School Bullying Council

Facebook was under fire again yesterday from various groups for alleged inconsistency in its moderation – too quick, it was claimed, to take down material supporting non-mainstream causes, too slow to react in other cases.

First up, according to gay newspaper Pink News, was a homophobic Facebook group called The New Anti-Gay Movement. Its administrators boasted: “This page is for those of us [sic] against ALL gays, man and woman alike. Those of us who are tired of seeing them flaunt it like it is a badge of honor and acceptable. Spread it like wildfire. Suggest to all your friends.”

In response to calls for the page’s removal, the Facebook mods initially responded: “By definition this page does not in any way or form count as ‘hate speech’. While there is a very thin line, this is on the proper side of it. It does not promote violence, intimidation, harassment or other misconducted [sic] actions.”

The page did not survive long, attracting, at last count, some 15 or so adherents before Facebook canned it. Accusations of foot-dragging in this case – unlike an earlier page advocating violence against a pro-gay demo in Serbia, which survived several weeks of reports before being dismissed – may therefore be slightly premature.

More controversial is a complaint from FreedomOneWorld, a campaign partly orchestrated by reputable UK campaigners War On Want – and supported by such ne’er-do-wells as Billy Bragg and Jews for Justice in Palestine – that their Facebook page had been taken down. The group also said that links to their website had been blocked by Facebook.

As Billy Bragg wrote on the now-resurrected page: “The link that I posted to the OneWorld Freedom for Palestine site here yesterday has mysteriously disappeared. Are facebook actively censoring the debate about peace in the Middle East?

“When I click on the link that I posted yesterday this is the message I got: ‘Sorry the link you are trying to visit has been reported as abusive by Facebook users’. I’d like to know what in the video was considered abusive and by whom.”

Last up – and arguably most serious – is a tale of ordinary everyday bullying and incitement to violence. If the first two campaigns challenged Facebook moderation by presenting them with politically subtle argument over the nature of protest and free speech, the third, which appears to have taken Facebook rather longer to respond to, was a page entitled: “i’m a women [sic] LOL JK i’m the guard from poundland“.

The page, apparently originating among a number of young persons in the Newcastle-on-Tyne area was little more than an attack on a security guard, working at extreme discount store Poundland, who also happened to be transgender.

Typical of the comments put up were: “anyone got a photo of the ugly tranny? Put it on here and have a giggle.”

Another poster wrote: “a heard it wasn’t even human but a reptile.”

Various posters urged others to take photos, which were duly posted.

The page survived for a number of weeks, apparently unreported. This changed on Wednesday, when a piece by journalist and blogger Paris Scarlett Lees exposed the page to the transgender community and led to a flurry of reports both to Facebook and the local police, who are now investigating those who posted. Given that the page could be construed as going well beyond opinion and into the realms of incitement to violence, Facebook appear to have taken no action to remove it until after we spoke to their press office yesterday afternoon.

In response to the above, Facebook refused to be drawn on individual cases. A spokeswoman told us: “While we can’t comment on individual cases, users and content on Facebook can be removed for a variety of reasons including bullying or harassing others, using fake details or posting content which contains nudity.”

The above includes every item of content added to the site, from profile images, to photos or messages, all of which can be reported by people using the site.

All reports are prioritised before being dealt with by Facebook’s user operations team, and then addressed in order of significance: so a report of grooming or harassment would be dealt with before a report of an account which has been locked out.

The spokeswoman concluded: “Content which breaks Facebook’s rules, such as the pages you flagged, will be removed for breaching Facebook’s terms as set out in our statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

“We encourage people to report anything they feel violates our policies using the report links which are on every page across the site. Our highly trained team of expert reviewers will then prioritise reports, remove any content or people in violation and escalate issues to law enforcement when appropriate.” ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/03/facebook_mods_under_fire/

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Casey Hynes, the internet sensation who stood up to his tormentors is still fighting bullying, but now he has NRL boxing trainer Christian Marchegiani in his corner

Underdog: Trainer Christian Marchegiani is helping bullying victim Casey Heynes. Picture: Sam Ruttyn.
Source: The Sunday Telegraph

IT’S fightback time for Casey Heynes. When the 16-year-old could no longer take the punches and was shown on YouTube slamming his playground bully to the ground, he turned into an internet sensation and a pin-up for bullying victims everywhere.

Now, the western Sydney teenager is joining forces with NRL boxing trainer Christian Marchegiani to launch a statewide anti-bullying campaign.

Called Underdog, it kicks off in three months time and will see the duo speak at schools across the state, workplaces and anywhere else that bullying occurs in an effort to stamp it out.

“I’m sick and tired of people getting picked on. I’ve seen it my whole life and I want it to stop,” Casey said

The YouTube video that went viral globally showed fellow Chifley High School student Ritchard Gale punching Casey several times in the face, before Casey snapped, lifted his tormentor in the air and threw him to the ground.

Marchegiani, who works with the Sydney Swans as well as a number of Australian cricketers and NRL players, has become Casey’s mentor.

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He said he got in contact with Casey because he had a similar experience with being bullied when he was young.

“When I was in high school I retaliated and snapped because I’d had enough … I was expelled from that school.

“Later on I was in trouble with the law and I was told that if I don’t do something with my life that I’d go to jail,” he said.

The video of Casey body slamming Ritchard was taken off ine in March, but the teen, who wants to be a pilot, said his fame was yet to wane.

“I can’t go down the road without everyone going ‘oh my god you’re Casey, can I take your picture?’,” he said.
While that might be annoying, he did get to meet Justin Bieber.

“That was amazing because I’ve never had an (inter)national celebrity just call me up and go `do you want to come to my concert?’,” he said.

He said Mr Marchegiani and his own experiences inspired him to join the campaign.

“The (bullying) peed me off because if you get it every single day you get annoyed by it.”

Casey said he had watched the video a number of times “because it has been on the news” and said he didn’t regret standing up for himself.

“I have regrets for picking (him) up but glad that I did it,” he said.
 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/bullied-sydney-teenager-casey-heynes-is-fighting-back-joining-forces-with-nrl-boxing-trainer/story-e6freuy9-1226069314607

Justin Bieber performing at Rod Laver Arena last night. Picture: Ben Swinnerton
Source: Herald Sun

Bullying victim Casey Heynes was invited on stage at Justin Bieber’s concert last night. Picture: Channel Nine
Source: Supplied

IT was a moment between one internet sensation and another.

Justin Bieber invited Sydney schoolboy Casey Heynes on stage at his Melbourne concert last night to introduce his hit song Never Say Never.

”Everybody give it up for this kid,” he said.

“I just wanted to say, he is very inspirational, he shows other people to stand up for what they believe in.”

Watch Justin Bieber invite Casey Heynes on stage

Casey Heynes became an internet sensation after he body-slammed another student during a verbal and physical attack.

The Year 10 student had been bullied all his schooling life and the video went viral, with internet users praising Heynes for striking back for bullying victims everywhere.

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Bieber tweeted a link to a news story on Heynes with the words, “This is Casey the punisher… a kid who stood up for himself against bullying. a real life hero.”

He then tweeted another link of Heynes on stage with him, “2nite we tracked down Casey and his family and flew him to the show. Thank you Casey. #stopbullying.”

Justin Bieber’s tweets on Casey Heynes:

“well 2nite we tracked down Casey and his family and flew him to the show. Thank you Casey. #stopbullying – http://youtu.be/tAP_9nXVRd8“

“this is Casey the punisher…a kid who stood up for himself against bullying. a real life hero. his story – http://youtu.be/TqPs4YBf__E“
 
“for those of you who done know…you should watch this – http://youtu.be/dxBAy3901kc“

“pretty special night tonight in MELBOURNE….surprised someone me and the team look up to. a kid with a lot of courage”

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/justin-bieber-invites-bullying-victim-casey-heynes-on-stage-in-melbourne/story-e6frf9hf-1226048956263

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Mobile phone footage shows a fight between two boys at a Sydney school with one boy being thrown to the ground.

World famous: Bullying victim Casey Heynes. Picture: Channel Nine.
Source: Supplied

Enough is enough: Casey Heynes takes action against another student. Picture: Facebook
Source: The Daily Telegraph

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IN just one week, Casey Heynes went from having one friend to 230,000.

The 16-year-old became a global Internet sensation after he was filmed picking up a bully in the schoolyard and throwing him to the ground after being repeatedly punched in the face for being “overweight”.

During an interview with A Current Affair , Casey said he had been bullied almost every day at school and even contemplated suicide a year ago when the taunts became too much.

“I started putting myself down and all the crap just kept piling on,” he said.

“That’s when I contemplated suicide.”

A Year 10 student at Chifley College, St Marys, Casey said he was being targeted by a new gang of Year Seven students last Monday when he was attacked by Ritchard Gale.

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World wide fame for Casey

Standing up against the wall with nowhere to move, Casey was punched repeatedly by Ritchard until he snapped – lifting the Year Seven bully over his shoulders and throwing him to the ground.

Victim of bullying a hero in web attack

The footage was captured by another student, who filmed the incident on his mobile phone and then posted it on YouTube.

Casey Heynes gets suspended over bully attack

Casey said his outburst was a “build-up” of more than three years of being attacked verbally and physically by other students.

“They used to slap me on the back of the head and said I was a fatty and to lose some weight.

“I’ve been duct taped to a pole before as well. They target me because I don’t retaliate.

“I’ve never reacted that way before but everything built up inside me for three years…I just had enough. All I wanted is for it to stop.”

His celebrity status peaked once again after his interview last night, with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter – which have more than 230,000 followers – labelling him “a hero”.

One blogger, Wayne McCoy, said minutes after the television interview: “you have inspired alot of kids who have and are being bullied. you have changed lives. well done mate. hopefully the bullies will learn thier lesson.”

Others, like Aidan Blackley, said: “Good on ya!!! ur a legend”.

Casey said he had been overwhelmed by the amount of people who backed him after last week’s footage went viral.

“I’ve never had so much support before,” he said.

“Nobody touches me and teases me anymore.”

Both Casey and Ritchard were suspended by the school following the incident, as well as the student who filmed it on their mobile phone.
 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/casey-heynes-breaks-silence-over-bully-video-from-chifley-college-and-thoughts-of-suicide/story-e6freuy9-1226024997247

A chubby Australian boy has rocketed to YouTube stardom after a classmate recorded a cell phone video of him body-slamming a smaller boy who’d been taunting him in the schoolyard.

The clip shows the apparent bully, seventh-grader Ritchard Gale, teasing and punching his victim, Casey Heynes, as a gang of other kids laugh at the abuse. Heynes, who is in the 10th grade, takes the bullying for a while, but then snaps and picks Gale up and throws him down on the concrete floor. Gale eventually gets up and limps away.

Both boys were suspended from their school, Chifley College in New South Wales, outside Sydney. Gale’s mother has demanded an apology for the body-slamming of her son, and the bad publicity her family has received because of the YouTube video. But public support seems to be overwhelmingly on the side of Heynes, whose father said he’d been bullied for years without fighting back.

“People pick on him every single day. They hit him around and stuff, and he just got sick of it and let out the anger,” an unnamed classmate of the two boys told Australia’s Telegraph newspaper.

More than 100,000 people have joined a Facebook group defending Heynes, with some dubbing him “Casey the Punisher” and Gale, “Ritchard the Rat.” The global computer hacker group Anonymous also rushed to Heynes’ defense, launching what it dubbed “Operation Fat Hero” in which it hacked into the website of the boys’ school, Chifley College, and posted a manifesto accusing teachers of “failing to provide a violence-free environment for their students.”

Heynes’ YouTube video and Facebook group have drawn more attention in recent days to the problem of childhood bullying worldwide. Last week, President Barack Obama opened a White House conference on boosting anti-bullying programs in U.S. schools.

“With big ears and the name that I have, I wasn’t immune,” Obama told about 150 students, parents and teachers gathered at the White House last Thursday. “I didn’t emerge unscathed.”

Obama also announced the creation of a new government website to address bullying concerns: StopBullying.gov

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/18/youtube-hero-australian-boy-casey-heynes-body-slams-his-bully/

The legend of Casey the Punisher (aka Casey Heynes) took a dramatic — and some would say disturbing — turn on Wednesday, as a notorious hackers group hijacked the 16-year-old’s school web site in protest of his suspension. The hacktivist group “Anonymous” has garnered notoriety for recent attacks on various company web sites in support Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Now, apparently, they’ve turned their guns on Chifley College, Dunheved Campus at North St Marys, the Australian school which suspended Casey Heynes for his role in the infamous bullying incident. Video of the skirmish has gone viral, despite it being banned by YouTube.

Noting that Casey was actually the victim of a bully, but received a four-day suspension anyway for fighting back, Anonymous declared the launch of “Operation Fat Hero,” in which the school’s web site was taken down and further cyber disobedience was solicited from readers. Excerpt from the attack manifesto:

We have had enough of this bigotry. They failed at providing a violence-free environment for their students, and when Zangief Kid (Casey) took things in his own hands they b****slapped him for defending himself.

Anonymous then advocated people flood the school with emails to “let them feel your wrath.”

Full screen cap below:

How long before images of Casey with a Che Guevara beret begin popping up? Updates, of course, to follow.

The moral of the story here is that you shouldn’t suspend a bullied kid unless you’re prepared to feel the wrath of the hacker community. Because most computer nerds were probably bullied when they were in school, they take this very personally.

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Zangief Kid’ Owns a Playground Bully and Gets Suspended, Anonymous Backs Him Up [URLesque]

http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2011/03/17/hacktivist-group-takes-down-school-web-site-of-bullied-australian-kid/