SEXTING TROUBLE
Teens using cellphones for sending sexy photos by cellphone land
in trouble
By Elaine O'Connor,March 18, 2009
A new teen fad known as 'sexting,' sending sexy photos by cellphone,
has led to charges, school suspensions and, in one case, suicide
in the U.S. And it has Canadian officials on alert.
VANCOUVER - A new teen fad known as "sexting" - sending
sexy photos by cellphone - has led to charges, school suspensions
and, in one case, suicide in the U.S. And it has Canadian officials
on alert.
More than two dozen teens in six states have been investigated
by police for sexting this year. Although there have been few
publicized cases in Canada to date, police and schools are watching
for it here.
A Canadian journalist who wrote a book about child porn on the
web says there's no reason to think Canadian teens aren't sexting,
even if we haven't yet had any high-profile cases.
Julian Sher said the National Centre for Missing and Exploited
Children, which collects reports of child-abuse images online,
has catalogued more than nine million images and says a growing
number of them - up to 10 per cent - were self-produced.
"That's a stunning figure," Sher said. "It's a
serious issue. The cellphones we have now are more powerful than
computers we used 10 years ago, so kids are going to use them
the way we used computers."
Sher says that, "first and foremost, you have to try to stop
it at the source. Somebody needs to explain to teenagers the dangers,
that this is not something you can ever take back."
Cpl. Annie Linteau, the RCMP B.C.'s spokeswoman, said she hadn't
heard of the trend.
"But I'd be surprised if it wasn't happening here,"
she said.
"It's certainly a concern, because you just don't know where
these photos will end up. Once those pictures are exchanged, you
have no control over what those recipients do with them. And they
could get in the hands of predators."
Linteau said parents and schools have to share responsibility
to educate their children about the dangers of posting any type
of personal details on social-networking websites, and the potential
damage of photos turning up down the road.
In Virginia last week, two boys aged 15 and 18 were charged with
solicitation and possession of child pornography with the intent
to distribute after police, alerted by a school liaison officer,
found nude pictures from three female youths on their mobiles.
In Pennsylvania in January, six teens under age 18 were charged
with child pornography after sending nude pictures of themselves
back and forth, pictures intercepted by a high school teacher.
In Ohio, a 15-year-old girl had to appear in court and plead to
a felony charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor
this month after sending a nude picture of herself to a boy at
her high school. A teacher discovered the picture after confiscating
the phone and turned it in to police. The girl was initially jailed
and is now under house arrest. The boy is also set to appear in
court.
In perhaps the most controversial case, an 18-year-old Florida
teen had to register as a sex offender after he forwarded a nude
photo of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend she had sent him, sharing
the picture digitally after they split in 2007. He was even required
to attend rehabilitative classes with sex offenders.
In Washington, the issue wound up in court after parents of two
cheerleaders - dumped from their team in 2008 after nude photos
of them were texted around the school - sued the district for
failing to quickly report it as child pornography.
An 18-year-old Ohio girl recently committed suicide, hanging herself
in her room after having a nude photo sent to an ex-boyfriend
"sexted" throughout her school.
Some U.S. lawmakers, realizing teens can get caught in serious
felony charges for what amounts to a juvenile prank, have begun
to lessen penalties for sexting. The Utah legislature recently
passed a bill lowering the charge for sending explicit messages
from a third-degree felony to a misdemeanour.
A survey last year by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and
Unplanned Pregnancy in the U.S. revealed 22 per cent of girls
and 18 per cent of boys have sent nude or semi-nude images of
themselves and 48 per cent had received them.
According to the U.S. National Centre for Missing and Exploited
Children, 24 per cent of the 2,100 child victims of pornography
the centre has dealt with initially sent the images themselves.
Here in Canada, it is not a crime for two teenagers, both under
the age of 18, to possess consensually produced nude pictures
of each other for private viewing. However, the wider distribution
of such pictures would fall under child pornography laws and the
person who distributed it could be charged.
Yet Canadian school officials said unlike their American peers,
they would be reluctant to report sexting as a crime to police.
"I think it would have to be very extreme for us to want
to be looking for charges to be laid against a student,"
said Jan Sippel, the Vancouver School Board's abuse prevention
co-ordinator.
The more likely scenario for a student caught with indecent images
of another student would be to have a school liaison officer talk
to them and educate them about the potential for criminal charges.
"Most kids would be shocked to hear that," Sippel said.
"They think they are just having fun with their friends,
but it's in a domain that is hugely public."
