An ambassador for ‘Get Safe Online’ — a United Kingdom-based cybersecurity awareness portal — is urging Jamaican students to temper their online postings, warning that their digital footprint will never be erased and could harm their future depending on their activities.

Roxanne Anderson, who is also an employee of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica, speaking at the first in a series of anti-bullying workshops held by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) at Medallion Hall Hotel in St Andrew on Thursday, said material posted online is fodder for bullies who stalk the Internet looking for victims.

“The things we post as we navigate our online space can be far-reaching. The things we post online are there forever and that’s what a lot of people do not remember. Even if you are a bully or the person being bullied, anything you post online is forever, even if you get someone to take it down for you,” she told the gathering, which included students and teachers, as well as teachers in training.

Driving home the point, Anderson said, “If you ask all your friends to remove it, if you have gone to all the entities that can take things down, that’s not how the Internet works; it is actually [still] online and saved online, anywhere it is opened in the world that is where it is stored. So, try as best as possible to think before you act, look at the things around you and make the decision based on that”.

“Sadly, many people do not understand the implications of the things they post and how that can come back to haunt them in the future because their online actions do have offline consequences,” she noted further.

Anderson, in the meantime, said students should protect their personal information while online to avoid being attacked by predators who will bully them and even extort them. She also advised them to be aware of their backgrounds when they take and post photos and make videos, noting that information can be gleaned from their backgrounds by people with criminal intent.

“Just the same way you protect your physical identity, that’s the same way you should strive to protect your digital identity. The things you post, the things you say, the things you share online that help to create your digital identity or your digital footprint,” Anderson told participants.

Detective Corporal Samantha Ewan of the police force’s Communication Forensics and Cybercrime Division, meanwhile, reminded students that there is a “dark side to the Internet” with cyber bullying being among the ills.

“With the growth of the digital age comes cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is wilful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cellphones and other electronic devices,” Ewan stated, while pointing out that bullying has grown from just being in schools or in person.

In noting that Jamaica currently has no specific law to address cyber bullying, the corporal called for schools to “establish clear policies regarding cyber bullying not only at school but in all contexts where it occurs”.

She said the policies need to define cyber bullying and appropriate cyber conduct. She, at the same time, said despite the absence of specific legislation to address cyber bullying, the 2015 Cybercrimes Act has introduced a new offence — Malicious Communication using a computer, which “may address some aspects of cyber bullying”.

“This Act provides criminal sanctions for the misuse of computer systems or data and the abuse of electronic means of completing transactions and facilitates the investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes. We have had many convictions in the courts for malicious communication,” she said, referencing a 2018 case in which a man was convicted for sending obscene photographs and WhatsApp messages to a woman.

According to the National Crime Prevention Council in Washington, DC, 43 per cent of teens are exposed to cyber bullying in one form or another, yet only one in 10 have told their parents.

The workshops are part of the CPFSA’s response to the issue of bullying in schools. According to the CPFSA, the sessions are aimed at strengthening the capacity of stakeholders to alleviate the negative effects of bullying on the nation’s children.

Six out of 10 Jamaican children have been bullied at some stage in their lives while nine out of 10 have seen someone being bullied, the workshop was told.