The Cyberbullying Prevention Act

Individuals should not be prosecuted for statements made on social media for multiple reasons. The combination of a loss of the first amendment, being prosecuted on the internet for something you wouldn’t be prosecuted for in real life, and legislative restrictions on the internet becoming excessively severe have the potential to sharply hinder the Anti-Cyber Bullying Movement.

To begin, a true fact is that one of the biggest flaws of the Cyberbullying Prevention Act is that it defines the first amendment as a privilege. More issues are created by this then they are eradicated. The freedom of speech is one of the 10 first amendments to the constitution that our country was founded upon. A mere legislative act should not have the capacity

Furthermore, those responsible for the Cyberbullying Prevention act are putting more focus in harshly punishing those guilty of the “Crime”. In the article “Sacrificing the First Amendment to Catch ‘Cyberbullies’” by Kirk Sigmon, the author states that “[The fact that the first amendment is limited] does not make it some sort of nebulous ‘privilege’ such that hurting someone’s feeling justify its abridgement. The last time I checked, hurting someone’s feelings -- even in real life -- never justified criminal legislation… Like it or not, implicit within the text of the First Amendment is the right to be as cruel as one wants, right up to the point of libel or slander.” At this point, this has gone so far, that as Source 2 States, “...they also want to punish NY citizens from joining their online clubs.” Indeed, some actions do need to be taken to stop genuine cyber bullying, however why should the mere act of “Trolling”, “Posting online information to trick or provoke people online” and “Exclusion”, “Intentionally and cruelly excluding someone from an online group” be prosecuted on the internet, a digital haven where the easiest way to stop the offensive input is to go to a different website or to not use the internet, when these things aren’t prosecuted in real

If people lost the right to do certain harmless things on the internet, or find out that everything they do on the internet is monitored, they wouldn’t be very happy in real life. This information is relevant to the current situation. The same infamous legislature that proposed the Anti Cyberbullying Act also wants to essentially regulate the internet , monitoring all information that both is sent and received by individuals. Without context or prior knowledge, harmless internet activities (Not cyberbullying) could be mistakenly seen as harmful or malicious acts from outside individuals.

To conclude, individuals should not be prosecuted for statements made on social media due to these stated reasons. The combination of a loss of the first amendment, being prosecuted on the internet for something you wouldn’t be prosecuted for in real life, and legislative restrictions on the internet becoming excessively severe are all results of overreaction to harassment online, and the whole cyberbullying issue can be resolved in a more proactive