Newsweek reported this week that one in five teens have admitted to "sexting" - sending nude photos of themselves to others via cell phones. What that 20% may not know is that the practice actually has led to teens being prosecuted for violating anti-child pornography laws, having to register as sex offenders, and other dire legal consequences (read the full story: http://www.newsweek.com/id/184814 ... it's quite crazy)
Are the potential ramifications of having nude photos of onesself in circulation serious enough that a serious message needs to be sent through these types of prosecutions, or are counties and states overreacting to what just amounts to a bit of teen mischief?
__________________
Lego, Cav (the Lego brand name was derived from the Danish expression "leg godt" - play well - and lego also translates in Latin as "I study" or "I put together"...really, one of the world's most perfect words!)
i'm not sure how they should be punished by law or whatever, but i do think that something should be done about this. they start so young and it can only lead to worse things i think. and if they are sending these pictures to their classmates who knows who else they are sending them to. and with all this meeting people online and going to meet them in person and talking to them through texting and stuff, what do you think is going to stop some teens from sending these pictures to people they think they know? i'm not sure how serious the law should make it, but i do believe that it should be considered serious and something should be done about it.
Wellll....... This is kind of a big issue now a days. I mean even if you send it to one person, that person sends it to someone else and eventually many people are veiwing it. I agree with edepuy about having some sort of ramifications. But that could potentially lead to stopping picture texts all together, which is a useful and fun feature on cell phones. I dont know what they should do for it but it shopuld be delt with
i think that the fact that American teens are doing this is very bad, but not surprising. the primary people to get involved in stuff like this are the parents of both teens, sending and receiving the pictures. when a phone is confiscated at school and pictures are found, the parents should immediately be informed, but i'm not sure if the police should. maybe if a teen's parents decide to report it to the police then they can. but it should all go back to the parents first to be responsible to prevent this from happening, and to deal with it if it does.
I think that everyone has a right to privacy, and if they choose to send nude photos of themselves, they better be prepared for the possible repercussions. In my opinion, the embarrassment of demeaning themselves to take naked pictures should be punishment enough. And if they end up all over the internet, then all we can really do is say: 'I told you so,' or explain how they brought this upon themselves. Personally, I think it's just teen mischief. Granted it is potentially dangerous, but then again what isnt these days? There are worse things that Teens do for fun now. Maybe we should be more strict about underage drinking and the growing drug problem before we worry about naked pictures.
I agree with Erin. Im not sure how they should make it a law, and all that. But it is a serious thing. People meet people and do crazy things. Even if you think you can trust the person you never know. Its inappropriate. Something does need to be done about it.
I agree with karen on this one. everyone has a right to privacy but should know the consequences of this,and the embarassment is a good consequence. Exspecially with the age of this kids in this story, they will talk and spread the word or in this case picture. just as fast as that young girl clicked send to her boyfriend or whatever it can get sent to somone else just as fast. these girls need to have more respect for themselves. With these types of prosecutions, i dont think registering as a sex affender is the first thing that needs to happen. let the parents teach there kids a lesson...and take picture messaging of your kids phone if you cant trust emm.
This happened to a guy over at Servite sometime in September; the police came and he eventually had to register as a sex offender because of a picture his girlfriend sent him. In my opinion, there's really not a whole lot of good that comes from sending nudes. If someone is really that comfortable with someone else, then just do it in person.
I agree with Karen, the mere fact that they were exposed for taking nude pictures of themselves should be punishment enough, if, they have any sense of dignity left. As to whether or not this is a major issue I can't really say and even the writer Lithwick admits that, 'Whether all this reflects a new child-porn epidemic, or just a new iteration of the old teen narcissism epidemic, remains unclear." So, this is problem since it goes under child pornography but I'm not so sure if this is an epidemic.
-- Edited by lookitspeter at 19:19, 2009-02-20
__________________
"Your distress about life might mean you have been living for the wrong reason, not that you have no reason for living." Tom O' Connor
This goes to show how crazy our government gets by "trying got protect us." They are allowing an increase in teen drug use and teen pregnancy but when a kid takes a picture of their own body they are charged as a child pornographer. That is outrageous and is a complete violation of our rights. If you want to make the dumb mistake of taking a revealing pictures then sending it out then you have that right. The risks are high that you will be shared with others and maybe even put on the internet. The best route is to educate children on how a mistake in realife can lead to a horrible lifetime on the internet.
It's also sad that this is happening to children. The kids caught for this were not even in high school which is really really pathetic. Maybe cause most in high school think before they act but we must then start sex education and it's risks at a younger age. Our media is showing kids that this kind of thing is acceptable so we need to explain the risks to them. Our job is to limit the damage when people fail not to stop them from failing.
If you are not allowed to fail then you have no rights. - Unknown
__________________
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds. Samuel Adams
I dont think this has to be prosecuted. When someone sends a photo that is private to them, then they should already know the consequences and therefore its there problem. The government should be worrying about other issues with teenagers. Im agreeing with chris, kids who do this are pretty pathetic, and its thier choice, and their fault. I dont think this should be the government top proriety with " protecting" teenagers.
__________________
"You never know how far you can fly until you spread your wings"
i think its pretty dumb first off if your going to be sending those kind of pictures to anyone because what if they send it to numerous of people and then everyone sees it so i agree with this edepuy
WHHATTT. I think this is crazy weird. first off it would bother me that other people are getting involved in my personal life but then again i would never do that. Its kinda like your asking it..someone is always going to find out. I know people at our school who have sent naked pictures and its sad because people find out..but thats seems like a small consern considering these kids are getting taken to court and charged for it. little boys and girls..dont send naked pictures. KEEP IT CLASSY.
personally, i don't understand why teenagers do this- your nude self isn't something to go parading everywhere! i remember reading an article in seventeen about something like this, but the girls in question didn't send the photos themselves, someone got hold of one of their phones some how and sent them around school and a picture was sent to the principal. one of them got kicked of the cheerleading squad for being a "bad representative of the school and squad".
Although this is a little different, in that she and her friend didn't send the pictures around themselves, the fact that family members and school faculty seeing them can happen. Karen has a good point about privacy, but if someone is going to take nude pictures of themselves, then they better think twice about the consequences- embarrassment and being kicked off the cheerleading team. As for a law... yeah it is a lot of teenage mischief but it would be a good idea because it would stop teenagers from sending those photos around because if they do get found out, then they'll have that on their record for life- and who would want that kind of record- sending photos of your naked self all around town! EMBARRASSING! (and weird)
__________________
monica vellanoweth v(o_o)v
"First you take the grahm. You put the chocolate on the grahm. Then you roast a mallow. When the mallows' flammin', you stick it on the chocolate. Then you top with the other side."
i think that it all rest upon ones self. if you want to send a picture of yourself, by all means go for it. its just no matter who you send it to, teens are teens, theyre going to send it to one person and there going to keep sending it to other people and it will get around, but its basically all your fault. i dont think anything should really be done because nothings really going to stop people from doing what they want to do.
I dont agree with the prosecution because teens are going to be teens and i dont think it was right for them to be doing that kind of stuff and they should be consequenced for it but not by the court system they are are taking the case to far the parents should handle it.
If the kids that recieved the photos were forced to register as sex affenders, then why arent people who look at porn called sex affenders? I mean the whole age 18 thing makes a difference but the kids who recieved the photos might not have had a say in wether they were recieving them or not. My friend has recieved unwanted pictures more than once. WEIRD!