Schoolyard bullies are becoming increasingly high tech, as a growing number of students now engage in "cyber bullying" by spreading rumors through web sites or harassing students through text messages or eMail. To combat this trend, anti-bullying programs across North America are adding information about cyber bullying and its effects on today's youth.

The federal government, for instance, recently added information about cyber bullying to the $3.2 million "Stop Bullying Now!" campaign that it launched last year. The Beaverton, Ore., school system is revising its health curriculum, and cyber bullying is among the topics that officials there might include. Cyber bullying also has been added as a topic in many internet safety courses, such as the free lessons from i-SAFE America Inc.

Such efforts come at a time when cyber bullying is on the rise, experts say.

In the last month alone, a Portage, Ind., high school student was accused of threatening the life of another student over the internet--and in San Francisco, an unidentified student reportedly hacked into a high school web site, posted a student's face over vulgar and mocking images, then added racist captions using the victim's name.

i-SAFE America, a nonprofit internet safety foundation for K-12 students, conducted an online survey of 1,500 children in grades 4-8 last year. In that study, 42 percent of children said they were bullied while online, 35 percent said they were threatened online, and 21 percent said they received mean or threatening eMail or instant messages.

In October, Sameer Hinduja, a criminal justice professor at Florida Atlantic University, and Justin Patchin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, announced the results of their own online survey of 1,400 youths, one of the first major university-sanctioned studies of cyber bullying. More than a third of those surveyed had experienced bullying online, mostly in chat rooms or through text messaging, the researchers said.

The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use (CSRIU) classifies cyber bullying as sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images using the internet or other digital communication devices.

On its web site, CSRIU identifies a handful of different forms that cyber bullying may take, some of which include "flaming," or sending angry, rude, or vulgar messages; harassment, or repeatedly sending harmful messages; cyber-stalking, or harassment that is highly intimidating or threatens harm; and denigrations--sending or posting untrue or cruel statements.

Bullying itself is nothing new. But experts say technology allows students to take bullying to a new--and potentially more insidious--level.

Cyber bullies are more likely to do or say things online that they normally wouldn't in person, because electronic means of communication provide invisibility, according to CSRIU. Additionally, the bullying might be worse online or by other electronic means, because those doing the bullying do not actually see the effects of their harsh words or actions on others.