Beating the cyberbullies; Targets of taunting need help turning the tables on tormentors.

Bullying was once simple: A kid you knew threatened to beat you up after school. You could at least try to run away. But now, bullying has gone high tech: It's an anonymous kid (or even a grown-up), perhaps posting altered pornographic images of you on his blog--or threatening you so persistently

Bullying is a growing problem worldwide, but especially in North America, according to the 2006 United Nations World Report on Violence Against Children. Cyberbullying is a modern twist--the use of the Internet, cell phones (with or without cameras), and other communications devices to taunt or threaten others anonymously. Almost half of all teenagers in the United States are affected by cyberbullying, notes Mary Muscari, an associate professor at Binghamton University's Decker School of Nursing.

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In 2006,43% of U.S. teens surveyed by Harris Interactive reported having experienced some form of cyberbullying in the past year. Similarly, a Canadian study found that 23% of middle-schoolers surveyed had been bullied by e-mail, 35% in chat rooms, and 41% by text messages on their cell phones. Fully 41% did not know the identity of the perpetrators.

Girls especially are victimized by cyberbullying because they typically spend more time in chat rooms, on message boards, or IMing; nearly three-fourths of girls aged 12 to 18 report spending more time online than doing their homework, according to research reported in Children's Rights: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Participation and Protection. These virtual hangouts are places where they can be easily targeted by total strangers--not just the school bully in the hallway or playground.

Cyberbullying can be far more insidious than traditional bullying, because there is no escape from it, says Muscari. Cyberbullying runs 24/7 and, like many other phenomena today, is global in its reach. Once a cyberbully has posted the "news" that 13-year-old Mary is secretly a pole-dancer--along with the Photoshopped proof--her reputation may be irreparably damaged.

The impacts of cyberbullying reach into the real-world classroom, observe researchers Shaheen Shariff and Leanne Johnny in their chapter on cyberspace in Children's Rights. "Victims fear unknown cyber-perpetrators among their classmate," they write. "Moreover, cyber-bullying detracts all students (victims systenatrating on schoolwork. This atmosphere makes all students feel unwelcome and unsafe."