Teachers call for YouTube closure

Route of all evil - supposedly

2 August 2007 11:49 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Teachers have called for social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace to be closed because they believe they cause cyberbulling.

In a move that would see Google forgoing the $1.6 billion it spent on the video sharing website, teachers across the UK are saying the only way to stop online bullies is to shut the websites down.

The Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) said that the sites are being used to target staff and pupils and it's just not fair.

The already lost cause was put forward and backed by hundreds of delegates attending the association’s annual conference in Harrogate this week.

Behind the suggestion is Kirsti Paterson, of PAT’s Highland and Western Isles Federation, she said, "Without the ban nowhere will be safe from cyberbullying. It can carry on 24/7 through mobile phones and in multiple forms online".

"In the short term, confronting this problem must be the closure of sites encouraging cyberbullying."

The motion has also asked for a complete ban in accessing the websites in schools.

According to the PAT, "many pupils would not be aware that, by posting their videos online, they may be advertising their actions for millions to see, and that they may not realise the videos could be accessed by strangers on the internet".

A spokesman for the website YouTube said: "YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways".

"It's also used by organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to reach people on a range of important issues."

"Sadly as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules."

Full tags

Software, Websites, Online, YouTube