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Simfin

online safety and digital citizenship specialist

Naace Impact Award Winner for Leadership

For his commitment to ensuring a safe and supportive learning environment for the education sector

What people say about simfin

  • Thank you Simon!! So enlightening

    Online safety conference delegate Online

 Tagged with cyberbullying


14 October 2016

Natasha MacBryde was a beautiful, clever girl hoping to be a vet or paediatrician, who seemed perfectly happy at school until a few months after she turned 15, when she suddenly wanted to dye her hair brown.

Her mother Jane discovered, over the next few weeks, that Tasha (as the family called her) had become the target of nasty messages from fellow pupils on Formspring, a website (which has since closed) where the senders could remain anonymous.

She was further upset at being rejected by a boy she liked. On the evening before Valentine's Day, she looked at Formspring one last time - with its latest, poisonous message - then slipped out of the house and walked to a nearby railway track. She was hit by a train.

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11 October 2016

Internet trolls who create derogatory hashtags or doctored images to humiliate others could face prosecution in England and Wales.
Inciting people to harass others online, known as virtual mobbing, could also result in court action, under new Crown Prosecution Service guidance.
The director of public prosecutions said it means the CPS would prosecute just as if offences occurred offline.

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15 August 2016

Scotland Yard has created a new unit to police Facebook and Twitter by investigating offensive comments.

A team of volunteers will search out material they deem inappropriate on social networks and report it to the unit. The allegations will then be investigated and the culprits prosecuted, if caught.

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02 August 2016
Instagram is taking an unusual step to deal with the complicated ethics of online commenting. It's giving users the ability to make the choice about what's acceptable or not for themselves.
 
The network will soon allow users to filter their own comment streams..  and, if they wish, completely turn off comments -- on their own posts. 
 
11 July 2016

A teenage girl from Glasgow has taken her own life after being subjected to sickening attacks of online bullying.

16-year-old Britney Mazzoncini took to social media to express her anguish in the days leading up to her death.

She was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning but could not be saved.

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