. Last year, the emphasis in secondary schools was raising awareness on the digital footprint, that is the traces of personal information a user divulges about himself while making use of the internet. This scholastic year, the campaign has targeted primary schoolchildren with a message about digital citizenship.