Last month, a Western Springs, Illinois teen committed suicide after his classmates carried over bullying from the school halls to cyberspace. Iain Steele hanged himself on June 3, 2009 after a video was posted on Facebook mocking his love of heavy metal music. To help understand and prevent cyberbullying, the U.S.

Apple has announced that its new iPhone will feature controls that will give parents the ability to decide what music, videos, and applications their children can access based on ratings, but the ESRB wants Apple to go one step further. ESRB president Patricia Vance is calling on Apple to adopt its game classification system for the iPhone. In a statement to Kotaku, Vance said:

Noted pediatrician and Chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine Dr. Victor Strasburger has authored a new study on the effects of media on children's health. He found that easy access to a wide variety of media can increase a youth's risk for health issues such as obesity, drug use, and early sexual activity. HealthDay reports on this study, and quotes Dr.

Today marks the start of National Internet Safety Month, introduced by the US Senate to raise the level of awareness of the need for online safety. As part of the campaign, the Family Online Safety Institute's CEO, Stephen Balkam, and AT&T's Brent Olson issued statements supporting the need for Internet education and responsibility. Says Balkam:

In a December 2008 analysis of YouTube, the Parents Television Council found that the video service’s gating procedures did not adequately protect children from obscene language found in comments attached to videos of teen stars like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.  Five months after the report, YouTube has now provided users the ability to filter comments.

Yesterday, the state of California asked the Supreme Court to review the law previously struck down by a lower court that would prevent the sale of violent video games to minors. The law, authored by California Senator Leland Yee, was signed in 2005 but was never enforced. In a press release on his web site, the senator said he hopes the Court will accept the appeal:

In an effort to keep children and teens safe online, New Jersey senator Robert Menendez and Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz have introduced new legislation, The School And Family Education about the Internet (SAFE Internet) Act.  If passed, the act would create a grant program for the education of children, teachers, and parents nationwide about Internet safety.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has introduced a bill into Congress that aims to classify "male enhancement" ads for drugs like Viagra and Cialis as "indecent". If passed, the ads could only air during the 10 pm-6 am time slot; airing at other times could result in fines of up to $325,000. Rep. Moran originally introduced this bill in 2005, but his efforts were not successful.

The Supreme Court has upheld a governmental policy that threatens to fine television stations that air "fleeting expletives." On Tuesday, April 28, in the case of FCC v. Fox Television, the Court ruled that the FCC was not in violation of any laws when it started to fine TV stations for the spontanious use of expletives uttered on live television.  By a 5-4 vote, the Court threw out a ruling by the 2nd U.S.

In its filing to the FCC about the state of content-blocking technologies for media, The Children's Media Policy Council asked the FCC to fix the V-chip system and allow it to block some TV ads, including those embedded in programming. The Council says that violent and sexually explicit television content is not their only concern--ads for alcohol and products such as Viagra are also inappropriate for young viewers, and parents should be able to block those as well.