Punished for online bullying

After calling another girl “a whore” in an online chat room, a 17-year old girl in Eastern Norway was convicted of disturbing the peace of another. The court considered that the message could be classed as public harassment and bullying and should therefore not be protected under the right to “freedom of expression”. The girl was ordered to pay a fine of NOK 4500. “We always find out who is behind this kind of harassment. People think they are anonymous online, but you always leave behind electronic tracks,” said the owner of the website.

Source: digi.no

"I can't take it anymore"

Last summer, me and my friends partied a bit, like most teenagers. We had a really good time and met new people. We took photos and posted them on a webpage. We had a password and everything! Nothing could go wrong. But when school started again, a lot of people heard it was a “party site”, and people became more and more eager to get the password. Then something terrible happened with the website where we had uploaded the images. Suddenly everyone could see the “owner’s” pages. The nightmare started when the people we knew told their parents. In the end, one mother contacted the school and explained everything. We had to talk to teachers and counselors. My parents were also contacted, but fortunately they thought it was just part of being a teenager. It was worse seeing the other students. They knew something, all of them did. When I started school a year ago, I had a great time. But now I dread going to school every single day. I have learned a valuable lesson – I won’t ever post something on a website, whether it’s images or anything else. Now I feel like I have a video camera following me. Regards, anon.

Source: Aftenposten, reader submission in the comment section Si ;D (abridged)

Harrasement of the teacher

A teacher at a secondary school had a serious argument with one of his students. Several months later, the student got his revenge by creating a website in the teacher’s name, full of gross invasions of privacy. For example, photos of the teacher were uploaded along with false allegations and gross harassment. A chat page was also set up where other pupils could write comments and statements about the teacher. The website was reported and deleted, but the teacher found the whole episode extremely unpleasant.

Source: The Norwegian Data Inspectorate