Cyberbullies in cross hairs

TAYLORSVILLE — Cyberspace has become a playground for bullies and predators who in our totally wired world can wreak havoc at the speed of light, then disappear without a trace.

"They do it all in a room, alone in front of computer, unlike the real-world school bullies who at least are known, seen and see for themselves the hurt they're causing," Linda Criddle, a former Microsoft technology safety specialist, said Saturday at the state's first cyberbully conference, held at Taylorsville High School.

Criddle, a self-described "card-carrying geek — I already have stuff that is cooler than anything you'll ever have" — has made it her life's work to flush the harm-mongers from the Web and train kids, parents, teachers and businesses how to survive being tagged by a cyberbully.

Schoolyard and playground bullies will be around forever, but the virtual versions are worse to the 10th power than the kid who picks fights or preys on weaker classmates for lunch money or homework assignments.

For one thing, more often than not, cyberbullies are girls hurting another girl. It's almost becoming common for such information as descriptions, addresses and daily activities to be sent to known sexual predators in the hope that the girl the bully has decided needs to be taught a lesson will literally be raped. Adults are targeted as well, but the truly criminally devious Internet bullies are between 15 and 24 years old, she said.

Assistant Utah Attorney General Kirk Torgensen has been both prosecutor and victim and has said publicly and often that he wishes all police officers could become a victim once.

"Because until you go through this kind of extreme harassment, you really don't understand how quick and how extensive the damage can be," Torgensen said after speaking at the conference.

Torgensen said he has been cyberstalked by a student who was in one of the classes he teaches at the University of Utah. He has been accused of rape, of making a sex tape and "things so vile I hate to even bring them up."

He has a top office in "the system, and I am disappointed in the system that would say my only option is to just take it despite a protective order that has been violated 24 times. I'm a public figure, so I understand that I have to tolerate a down side of what comes with the territory."

The problem, he said, is things get put out there (on the Web) and they stay forever. "They just never go away, they just multiply."