CEO cyberbully victim seeks an end to his harassment

Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke – Benjamin Disraeli

High school apologizes 2 years after student committed suicide due to bullying

Suicide doesn’t end the pain, it just passes it on someone else

The school principal of a city-run junior high school and an official of the Aomori city board of education in Japan apologized in person on Aug. 2 to the father of a bullied 13-year-old student, who committed suicide two years ago.

Namioka Junior High School apologized for Rima Kasai’s death in 2016, after the final report by the city’s bullying prevention council concluded that Kasai’s suicide was brought about by the bullying she experienced from her classmates, reported Asahi Shimbun last Friday, Aug. 3. The apology was made not long after the council forwarded the report to the board.

The final report discovered that Kasai was bullied by her classmates in person. About 20 incidents cited in the report were identified as acts of bullying.

Kasai was also cyberbullied. The final report stated that Kasai was a victim of abusive language directed to her on Twitter, which includes “groundless rumors” about her on the Line messaging app, the report said.

Moreover, the council’s final report also held the high school liable for what happened. It stated that the school “relied on teachers’ individual abilities” in dealing with Kasai’s bullying, and that set of circumstances “reached its limits as no organized action was taken.”

The council’s final report cited that Kasai suffered psychologically from the bullying she experienced. Aside from the mental stress she was experiencing, she also developed depression, which lead up to her taking her own life two years ago.

“The report is filled with my daughter’s wish to eradicate bullying,” said Rima’s father, Go, to the paper. “I am grateful (to the council).” He also noted that bullying is fueled by “excessive academic competition at schools” and that this practice has to change.

Kasai took her life in August 2016 by jumping into a train’s path from a station platform. She left a note on her phone saying she can no longer put up with the bullying.

First Lady Melania Trump Addresses Cyberbullying At Summit

Stand Up & Speak Out

“Social media is an inevitable part of children’s daily lives,” said Trump. “It can be used in many positive ways, but can also be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly.”

The First Lady’s office was asked about Mrs. Trump’s message alongside her husband’s use of platforms such as Twitter. A spokesman said the First Lady will continue to do “what she feels is right.”

The spokesman added that the president is proud of his wife’s commitment to “children and encourages her in all that she does.”

Meantime, President Trump had strong words on Twitter on Monday for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Russian Investigation.

“Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller and his whole group of Angry Democrat Thugs spent over 30 hours with the White House Councel (sic), only with my approval, for purposes of transparency. Anybody needing that much time when they know there is no Russian Collusion is just someone… looking for trouble,” the president tweeted.

Trump’s remarks followed a New York Times report of White House counsel Don McGahn’s cooperation with the Mueller probe.

Gavin Duffy targets cyber bullying as campaign begins to gather pace

 I think the pressure should be on social platforms so they don’t allow people to prey on our children,” he said.

Presidential hopeful Gavin Duffy has said that, if elected, he would tackle cyberbullying — but added that the Irish people are not electing someone with powers like the US president.

A number of presidential hopefuls made their appeals to councillors in Meath, Kildare, and Westmeath yesterday.

A candidate needs the support of four local authorities or 20 Oireachtas members to run — President Michael D Higgins can nominate himself to seek a second term.

Mr Duffy told Meath County Council that he would take on the issue of online harassment and bullying.

The Dragons’ Den star explained that his term would be based on five pillars: Youth, age and caring for older people, diversity and inclusion, respect, and working together.

Mr Duffy said he wants to tackle the problem of cyber-bullying, but conceded that he did not have a “magic wand”.

He said the Irish people are not electing someone with powers, such as Vladamir Putin or Donald Trump.

Mr Duffy revealed later in the day, at Kildare County Council, that he had remortgaged his home to finance his campaign.

Senator Joan Freeman, who founded Pieta House, said she would use part of the presidential salary, if elected, to create a system similar to Britain’s OBE scheme.

This would help mark the work of volunteers, she said.

Ms Freeman said she would need people in general to help fund her campaign.

Meanwhile, Sean Gallagher, who contested the presidential election seven years ago, could reveal his intentions this week when an order is moved for the race. The businessman, who came second to Mr Higgins in 2011, is thought to have the support of councils including Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim, and Donegal.

The Government is expected to officially move the order for the presidential election this week, possibly as early as today.

The election writ must be signed by Housing Minister Housing Eoghan Murphy before nominations can be lodged.

Once the writ is moved, nominations can be opened after two days. The nomination period lasts for 28 days.

It is expected the election itself will either being held on Thursday, October 25, or Friday, October 26.

The winner will be inaugurated at a ceremony on November 11.

Cyberbullying and School Disaster Prevention Startup Bark Raises $9M in Funding

Atlanta-based child monitoring startup Bark has closed a $9 million Series A funding round led by Signal Peak Ventures, with participation from Two Sigma Ventures and existing investors including Symmetrical Ventures, Fuel Capital, Hallett Capital and Atlanta Seed Company.

Bark’s platform uses machine learning to analyze text messages, social media posts and emails sent by children across 25 platforms, and identify potentially concerning safety issues to alert parents. Bark differentiates itself from other cyber-safety platforms because it only alerts parents when it identifies a potential issue, thus minimizing invasiveness and preserving the child’s privacy.

In its three years of existence, Bark says it has protected over 2 million children across the U.S. by analyzing over 1 billion messages; and claims to have helped identify and thwart 33 potential suicides and 12 school shooting or bomb threats.

“As children’s usage of technology continues to increase, there is clearly an incredible need for Bark’s solution, and we believe Bark is uniquely positioned to build a great company in an exciting category,” said Signal Peak Ventures’ Managing Director Brandon Tidwell in a statement.

Available on a subscription basis to individual families, Bark also recently expanded its no-cost school program in the wake of increasing country-wide concerns over gun safety and mental health issues.

Bark for Schools is offered — for free — to any school that uses Google G Suite for Education or Microsoft Office 365 Education. The platform integrates into the school’s existing technology offerings and alerts school administrators to issues within students’ emails, chat messages, online documents and more.

Those issues can include anything from cyberbullying and internet predators to individual depression, suicidal thoughts or sexting.

“Bark for Schools is the real deal. We didn’t have any sort of content scanning before getting Bark. Within a few days, Bark found multiple issues that would have otherwise gone unnoticed,” said Thad Schulz, Technology Coordinator at Sebeka Public School in Minnesota, in a statement.

“When an issue arose that could have been life-threatening for one of our students, a Bark team member called our school to help us take action,” Schulz said.

Bark was founded in 2015 by Brian Bason, a veteran of the social media space as former CTO of Niche (acquired by Twitter) and CEO of CrowdStream.

“Having worked in the social space for a long time, I was definitely cognizant of the high level of risks online for children. Technology is amazing, but it also opens up the doors for new risks,” Bason told Hypepotamus in an interview last year.

The startup went through the Techstars Atlanta accelerator in 2016 and raised about $2.5 million prior to this funding round.

Bark will use this round of funding to broaden its product offering and establish a presence in new markets.

“We’re constantly iterating on both Bark for Parents and Bark for Schools. With Bark for Schools, we just launched support for schools using Microsoft Office 365, and we’ll continue to look for ways to support parents and schools to keep even more kids safe,” says Bason.

The startup currently employs almost 30 and recently expanded to a larger office in Atlanta.