Remember when school rumors about who was slutty were of the analog variety? That is to say, whispered behind hands in the hallway? Not anymore folks. In this all blog, all the time kids are snapping digital proof of their moral transgressions — and beaming naked pics of themselves to classmates' cell phones, who of course forward the illicit snaps onto friends.
Think what happens in cyberspace stays there? Nope. In La Crosse, WI, a 17-year-old boy was recently charged with child pornography, sexual exploitation of a child and defamation in conjunction with posting nude photos of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend on his MySpace page. The naughty pics came from a cell phone.
The impulsive racy acts have consequences lasting well beyond "delete." To see how, read more.
Scandalous photos are the perfect ammunition for jilted boyfriends, who post and share them as revenge. The sheriff in the Wisconsin case says, "I think they just do it to impress their boyfriends. When he breaks up, he `vents,' in his words, by posting them." In Syracuse, NY, after a bevy of girls sent nudies to their boyfriends, they discovered another boy had been collecting them all on a DVD — that he was trying to sell!
Psychologists say the technology coupled with typical teenage hormones and lack of judgment, may lead to lasting reputations that will haunt them. Another sheriff who investigates these matters says, "It's often so spur of the moment that they're not thinking about where those images might end up. They might think it's just fun and games at the time they do it, but these images can really spread like wildfire."
Should teens get limits on technology until they're old enough to understand the consequences? Is this just another example of a more permissive culture? Should trafficking cell phone pics be treated like child porn?









Balmain
Christian Louboutin
melissa
My pic didn't spread like wildfire.
1
colleenb!!
2ok. The whole 17 year old boy with 16 year old girl is RIDICULOUS! Does anyone actually think that counts as child pornography and "exploiting" a child?! It's his girlfriend. Who, obviously, has consensual sex with him. Um, and will these harsh charges make him end up on the sexual predator list? because he has a girlfriend one year younger than him?
3I'd be careful about treating this as child porn - that'd be like lumping schoolyard fights under terrorism laws - stupid kids could end up in far more trouble than they deserve.
4Sometimes I think it should be legal to smack someone else's teenage kid on the back of the head. Not hard enough to do any damage, mind you, just a sort of "what the heck were you thinking?!" cuff.
I think these kids could use them. The boys AND the girls.
And yeah, if a guy (no matter his age) is in possession of nude pictures of an underage female, I think it's still child pornography. Cellphone or not.
5steph and I agree!
But it's a picture of his girlfriend Bookish, you don't think that matters? AND he's only 17 and she's 16.
6Syako- I don't see any problem with teenagers having sex. Particularly a 17 year old boy and a 16 year old girl- that seems fairly normal.
I do think that any nude pictures of underage people that are sexually explicit count as pornography. Instead of keeping or (especially) sharing the pictures, he should have deleted them. I don't think that simply being underage would negate being in possession of explicit pictures of an underage girl.
That said, I don't think our laws have kept up with our technology, and it's frustrating that girls do these stupid sorts of things. I don't think he should have to register as a sex offender, because he's underage. But posting them on the internet? And particularly the guy who was trying to sell them? That's unacceptable.
7Well I agree with the guy selling them.
But, I mean, even before cell phones, people were taking naked photos of their sexual partners. AND i'm sure were sharing those with their buddies.
8Well Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First of all teens are old enough to understand, the problem is not the technology or the teen it's the lack of attentive guidance in their lives. There are plenty of teens who don't carry on like this so to say that because they are teens (teen+camera phone=this) is simply too simplistic and quite frankly a scape goat not to take responsibility.
Like I've said before parents don't stop and realize that their children are being co-parented by a sexualized mass media that nurtures our children simply by its very presence. Parents need to be more attentive in guidance and understanding of what their children are faced with.
9Oh, I'm not saying that naked pictures between sexual partners is wrong. In cases of adults in a relationship, I don't see anything wrong with it at all.
I'm just trying to figure out- are all sexually explicit pictures of underage people considered child pornography? If so, then he was in possession of illegal material, and guilty of distributing it via the internet. Yes, it sucks, and of course we all know teenage boys aren't known for their wise judgment, but if it's the law, then it's the law.
I don't think that the law really recognizes or addresses some of the issues raised by sexual relationships between minors though. At least, if it does- I'm not aware of it.
10It's amazing to me that so many teeenagers are willing to take naked pictures of themselves. I won't post a picture of my face and people are sending naked pics to cell phones. I must be getting old.
11A legal smack to the head is fine with me, as long as it doesn't become something much worse like that case in Georgia of the boy who went to prison for consentual sex with his girlfriend and it took months to get him out. I think people have been using naked pictures to get back at each other since someone figured out how to scribble on a cave wall.
12No liliblu you're not getting old you just didn't have everything around you revolve around sex when you were growing up.
13See, stephley, I favor revising the age of consent laws. Eighteen seems a rather arbitrary cutoff point. Why should a sexual relationship between a 17 year old and an 18 year old be illegal?
I think there should be a window of consent based on age. Basically, if you were close enough in age to attend the same school at the same time, it's legal. So a 15 year old could have a sexual relationship with up to a 19 year old, but not a 22 year old. Relationships between teenagers wouldn't become suddenly illegal at the 18th birthday of the eldest party. And of course, at 18, you could have sex with anyone willing to have it with you- provided they're not too young.
I have all these ideas, and yet so little legislative power. Must... resist... running... for office!
14Bookish I think for the most part in those cases Judges discretion has fallen on the side of reason.
15I also didn't have unlimited access to the internet. My parents kept the computer with internet access in the family room. Maybe parents need to re-think video and picture phones.
16I have to agree with hynoticmix, here. If the kids were being watched/parented like they should be, this wouldn't be such a widespread issue.
17I can't beleive that NOW part of my careful dateing and sex talk to my daughter might include, "don't let your boyfriend take naked pictures of yourself."
I think I'll more just say to her, "YOu wont beleive what some teenagers are doing to their ex's!"
18and darn it, I meant "don't let.....of you."
19I can see wanting leeway in ages, but no matter what age is set, someone won't like it. I can't really see bringing charges against consenting underage teens - to me that's something their families should deal with.
20I can see wanting leeway in ages, but no matter what age is set, someone won't like it. I can't really see bringing charges against consenting underage teens - to me that's something their families should deal with.
21I can see wanting leeway in ages, but no matter what age is set, someone won't like it. I can't really see bringing charges against consenting underage teens - to me that's something their families should deal with.
22Whoa, a triple! i didn't mean that.
23I think it's pretty unfair for that kid. After all, that one year really isn't so big when you're a teenager, and the girl was clearly alright with it. This seems to be just splitting hairs like the case w/the young gentleman(G-something.. Grenshaw??) who at the last time I heard, was incarcerated for SEVERAL years because of consensual oral sex with a female around the same age gap.
Yes, there has to be a line drawn and sometimes when you're young you need people to make the best decisions for you because you're mentally incapable of doing so yourself, BUT this guy will have those child pornography charges against him for the rest of his life.
24Yesss! stephley, that's the case I was talking about! It's so unfortunate for that young man
25No matter what age you are, if you post nude photos of an underage person, there are probably going to be legal consequences. The issue isn't the age difference between the teen lovers, it's that the boyfriend made the pics availible for people of all ages, including dirty old men and pedophiles.
26I was waiting around one day, and to kill time I reviewed the pics in my cell phone. I came to one picture that I could not figure out what it was. I held the phone up close, far away, upside down, I could not figure it out....
...then I noticed a freckle. It was my boyfriend's easter basket, if you know what I mean!! I laughed so loud. He totally tricked me.
I can't blame these kids. Naked pictures can be pretty fun! It is pretty risky, though.
27The legal definition of child pornography: (As defined by the US Supreme Court)
"An unprotected visual depiction of a minor child engaged in actual or simulated sexual conduct, including a lewd or lascivious exhibition of the genitals" See New York v Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
In 1996, 18 U.S.C. § 2252A was enacted and § 2256 was amended to include "child pornography" that consists of a visual depiction that "is or appears to be" of an actual minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
I believe I read once, although I cannot find the definition for it, that recorded audio of an supposed underage person having sex is also considered child porn.
But as for the topic at hand, photographs that display the child's genitalia regardless of the medium or mechanism they reside on, are by definition, child porn. However...
I think this situation needs close scrutiny as I think applying existing laws come close to the common "fallacy of accident". The fallacy of accident occurs when you create a general rule that disregards exceptions.
In this case we are saying that: "All images that display an underage child's genitalia are child porn." This law cannot and should not be applied without exception. For example:
What about if an underage child is raped and a special victims unit investigator takes photos of the child's genitalia to use as evidence that the alleged rape did in fact occur. Should the investigator be arrested for child porn?
The same argument can be made for a boyfriend and girlfriend that exchange pictures. The point is, the law was enacted to protect children from abuse. And although I am admitting that there is a definite lack of good judgment in putting photos of your ex on your myspace page, or distributing them in any other way, it is in fact a fallacy to say that the pure existence of the material necessitates that a crime has been committed.
28This reminds me of the case of an underage girl being charged of child pornography because she posted naked photos of herself on the internet.
29Thanks for the explanation, CrazySexyCool.
In that case, I don't think he should be punished just for having the pictures. I do think he should be punished for distributing them. And as for that foolish little girl, I hope she's learned a lesson.
30as far as the 17 year old "boy" (emphasis on that word) i think it comes down how our justice system looks at kids. to put it bluntly, their idiots. the girl was stupid for taking his clothes off and the guy was stupid for distributing the pictures. as far as him being punished, i dont think he even had knowledge that what he was doing was criminal. we live in a society of celebrity sex tapes and accidental crotch shots, this guy did this to be funny and cool among his friends. i did alot of stupid things when i was 17 to be cool, thank god its not going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
on a different note, im raising my children in the middle of nowhere without access to cell phones or computers.
31Agreed
32His taking the pictures isn't the issue. Posting them on the web is. I'm not saying he should go to jail but it would be foolish to assume that he could do that and not suffer any kind of legal reprecussions. How would this case be handled if it were a fifty-three year old who posted the pics? The law can't logically say it is ok for a 17 year old to post it but not a 53 year old. They would have to be consistant in someway. I don't know what would be fair in this case. I certainly don't think jail time or being listed as a sex offender is fair, but I do think it is fair for this boy to expect some kind of legal reprecussions. A slap on the wrist or something. If he is not tried as an adult maybe it won't be so harsh?
BTW The investigator with crime photos would only be a parallel arguement if the investigator than made the photos public.
33kastarte-there is a HUGE difference between a 17 year old posting nude pictures of his 16 year girlfriend and a 53 year old posting pics of his 16 year old girlfriend. besides the obvious ick factor, the idea that a 17 year old has the same decision making skills as a 53 year old is crazy. this kid was doing it mainly to embarrass the girlfriend, i seriously doubt he knew his actions would be considered child porn especially since he is a minor himself. the guy is guilty of being a dick, but to be charged criminally is just a waste of time and money.
34I wasn't saying it was the same thing I was just pointing out that posting pics of a minor on the interent is against the law. If it was a 53 yr old, he'd go to jail and be put on the sex offender list. I'm not saying they should be tried the same. In fact I believe I stated that in my earlier post. The fact is, what's against the law for one age group, is still against the law for the other. Like, Crazysexycool said, it is an imperfect law because it states that all images like that are considered child pronography. But if they don't take any action, are they then setting a precedent?
35This is kinda off topic but it just made me think. If the same 17 yr old had instead, taken pics or video of his 5 yr old sister dancing naked in the living room and then posted it on myspace because he thought it was funny, would the law even care? Or do we think it is the girlfriend's parents who are making this an issue?
36the girlfriends parents are most likely making this an issue, the psyche of kids are that they follow each other and im sure its not the first time someone has done something like this at their school. i understand what your saying but the laws are kind of jacked up anyways. i mean whose to say that under that same line of thinking, that the 17 year old wont end up on the sex offender list. isnt it mandatory that you end up on that list for child pornography?
37Would their be any legal action I could take as an adult if my boyfriend posted pics on me with out my knowledge? I know celebs always supposedly try to keep sex tapes under wraps (::cough :: b*llsh*t ::cough:
but is there anything you could do if you were unwilling to have
your image distributed? I know colin farrell was actually able to win his law suit and block his tape. Because that's probably one of the major issues, that this girl didn't intend to become
a nude internet model and that the pic was probably posted without her knowledge.
38Yes, it most likely is the girlfriend's parents that are making this the issue.
I think it just goes back to one of the basic terms of law-- intent. This 17 year old most likely did not have a truly depraved mind, he was just bitter about the breakup for whatever reason and used the only ammo he had to make him look like Mr. Tough Guy and not look like a loser in front of his friends. This would be a more modern and extreme version than say, writing comments about her on the bathroom wall or bad-mouthing her in the locker room or something like that. I know it sounds like I'm trivializing it but maybe I just feel more connected to these kids since I'm not much older than them.
And I remembered the guy's name: Genarlow Wilson. It would be unfortunate if this 17-year old ends up with the child porn charge on his record forever and has to go through what poor Genarlow Wilson has had to go through over the past few years.
39Wow all these strange analogies from me tonight, but, honestly, the only example I can think of are celebrities that tried to repress videos or photos. Didn't Jennifer Aniston or Gwyn Paltrow win a case against paps who snapped her topless? And weren't those photos kept undistributed? This girl's parents should just do whatever Gwyn did instead of trying to pursue child prono charges.
I don't think what I just typed made any sense. I'm sure some one out there will let me know if it didn't.
40i am awesomeness, I feel really bad for the girl too. Obviously she won't suffer from jail time or a criminal record or anything like that, but can you imagine going into high school everyday with kids that have seen nude pics of you on the internet? I'm not so old (25) that I don't remember how awful teens can be to each other in hs. I would have had to drop out. Plus I'm sure she will be scarred in other ways. Her ability to trust and be intimate with men will probably be affected. Hopefully it will help her make better decisions about who she dates and who she trusts rather than hurting her future relationships.
41if something like that were to happen to you, not that your dumb enough to allow a boyfriend to take nude pics of you on his cell phone and then dump him before "accidentally" dropping it in the toilet, you can sue for slander, defamation of character and invasion of privacy. all of which are not illegal but you may receive damages because your thousands of people saw you nekkid on myspace. most likely the parents were sooo outraged about what happened and that there he was going to get away with this without any punishment, that they got their local law enforcement to pull the charges out of their ass.
42Hmm... note to self - shred photos and delete all video files. Must destroy every trace. Trust no one!
43There was a scandal at my school some time ago, a freshy had sent nude photos of herself to her boyfriend...who then showed his friends... and the school administrators found out. This girl (as far as I know) didn't get into much trouble (2 weeks of suspension. thats better than getting the federal law involved in this, though we did have news reporters flocking our school)...just complete public humiliation and forever known as "the-girl-who-took-nudeypics-of-herself". Last I heard, her parents are sending her to a boarding school in Sweden, or something of that sort.
44this is just another story that reminds me of how lucky i am to have been a teenager in the 90s when it was fashionable to wear the baggiest, dirtiest jeans you could find and a flannel shirt. and i'm being serious. if i were 15 now i'd probably have 5 eating disorders and a meth addiction. i feel so bad for girls now - they are dressing like prostitutes at age 8. the pressure is immense.
45I can't imagine feeling confident enough as a teen to take nude pics of myself. I was so insecure as a teenager. I would have been terrified of every little imperfection. I wouldn't have wanted to be known around the caf as the girl with the lopsided chest or Lincoln shaped mole on her butt. It was awful enough when I was caught wearing the same pair of jeans two days in a row.
46He shouldn't be charged with child pornography, period. He should be charged like an adult who defames another adult. This is just more proof that a teens mentality isn't where it should be for this kind of relationship. She was his ex and instead of talking trash in the locker room, the cyber age and looser sexual activities have made it where he can post naked pics of her for all to see instantly.
47In 57' teachers listed
1. Gum Chewing
2. Talking
3. Running in the halls
as the most prolematic things in American high schools. I can't even imagine what they are now. I'm not saying all was hunky dory in 57', far from it, but something is to be said about morals and values, and dare I say it, faith.
if there was a crime againist defaming another adult he would of been charged with it, unfortunately its not a crime to post nude pictures of someone on the internet. the reason being is because if you allowed them to take it, its considered thier property. the child pornography charge is "lets throw something and see what sticks" charge.
48Great.
49It's too bad that we have allowed our society to go this far down, all in the name of freedom.
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