Young victims of online bullying

"You make me sick," "I want you dead." How would you feel if abusive messages like these addressed to you by name suddenly popped up on your cellphone? If you didn't know who wrote them, you would feel even more distressed.

These unfortunately are just a few examples of the kind of nasty comments that appear on "unofficial school websites" and other Internet sites where students exchange messages, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The ministry recently released the results of its first-ever survey probing such sites.

Unlike official websites put up by junior and senior high schools, the ones studied were created by students themselves. In its study, the ministry tracked more than 38,000 such sites and message boards, including some related to elementary schools.