Vikash Sharma

Bhubaneswar: With schools yet to reopen in several States due to COVID-19 pandemic situation, many students are now turning to online education. Millions of learners, mostly students, are turning to online education and are extensively using electronic devices and Information and communication Technologies (ICTs).

According to experts, children and young people are always at the risk of online abuse, increasing their vulnerability to cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is widespread and affects a significant number of children and adolescents and infringes their rights to education and to health and well-being.

There are considerable negative effects of cyberbullying, including on their academic achievement, mental health, and quality of life in general.

Cyberbullying includes

- Posting hurtful, nasty rumours or comments on updates, pictures and videos shared by an individual on websites.

-Excluding individuals of different cultural, socio-economic backgrounds from online groups and forums.

-Uploading embarrassing photographs online without the person's permission.

-Stealing someone's account password and sending unwanted/inappropriate messages from that account to harass other individuals.

Cyberbullying is a punishable offence under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Indian Penal Code. All children and adults MUST report cases of cyberbullying to the police (Dial: 112)

Here Are Some Important Do’s & Don'ts

Do’s

-Create a strong password according to password guidelines, and frequently change passwords to prevent misuse.

• Read the privacy settings very carefully on social networking sites.

• Communicate only with known people.

• Be careful while posting photographs, videos and any sensitive information on websites as they leave digital footprints which stay online forever.

• Ensure that only authorized personnel access computer systems and labs.

• Report immediately to the support team of networking site if you suspect that your account have been hacked or stolen.

• Invest in a strong network security system.

• Use only verified open source or licensed software and operating systems.

• Set up your computer for automatic antivirus software and operating system updates

Don’ts

-Don’t reveal your password to anyone other than your parent or guardian.

• Don’t reveal personal information like age, address, phone number, school name etc. as this can lead to identity theft.

• Don’t post anything which hurts others feelings.

• Don’t post your friends’ information on networking sites, which can put them at risk.

• Don’t forward anything that you read on social media without verifying it from a trusted source.

• Don’t leave your account unattended after login, log out when you are not using it.

• Don’t create fake profiles for yourself on any social networking site.

• Don’t use personal devices such as personal USBs or hard drives on public
networks or computers.

• Don’t open links and attachment on social networking sites and block file extensions such as .bat, .cmd, .exe, .pif by filtering software.

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