I don't think so. To some extent, I see it as all about how you handle yourself to pressure. It's like being bullied at school or whatever. You need to deal with the situation swiftly and not let anybody walk all over you. If not, then the situation can escalate and disastrous results may occur.

Hmm, there's a lot of ways to prevent cyber bullying. I'll list a few and share what I think of it.
1. If you are on a social network (e.g, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or whatever), most should have the option to 'block' someone. If not, just ignore them and delete the messages without reading them.
2. If it's bullying via e-mail, most should allow you to block the person messaging you.
3. If it's bullying via phone, you should be able to block them as well. 
4. Don't use the internet for social reasons. 
5. Keep your accounts private to yourself or people whom you allow to view your profile (Family, Trusted friends, contacts).
6. Ignore it. 
7. Some chats allow you to 'mute' other people so that even if they say something, you won't be able to see it. 

What I think about cyber-bullying is that there are many ways to prevent it, but it should be a criminal offense (on certain grounds). People have been depressed and went all emo and stuff, thinking that the world was against them and that they can't do anything about it. Numerous cases have been reported about people committing suicide because of cyber-bullying and real-life bullying. Here's the thing; not everyone is alike. Some people are more sensitive and their feelings are hurt more. Others get used to taking crap and hold grudges quietly, stalking their predator and taking matters into their own hands. This usually leads to killing the bullies which has also happened before. Bullying is hard to get rid of; but it can be stopped. Some people ignore bullying altogether; but it's the more sensitive people who are having the worst results. Cyber-bullying can be done with numerous people; all ganging up and targeting one person. It is a group of united bullies; all against not-united individuals. Cyber-bullying has to be put to an end; not because it's annoying, but because matters can be manipulated into one's own hands do do something about the problem. 

Now, below are some reports I have read about bullying and cyber-bullying. I'm not sure if the second one is real, but the first one is.

A student in middle-school who loved to play violent video-games was being cyber-bullied by people he knew in real life, and one day decided that he had enough. He didn't tell anyone about the problem and took matters into his own hands. He took his father's pistol and killed three people (who were the bullies.) When they were questioning him, they asked him 'How could you kill so easily?' He replied, 'I do it everyday.' That guy had been so engulfed by the virtual game world, that the fear of taking a life was no more. This was real. 

A student in high-school around sixteen years old was being bullied and he told the principal about this. The principal lied and said he talked with the bullies and their parents, but the bullying went on. The student talked with his parents and they spoke with the bullies; but it still went on. He told the teacher, and the teacher gave the bullies a month of detention or some sort of punishment, but it went on. He told the principal again; only the bullying just went on. And he was enraged. So what he did is, he takes his dad's hunting shotgun and shows up on the bus. He approaches the bullies and shoots them all in the heart; making the bullies scream and cry and grovel for their life before he killed each of them. Then later, he guns down the principal. He knew the principal was lying. I'm not sure if this was real but it seems legit.

Bullying is bullying even if it is in person or over the internet.. Should there be a punishment for it? Yes there should be some type of punishment maybe like a fine but not jail or anything too serious. 

No I do not think that cyber bullying should be a criminal offense for a few reasons.
First, If cyber bullying were made a criminal offense then most websites wouldn't exist.  And it would go against the Constitution stated freedom of speech.
Second, the worst a person can do to you online is call you names and embarrass you.  If you can't handle that then you should never leave you house.
Third, it would be a waste of time.  No one really cares.  Sure bullying is bad, but it will never change unless you change it yourself.  You shouldn't care what people think of you.  Just be yourself because the only reason they bully you is because they are jealous that they can't be confident in themselves the way you are.

I agree with legacyme3 and JigSaw, if it's online, there are so many ways to just block or ignore the person. Unfortunately, and I've even been guilty of this, you get in the defensive mode and end up just arguing with the person but all you really have to do is ignore the person. As for in person, that's another story. I also think it depends on the severity like others have mentioned. If it comes to threatening someone's life, harassing them and stuff like that, then yes they should be held accountable. But not every cyber bullying situation would need a strong punishment like that. It really depends on the case.

I agree with the many others before me who say that cyberbullying is not a crime. Yes, it is undeniably immoral, but unless the content of the bully's posts (or texts or whatever) is criminal, it should not be seen as a crime. By that i mean that only messages that threaten a victim's life or hint at some form of criminal intent should be treated as against the law. That does not mean that cyberbullying should be ignored unless it is criminal. On the contrary, every effort that can be made to prevent bullying should be made. It is just that i do not believe it to be necessary to involve the courts and upset the whole rabbit hole just because one kid is being stupid. There is also the fact that it is entirely the victim's choice to listen or not. Just thought i should throw that out there as a parting thought.

I guess but i really wouldn't know about cyberbullying that much because we don't talk about it really. It should be put in somebody hands. I do think somebody should do something about it though.

Yes there should be some type of consequence for committing the act, however it is harder to enforce over the internet as compared to theft.   You would have to base the degree of bullying on the certain person, and so and so forth.   The problem now is the bulk of people committing this act are under the age of being arrested or tried in court.   So who do you punish? obviously the parents for not doing something about the issue but the child is still able to go out and do it.   It is just the method of punishment you have to devise to enforce any policy against online bullying that is the big issue on the topic, and banning their IP is just not going to cut it.

Why should it be outlawed?  According to the Bill of Rights, you are entitled to your opinion of people no matter how harsh it may seem.  Also, people that kill themselves over it are stupid.  Every on the planet has been bullied before.  It will not change.  You have to learn how to man up and learn how to have confidence in yourself.  Without confidence, you are just waiting to be attacked.

I don't think it should be a crime, that's going a bit far.
Any person has the ability to stop said bullying with just a few simple clicks in most circumstances.
The harsher side of things, threats on lives and stuff already has laws in place.

Well, considering the amount of suicides about it, I think it should. Though, someone could just hack someone Else's account, and then someone would be wrongly accused. Also, people have the ability to just not go on the site, so it is easily avoided.

No cyber bulling should not be a criminal offense because  your typing/using verbal words your not causing any real physical harm to anyone, and if your really getting hurt what someone is verbally saying to you, you in my opinion need to grow up and realized they are just immature and what they are saying doesn't matter.

I don't see how cyberbullying is that big of a deal- unless it gets to the point where the "victim" is being stalked and harassed. 
And if it was a criminal offense; thousands of people would be crying wolf for being called a name or being told that they're "stupid" or something else petty like that. It would be ridiculous and, in my opinion, out of control. Plus, there's something called a block button for a reason. There's way too many people who refuse to use it. 

Or, just delete your account and move on. I  was "cyberbullied" a few years ago and I just ended up leaving the site and it ended. I realize what happened to me was so low-scale that it's on a different spectrum but some people are so melodramatic; they think that they're hopeless, lost and that all they can do is pull the victim card when in reality they just need to walk away from the website. 

Yes it should be as should normal bullying because it can do serious harm to some of the victims. Also in modern society young people feel a need to be online and on social networking sites to keep them intouch with what is happening, this gives the bullies 24/7 access to their victims.

Why don't the victims just block their bullies?
Well that is simple if they block them online things will get a lot worse for them at the school/ work place as the bullies feel that their autority is been threterned and they need to regain it.

Why don't the victims just stay offline?
Well most victims need a form of escape and the best place to escape from reality is the internet and social networks as they can live two lives, one in reality and one in the internet. So in short the victims relief is also their bullies hunting ground.

I honestly have a problem with making the activity as a crime due to "Freedom of Speech".

I am also of the notion that nearly all discussion boards can be age related and regulated.

Take for example registering for this site requires your birth date and no other major personal Info.

The site does this for regulating games but that same device can be used for other applications. I think allot of discussion boards (around the world) can implement this same tool to solve allot of issues.

As far as controlling another's speech?
I can not condone it.

Such a practice would harken back to the older times in history when Nursery Rhymes were invented for Common people to talk about the Powerful people. Due to a need to keep ones head attached by penalty of the law. (At the time.)

I do not suggest a giant leap backward to older times with the legal system as a solution to anything.
I do think that the amount of time a person under the age of 18 spends on-line during School nights should be regulated.
We built Library's for study and there are already hundreds of thousands of books left untouched for the past ten years.

I say limit the internet usage due to G.P.A. and Age.
I am a firm believer in unplugging the youth from the internet and getting them to exercise a little more.
Get them more used to reality instead of the internet.

Just a thought.

Good Luck To All.
I'm done. Stick a fork in me.
Peace.