CYBERBULLYING
(Rafey Iqbal Rahman, Karachi)
Cyberbullying isn't a new
thing. Nowadays it is done in the name of "Sarcasm" and "No Offence: Just for
Fun". Cyberbullying risks the cybersecurity, which is the least and the hardest
to provide. Cyberbullying is based upon the unfamiliarity and hatred with a
particular person, community, religion, sect, color, class, race or creed. From
the man-in-the-street to the well-to-do class comprising of politicians,
journalists, sportsmen and renowned religious scholars, no one is spared of it.
Social networking and microblogging sites, such as Facebook and Twitter
respectively, play a key role in the promotion of such heinous activities.
Cyberbullying attracts more and more social site users and microbloggers
persuading them to post negative comments and hate speeches which are open-eyed
for public. Such activities go viral and trending in a nick of time.
Cyberbullying poses a major threat to the victim. It becomes very difficult for
him/her to dwell in the society in a usual manner. These kinds of activities
leave emotional wounds on the heart of the victim which become their 'forever
scars'. In short, the society becomes a nuisance to them.
Apart from this simple form of bullying, it is also done in a more criminal
manner, that is, "Cyber extortion". This is done by either hacking into
someone's account and taking knowledge of their private information, or by
phishing attacks. Instagram and SnapChat are more vulnerable to this. Someone's
private images (unwilling to show in public) can be snapped which are uploaded
by the users. Cyber extortion is also accomplished by taking snaps of the
victim's private chats with his/her friend(s) done in chat rooms. They can be
used to blackmail or threat the victim either for a handsome amount or any other
thing they desire, and leaking it to the public in case their demand is not
fulfilled.