Free Speech in the Age of Cyberbullying As we live in the age of technology, we see our youth being victims of a new bullying phenomenon, called cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is defined as the use of information and communications technologies such as email, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal websites, and defamatory online personal survey websites, to support deliberately repeated behavior and hostile by an individual or group, which is intended to harm others. Cyberbullying can also employ media such as PDAs, blogs, and social networks (Beckstrom, 2008). This form of bullying is progressive because it can occur instantly due to the technology involved, whereas traditional bullying tends to take longer to evolve and occurs over a long period of time. Since the Ryan Halligan case in 2003, a series of cyberbullying-related suicides have occurred, prompting states and school districts to respond by imposing policies to discourage and essentially criminalize cyberbullying that occurs on and off campuses. The question at hand is whether state legislatures and school districts that adopt laws and policies regarding student speech in terms of off-campus cyber speech are interfering with students' free speech rights. Three Supreme Court cases have been cited in recent cyberbullying cases, in the context of student speech and school district authority; Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), Bethel v. Fraser (1986), Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988). Before technological advances that improve our personal communication, there were three landmark Supreme Court cases governing student and school speech ...... middle of paper ...... g fact sheet: a brief review relevant legal and political issues. Retrieved from www.cyberbullying.us5. Newcomb, A. (2013, October 15). The teenager accused in the fatal Rebeccasedwick cyberbullying case will remain in prison. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-charged-fatal-cyberbullying-case-rebecca-sedwick-remain/story?id=205806896. NG, C. (2012, May 1). Georgia teen sues classmates for cyberbullying. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-teen-alex-boston-sues-cyberbullying-classmates/story?id=162515867. Teicher Khadroo, S. (2010, April 1). Phoebe Prince's case represents a watershed in the fight against school bullying. The Christian Science Monitor, 1-2.8. Willard, M.S., J.D., N. (2007, March). Cyberbullying legislation and school policies: where are the boundaries of the “school gate” in the new virtual world? Retrieved from http://cyberbully.org