There is a new, hurtful trend becoming popular with students - cyber-bullying. From high school boys in Chappaqua, NY, posting messages on a web site about the sexual escapades of their female classmates, to a Dallas teen saying abhorrent things about a fellow classmate with multiple sclerosis on a message board, the craze is catching on.

What are school officials supposed to do when offensive, sexual comments are posted about students, by students on Internet message boards? In Chappaqua, school superintendent Donald Parker called the police. After a thorough investigation, Westchester District Attorney Jeanne Piro concluded that while the site, which listed girls' sexual secrets, was offensive, no action could be taken against the students because the legal definition of harassment was not met.

According to Salon.com, ?Courts have upheld students' rights to publish all sorts of offensive content on home computers -- including a site that showed school administrators in simulated sex acts {and} one that showed a teacher morphing into Hitler.?

This chilling new spin on public humiliation among peers has caused some school officials to panic. While defending his decision to call the police, Parker claimed, ?It?s just not appropriate to put information about people on a Website. We all realize that, since Columbine, things have changed? (Salon.com). Should threats of violence be linked to raunchy dating tips? While some argue that one has nothing to do with the other, there have been cases where Internet taunting has turned violent.

On May 29, 2001, a thread that began "Lauren is a fat cow MOO BITCH," was posted on a message board that Lake Highlands students frequented. Lake Highlands sophomore, Lauren Newby, was made fun of both for her weight and her bout with multiple sclerosis. Perhaps as a result of such posts, Newby?s car was egged over the next few days, and her mother suffered minor burns when a bottle filled with acid was thrown at her front door.

If we are all using computers in a democracy, when does our right to freedom of speech begin to be abused? Do you think off-campus speech, such as web postings, should be censored? Is posting offensive, but non-violent messages on the Internet essentially the same thing as picking on a classmate in school?

Carolyn Lastowski, Editor