Sexting: Dumb should not equal criminal

[Moonliner]

Sexting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexting) is the new media buzzword (aka media manufactured crisis ) of the week.


Sexting (a portmanteau of sex and texting) is the act of sending sexually explicit photos electronically, primarily between cell phones. It is practiced primarily by young adults, though it is known to occur amongst children as young as middle-school age.


Consequences (http://techdirt.com/articles/20090117/0557263447.shtml):

There was just that report noting that 20% of teens admitted to sending around sexually explicit photos of themselves -- and now, six high school students in Pennsylvania are facing child porn charges because the three girls took naked photos of themselves and sent them to some boys (thanks to everyone who sent this in). The girls are charged with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography, while the boys who received the photos are charged with possession.


Kids sending naked photos of themselves to other kids, while not the best of ideas, should hardly be considered child pornography in the eyes of the law.

Putting a teen on a sexual predator list for this is just stupid. I'm glad that someone is stepping up to take on this issue (http://techdirt.com/articles/20090326/1507104267.shtml) on behalf of the kids involved.


Now, the ACLU has sued the prosecutor on the girls' behalf, saying he shouldn't have threatened them with baseless charges -- which haven't yet been filed -- if they wouldn't agree to probation and a counseling program. The prosecutor says he was being "proactive" in offering them a choice, but the ACLU says he shouldn't be using "heavy artillery" to make the threats.

[Kevy Baby]

Isn't "Stupid Teenager" a redundancy? I thought all teenagers had brain damage?

[cirquelover]

I remember reading a case up here that was like that. I felt bad for the boy who had a girlfriend send him a nude pic and now he is a registered sex offender. It doesn't make sense, well i guess it can with predators about but shouldn't they take it on a case by case basis.

[Strangler Lewis]

I think these prosecutions are primarily designed to forestall Equal Protection/selective prosecution arguments by adult defendants.

[flippyshark]

Yeah, if this technology had existed when I was a teenager, I can easily see myself and others I knew doing stupid but essentially harmless things and finding ourselves in very bad trouble. Guess its a good thing I grew up when I did.

[Kevy Baby]

Yeah, if this technology had existed when I was a teenager, I can easily see myself and others I knew doing stupid but essentially harmless things and finding ourselves in very bad trouble. Guess its a good thing I grew up when I did.Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same thing.

I've actually had a couple of different posts written for this thread, but they all made me sound like even more of a perv than is already percepted.

[Moonliner]

Yeah, if this technology had existed when I was a teenager, I can easily see myself and others I knew doing stupid but essentially harmless things and finding ourselves in very bad trouble. Guess its a good thing I grew up when I did.

What you never had a Polaroid camera?

[Kevy Baby]

What you never had a Polaroid camera?I couldn't afford that!

[innerSpaceman]

Me neither. Back in my day, us teens just carved naked graphics of ourselves into stone blocks and had them carried to our objects d'amore on Mammoth-back.

[JWBear]

...but they all made me sound like even more of a perv than is already percepted.

Is that even possible?

[Alex]

It creates a difficult line. Presumably the intent behind child pornography prohibitions is to prevent the physical exploitation of the children involved.

If a 14 year old girl willingly takes a nude picture of herself and sends it to her 14-year-old boyfriend I think most people would agree that there was nothing to protect. When the boyfriend leaves it in his printer where his 20-year-old brother finds it. He has no idea who the girl is and can't easily tell she is only 14 and puts it on his dorm room wall.

Has this become child pornography yet? The dorm RA, who is majoring in forensic anthropology sees telltale signs in the picture, realizes she can't be older than 15 and calls the police. Is "I didn't know for sure she was young a valid defense?"

The RA call to the police doesn't happen but his brother visits and says "hey, you have a naked picture of my girlfriend on the wall!" He then realizes she must be 14 or so. Has a previously not-child-pornography now become child pornography simply through this realization. Does it matter that the child involved willingly participated in its production and was never directly exploited?

An 11-year-old pre-pubescent girl takes a picture of herself naked and sends it a friend because she hears it is the cool thing to do. The also 11-year-old friend giggles over it then forgets it. 10 years later that friend rediscovers the photo and begins a lifelong habit of masturbating to that image daily. Did it at some point become child pornography when it wasn't before?

I don't know where I would draw the line on all these situations but I can understand why the police would prefer it be kept a clear line in the sand: Nobody gets to take naked pictures of minors and nobody gets to possess those pictures rather than dealing with a defense of "hey, she took that picture herself, I just stole it off her hard drive when we were repairing it."

[Strangler Lewis]

Dude, you could write law school exams.

[innerSpaceman]

Is there an out from "possession" if something is sent to you unsolicited?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Is there an out from "possession" if something is sent to you unsolicited?Well, I imagine step 1 would be not keeping it.

[innerSpaceman]

yeah, but what does that mean if it's electronic? If it's sent to me by email, and I "delete" it, have I not complied if I don't empty my recycle bin? Even then, it's still there on my computer for people like the FBI who know how to retrieve it.

Same with my phone I'm sure. I may hit "delete" and it may still be there.


I call shenanigans.



We never had these problems with Wooley Mammoths. The smart kids would smash the stone tablets to smithereens. (Well, after they'd had their fill.)

[Not Afraid]

What ever happened to "Show me yours and I'll show you mine"?

[€uroMeinke]

I know this is just another technology we'll never get to implement at work

[Alex]

Do you want to?

[€uroMeinke]

Do you want to?

Are you offering to send me a pic?

[Alex]

Are you offering me a job where you work?

[Strangler Lewis]

Sounds like blackmail.