Learning machines scour Twitter in service of bullying research (Aug. 1, 2012) Aug. 1, 2012 Hundreds of millions of daily posts on the social networking service Twitter are providing a new window into bullying — a tough nut to crack for researchers. “Kids are pretty savvy about keeping bullying outside of adult supervision, and bullying victims are very reluctant to tell adults about it happening to them for a host of reasons,” says Amy Bellmore, a UW–Madison educational psychology professor.
“They don’t want to look like a tattletale, or they think an adult might not do anything about it.” Yet typical bullying research methods rely on the kids — victims and bullies alike — to describe their experiences in self-reporting surveys. “For a standard study we may get access to students from one grade in one school,” Bellmore says. Big data as a tool for detecting (and punishing?) bullies — Cloud Computing News.
Facebook to hand over IP addresses of cyber-bullies. In mid-May, UK resident Nicola Brookes began a legal campaign to reveal the identity — or identities — of the “Internet trolls,” who were bullying her on Facebook and elsewhere online.
She has now won a court order to compel Facebook to provide the IP addresses of those responsible. It began in November 2011, when Brookes posted a message of support on a UK talent show’s Facebook page, where a contestant was receiving unpleasant messages at the time, resulting in those already trolling turning their attention on her. The trolling turned to bullying, with Brookes’ home address being published, her daughter being targeted online, and a fake Facebook profile being set up which insinuated she was a pedophile.
After being frustrated by the local police’s inaction, she turned to the law firm Bains Cohen, and this week has been granted a High Court order for Facebook to provide the IP addresses of those responsible for the abuse and the fake profile. The trolls of the internet: A guide.