There seems to be an increasing trend, in U.S. politics at least, of pushing “cyber” bills at both state and federal levels. The odd thing is that, when the bills are not dangerously infringing upon civil liberties, they’re ultimately redundant.

Take “cyberbullying” for example. This term has been a big hit with the media. Students have been harassing other students for as long as there have been schools, and we already have laws that amply cover the issue. Harassment is already illegal. As are assault and battery. Slanderous and libelous statements, whether they are online or offline, can also be dealt with using the existing legal tools.

But if you add the magic wild west of the internet into the equation, apparently there’s a need for more draconian laws. Criminalize speech that can be (subjectively, of course) defined as offensive, give schools the power to reach beyond their authority and into the personal lives of citizens when they are outside of school walls, et cetera. That totally makes sense. Why not just let people deal with their problems using the laws that already adequately cover the issue?

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