Australian state cracks down on cyber bullying, bans YouTube

An Australian state has banned the video Web site YouTube from government schools in a crackdown on cyber-bullying, an Associated Press report said.

The Associated Press report said Victoria, Australia's second most populous state, banned the popular video-sharing site from its 1,600 government schools after a gang of male school students videotaped their assault on a 17-year-old girl on the outskirts of Melbourne.

The assault, which is being investigated by police, was uploaded on YouTube late last year, the report said.

The Associated Press report quoted Education Services Minister Jacinta Allan as saying that the schools and their Internet service providers already filtered the Web sites that were available to students, and YouTube had been added to a list of blocked sites.

The state government 'has never tolerated bullying in schools and this zero tolerance approach extends to the online world,' Allan said.