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SYDNEY: An Australian state has banned the popular internet film-sharing website YouTube from school computers in a bid to clamp down on cyber-bullying.
The move follows public outrage after a group of schoolboys filmed themselves sexually abusing and degrading a teenage girl and uploaded the video onto YouTube.
The horrific film showed a group of 12 youths surrounding the 17-year-old girl, who has a mild mental disability, bullying her to perform sex acts, urinating on her and setting her hair alight.
The education minister in southern Victoria state, where the attack took place, said Thursday the state's 1,600 public schools would block access to YouTube.
"The (state) government has never tolerated bullying in schools and this zero tolerance approach extends to the online world," said Jacinta Allan.
"All students have the right to learn in a safe and supportive learning environment -- this includes making students' experience of the virtual world of learning as safe and productive as possible," she said.
The director of Australia's High Tech Crime Centre, Kevin Zuccato, said at the time of the attack on the girl late last year that it was a disturbing example of cyber-bullying.
"Cyber-bullying between children online is on the rise," he said. "Social networking sites are also putting children at risk." - AFP/st
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