Banning YouTube won't prevent cyber-bullying

The Australian state of Victoria has banned YouTube from government schools in an attempt to prevent cyber-bullying, after footage of an assault on a 17-year-old girl in Melbourne ended up on the video-sharing website.

Which seems to miss the point rather effectively. YouTube will, of course, continue to exist, as will bullies, and they’ll still be able to bully people, film the bullying and post the footage on the web. They just won’t be able to do it within the walls of government schools.

Understandably, schools want to protect young people, but banning certain websites within certain buildings is unlikely to help. Nor will blaming technology for the uses people put it to.

Yes, some bullies use the web to make their victims’ lives a misery, but the playground has long provided a similar arena. Banning playgrounds would be no more or less daft than banning YouTube.