Cyberbullying

http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying?gclid=CKu-0uC64ZgCFQHHGgodIGfYdQ

I was watching an episode of 30 rock on Hulu last night and an interesting commercial came up about cyberbullying. Through an emotional video it makes the basic assertion that just because it is online does not mean that the effects of cyberbullying are not real. And, in fact, the national crime prevention community is now doing all that they can to help curb this growing problem.
To me there is really only one thing that seems consistent throughout the differing commercials that are warning today's youth of the perils the Internet can end one up in, and that is that the Internet and all the things involved in the Internet exist in the real world as well. To clarify, it means that whatever things you claim, post, or otherwise make apparent through the Internet somehow are able, and usually are, completely valid in the world that exists once you log off the Internet. The things you do and say online are in effect the same as the things you do and say in the real world. However, this does not seem to be translating to younger people. They send pictures, post pictures, say things, harass people, and invent entire identities online that they feel are somehow protected or unconnected to their "offline life."
This seems to be a dangerous path that kids today are following because they don't acknowledge or give concern to their actions online and thus are confused by consequences that arise from them. The Internet is not a violence catalyst in the most broad sense, however it is an insidious catalyst that is allowing for less then nice people to exact chaos on the rest of the world. It will be important for, I think, regulation to exist in order to quell the current confrontations that seem to be only growing.