Friends and family of the late David Molak spoke up before a State Senate Committee about David's Law, which would drastically increase penalties for cyber bullying, and give police and school districts more authority to unmask and punish people who hide behind a computer to bully, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
David killed himself in the back yard of the family home in Alamo Heights in January of 2015 after being subjected to constant on line and social media bullying.
His dad, Matt Molak, testified alongside other victims of cyber bullying, and families of another student who committed suicide because of it.
"We've had a lot of support from pretty much everybody we've talked to," he told News Radio 1200 WOAI. "Of course, there are some people who will oppose any new legislation."
Legislation introduced in both the state House and Senate would relate to people who use a computer to harass, bully, or threaten injury or death to a minor through technology."
We need to put our own agendas aside and do something for that constituency, which might not even be able to vote," he said.
Molak said his son was 'threatened, harassed, and humiliated to the point where he felt he had no choice but to end his life.'"No matter where our family turned to try to protect David, he was not able to find refuge," Molak said. "There was no consequence for his aggressors, even after his death."
Counselors say cyber bullying is a very real danger to children and teenagers in this age of pervasive social media and a time when many young people's main social outlet is on line.
Unlike bullying in the 20th Century, where you knew who the bully was and how to avoid him or her, cyber bullying invades every on line space, amplifying a student's feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. Where in the 20th Century your intimate issues were known only to a small circle of friends, today everybody knows them, and cyber bullies, hiding behind anonymity, are able to amplify those issues and broadcast them to everybody in a school or neighborhood.