(Reuters) - Being the most wired country in the world has opened the way for a new form of bullying in South Korean schools, with victims being forced to pay for Wifi access for their tormentors.

Bullied students are made to sign up for subscriptions that cost around $40 (25.82 pounds) a month, then to turn on the Wifi hot spot function on their smartphones.

This allows the bullies to essentially take over the phone's wireless connection, permitting them to surf the web for free -- and also drawing down the phone's battery because there are multiple users at one time.

"I am very worried my beloved smartphone may be worn out," one 16-year-old boy old wrote anonymously in a web bulletin in January.

"I really want to cry. I am posting this because seriously, I don't know what I am supposed to do after the semester starts."

Read more at: http://uk.reuters.com/
Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by David Chance and Elaine Lies

2012/01/20