• 99 per cent of Canadian students have used the Internet 1

• 48 per cent of Canadian students use it for a least an hour a day 1

• nearly 60 per cent of Canadian students use chat rooms and instant messaging 1

• Canadians have the highest or near-highest in the world in penetration and use of the telephone, cable, TV, computers in the home, and Internet access, especially high-speed Internet access. 1

• "By the year 2005, two billion people will be continuously connected to a powerful global network of satellites and fiber optic cables." (-Innovation Nation, page x.).

• This is the "Always On" generation (*74% of connected young people use instant messaging several times a week. -Pew Report ).

• 1.2 billion instant messages were sent over the AOL network alone on September 11th, 2001 (*AOL President of advanced services, Ted Leonis.)

• By 2005 the annual number of text and visual messages sent over the Internet is expected to reach 1.2 trillion.

• In 2002, cell phone users passed the one billion user mark, this is the fastest 10 year penetration of any product in commercial history.

• China alone is adding five million new cell phone users per month.

• By 2005, most cell phones will come standard with Internet access and a variety of Internet service options.

• A 2002 British survey found that one in four youth, aged 11 to 19 has been threatened via their computers or cell phones, including death threats. NCH -National Children's Home (UK)

Related Articles, News and Research (Sorted according to date, most recent at the top Some links may be broken):

• CBC Radio Sunday Edition Interview: School Responsibilities vs. Students' Rights (mp3 audio file)-Between the CBC's Michael Enright and Martha McKinnon, lawyer and Executive Director of Justice for Children and Youth, along with Eric Rower, a lawyer and partner at Borden Ladner Gervais, a firm that often advises schools and school board on legal issues.
• Taking on the Cyberbullies -by Moira MacDonald, Toronto Sun, July 16, 2008
  
  
• Cyberbullying: An Interview with CBC Radio Search Engine hosted by Jesse Brown (audio - .mp3)
  
  
• Beyond the Schoolyard: Bullies take their intimidation to digital media -Athens Messenger November 26, 2007
  
  
• Teachers rule out cyberbullying -The Globe and Mail, July 8, 2007
  

• Vodafone & Netsafe Partner To Fight Text Bullying -June 24, 2004 Scoop Media, New Zealand

• NZ Schools Worried About "Text Bullying" -New Zealand Catholic News -June 2, 2004

• Stalked by a Cyberbully -Cellphones and the Net are kids' social lifelines, they can also be their social death by Michael Snider with Kathryn Borel, Maclean's Magazine, May 24, 2004

• U.S. Congress Works to Restrict Camera Phones -May 13, 2004, BBC

• Rise of the Cyberbully Demands New Rules -by Mark Franek, Christian Science Monitor, May 10, 2004

• A Child's Lifeline . . or the Direct Line to Danger? by Julia Horton Scotsman.com May 5, 2004

• Queensland Schools Ban Mobile Bullying By Staff writers, ZDNet Australia, April 28, 2004

• Cyberbullies Stalking Online Playground by Candy J. Cooper, The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) Apr. 21, 2004

• Locker Room Camera-phone Bullying on Rise in Scandinavia -April 4, 2004 by Leigh Phillips, Copenhagen Post

• Will 'Moblogs' Mean Mo' Money? last modified: April 1, 2004, By Paul Festa Staff Writer, CNET News.com. One downside of these new camera phones is the privacy invasion they can represent (with schools and sports clubs worldwide developing anti-picture-phone policies to protect kids).

• Pupils Face Camera Phone Ban -Mobile camera phones are being banned at all secondary and primary schools in the West Lothian area.-BBC News Tuesday, 2 March, 2004

• Bullied by the Click of a Mouse From The Globe and Mail, front page, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004

• Children to be Shielded from Abuse Via Mobiles -3G phone firms plan safeguards on pornography and gambling.David Batty, and Justin McCurry in Tokyo. Monday January 12, 2004, The Guardian

• Internet Bullying With the click of a key, bullies are humiliating their peers. What are schools doing to tame this behavior? by Amanda Paulson of The Christian Science Monitor, December 30, 2003

• A Call to Curb Cellphones in Class by Cathryn J. Prince | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor December 2, 2003

• Cellphone Cameras Ring Warning Bells -Christian Science Montor, November 07, 2003

• Text Blocking Aid Fights Bullies -By Jo Twist BBC News Online October 1st, 2003

• MSN Shuts Down its Chatrooms -Microsoft's internet service MSN is to cut back drastically its chatroom services because of concerns about child safety, it said. -BBC, Wednesday, 24 September, 2003

• Five-year-olds Given Mobiles -BBC August 11, 2004 Hundreds of thousands of young children are being given mobile phones by their parents - against official health advice.

• Parents file lawsuit over Star Wars video: Humiliation forced Quebec teenager to drop out of school, document says Globe and Mail, July 23, 2003

• Camera Phones Incite Bad Behavior -Associated Press July 9, 2003

• Young 'Prefer Texting to Calls' -Text messages have superseded phone calls as the most common use for a mobile phone among young people, a new survey reveals. BBC News World Edition, June 13, 2002

• Nokia Observation: Camera Phone or CCTV? By Tony Smith of The Register,: June 12, 2003

• Americans Love Texting (true) -American mobile phone users are beginning to take to SMS, but IM may be the future for wireless messaging in the US. -by electricnews.net Posted: May 30, /2003 at 13:06 GMT

• Cyberbullies Target Girl -Bullies targeting a 15-year-old schoolgirl set up a website devoted to their victim. -BBC May 24, 2003

• She's Gotta Have It: Cell Phone -Being part of the "in" crowd for teens used to mean hanging out where the cool kids were -- the mall, the house party, the rave. Now all they have to do is be within cell-phone range. -by Elisa Batista, Wired News, May 16, 2003

• Mobile Phones Seen as 'Essential' -The ties that bind us to family and friends are increasingly being tightened and tested with the help of a handset. -BBC May 12, 2003

• Texting Insults at Primary School -By Sean Coughlan BBC News Online education staff, April 7, 2003

• E-mail Bullying On the Rise -One in six workers in the UK has been bullied via e-mail, according to a new study. -BBC News March 31, 2003

• When Bullying Reaches Into Cyberspace by Sarah Crosbie, Kingston Whig Standard, March 29, 2003

• Mobiles to Monitor Children -BBC, March 23, 2003

• Experts Debate Text Bullying -BBC News, March 18, 2003

• Talk to Your Kids About Cell Phone Use By Larry Magid, March 13, 2003 (PCAnswer.com)

• Children, Mobile Phones and the Internet Experts' Meeting in Japan -March 6-7th, 2003

• Bullies are Now Using Text Technology to Harrass Their Victims - get the facts and advice from GMTV (United Kingdom) November 2002

• Cyberbullying: The Internet is the latest weapon in a bully's arsenal -Reporter: Joan Leishman, Producers: Lani Selick, Alison Hancock, Editor: Ilona Crabbe, Oct. 10, 2002 -CBC Television, 'The National"

• Youngsters Targeted by Digital Bullies -by BBC News, April 15, 2002

• Attacked by Text Message -BBC NEWS, April 15, 2002

• Cyber slammed. Kids are getting arrested for raunchy online bullying. It's definitely offensive, but is it against the law? by Amy Benfer, July 3, 2001 -Salon.com

• Kids Spread Hateful Rumors Online -By Karen Peterson USA Today April 30, 2001

• Bullies Use Mobile Phone Threats -BBC News, March 9, 2000

• Girl Tormented by Phone Bullies -BBC News, Tuesday, 16 January, 2001

• Defame Game Serious in Canada -a legal decision re. An e-mailer who was alleged to have defamed George Irwin, the president of Irwin Toys Ltd., Canada's largest toy manufacturer. Wired, September 2000

• "Escaping or Connecting?: Characteristics of Youth Who Form Close Online Relationships" by Janis Wolak, Kimberley J. Mitchell, and David Finkelhor at the University of New Hampshire, adownloadable pdf version from the Journal of Adolescence

• "Why Do Teenagers Love to Text-Message?", a 2001 study from Xerox PARC USA and Xerox Research Centre Europe, Cambridge, UK, by Rebecca E. Grinter and Margery A. Eldridge. This study shows how texting fits into teens' social lives, why they love it, and the problems they encounter with this form of communication.

• Canada's Children in a Wired World: The Parent's View-an Environics Survey -March 2002 for Industry Canada and Human Resources Development Canada -Adobe Acrobat PDF format 1

• M. Racicot et al., "The Cyberspace is Not a 'No Law Land': A Study of the Issues of Liability for Content Circulating on the Internet," Report Commissioned by Industry Council in the Summer of 1996, Submitted to the Information Highway Advisory Council in February 1997. Adobe Acrobat PDF format

• Illegal and Offensive Content: The Canadian Strategy to Promote Safe, Wise and Responsible Internet Use. 2000. (Connecting Canadians - Guide to Safe Internet Use) -Adobe Acrobat PDF format
  

• Young Canadians in a Wired World - Parents and Youth Focus Groups in Toronto and Montreal -March 2000, a realistic snapshot of how Canadian youth use the Internet versus how Canadian parents view their Internet use. The Environics Research Group conducted this survey on behalf of Media Awareness Network.*1