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‘Happy Slapping’ is a term used to describe the phenomenon of one or more persons slapping or hitting another and recording this with a camera, or video mobile phone. This may be perpetrated either by an individual or, more likely, groups, to allow the incident to be captured. It is said to have first become popular in South London, although press reports have reported a number of incidents that have spread across the United Kingdom.
Advice
Parents must protect young children from hateful content on the Internet. They must also teach older kids how to think critically about online content.
What is Happy slapping
There has been considerable debate in the media, between academics, educators, policy makers and law enforcement agencies as to the seriousness of the Happy Slapping phenomenon. It has been suggested for example that Happy Slapping is a short lived phenomena inspired by reality and stunt television programmes, the majority of incidents being harmless.This has been treated more seriously by some who have argued for greater recognition of Happy Slapping as a harmful new phenomena of growing popularity, whilst others have proposed that Happy Slapping is simply an extension of existing bullying behaviour perpetrated by a small minority.
What are the Risks
Happy Slapping is however an example of how emerging mobile technologies may introduce an extra-dimension to existing malicious behaviours offline, thus in this instance recording and posting of such incidences online by the perpetrators may cause additional suffering and humiliation to the victim by providing a permanent reminder of the incident which is potentially open to be viewed by a large pool of people all over the world.
What sorts of messages are communicated?
Happy Slapping has received extensive coverage by the media in recent months as a number of cases have resulted in serious physical assault and injury. Although the concept of filming a crime is an old one, the use of video cameras in mobile phones means that such attacks need not be planned carefully beforehand and are more easily watched and circulated afterwards.In addition assaults on persons may also be made solely for the purpose of making a recording to distribute among peers. Recordings of assaults therefore have the potential to cause further distress to the victim through distribution via mobiles and the internet.
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Sources: Cyberspace Research Unit
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