Software to help tackle bullying to be piloted

Software developed by anti-bullying experts and an Irish technology firm that could screen and block access to harmful internet material on phones is to be piloted in Germany.

Stephen Minton, a lecturer in the psychology of education at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), has helped Techbridge Consultants and Vodafone to develop the technology.

It extends aspects of existing project Safety Net, which operates on millions of phones to time manage access to texts and block numbers.

The software will shortly be tested in Germany. Dr Minton said: “It’s a very advanced version of a call filter application. Children are only allowed access to pre-approved sites.”

Dr Minton, formerly of the Anti-Bullying Centre at TCD, also said litigation was long overdue for cyberbullying offences.

The death of Donegal teenager Erin Gallagher, who took her own life, is the latest high-profile case of cyberbullying and Dr Minton said new laws were needed, citing legislation that has been in operation in Britain for almost 10 years as an example of what could be done.

“We are at the point where we need litigation,” he said. “That is my firm belief.” He said new laws could apply to all types of bullying, but with the anonymity granted by cyberbullying, there was a need to extend laws that are infrequently used.

One law dating from the 1950s covering tele- communications covers text messages and Dr Minton said he was aware of a number of young people who had been cautioned by gardaí because of bullying text messages they had sent.

He said community gardaí had been given guidelines as to the use of this law and said: “You could see how that could be extended to internet use.”

A report launched last Friday by the office of the Ombudsman for Children also made a number of recommendations.

Young people who were consulted for the report suggested school websites should allow for reporting of bullying, something Dr Minton said was “a very sensible suggestion”.

If the piloting of the technology application for mobile phones proves successful, it is likely to be rolled out across a number of formats, but Dr Minton said it was less about establishing a “parental monitoring system” and more about encouraging children and their parents to communicate over the use of technology such as smart phones.