POP CULTURE: SEXTING VOL. 2

HERE’S THE 2^ND VOLUME IN MY “SEXTING” SERIES. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT TOPIC OF INTEREST TO ME, BEING THAT I HAVE YOUNGER SIBLINGS, & AM A MENTOR TO OTHER TEENAGERS. I WANT TO SHARE MY CONCERN FOR THEM WITH YOU, IN HOPES THAT YOU WILL, AT THE VERY LEAST, MAKE A CONCERTED EFFORT TO BE MORE AWARE OF THE ACTIVITIES & HABITS OF THE TEENS IN YOUR LIFE. CHEERS & ENJOY. AND DON’T FORGET TO TAKE ACTION

'Sexting’ surprise: Teens face child porn charges

6 Pa. high school students busted after sharing nude photos via cell phones

By Mike Brunker

In an unusual legal case arising from the increasingly popular practice known as “sexting,” six Pennsylvania high school students are facing child pornography charges after three teenage girls allegedly took nude or semi-nude photos of themselves and shared them with male classmates via their cell phones.

The female students at Greensburg Salem High School in Greensburg, Pa., all 14- or 15-years-old, face charges of manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography while the boys, who are 16 and 17, face charges of possession, according to WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, which published the story on its Web site on Tuesday.

Police told the station that the photos were discovered in October, after school officials seized a cell phone from a male student who was using it in violation of school rules and found a nude photo of a classmate on it. Police were called in and their investigation led them to other phones containing more photos, it said.

Police Capt. George Seranko was quoted as saying that the first photograph was “a self portrait taken of a juvenile female taking pictures of her body, nude."

The school district issued a statement Tuesday saying that the investigation turned up “no evidence of inappropriate activity on school grounds … other than the violation of the electronic devices policy.” The statement also said that school officials didn’t learn of the charges against the students until Monday.

In the WPXI story, which included contributions from the Associated Press, Saranko indicated that authorities decided to file the child pornography charges to send a strong message to other minors who might consider sending such photos to friends.

"It's very dangerous," he said. "Once it's on a cell phone, that cell phone can be put on the Internet where everyone in the world can get access to that juvenile picture. You don't realize what you are doing until it's already done." (Seranko could not be reached for comment on Thursday, and a woman who answered the phone at the Greensburg Police Department said, “Our department is not doing any more interviews on the case.”)

But Patrick Artur, a Philadelphia defense attorney who by his reckoning has handled at least 80 child pornography cases, said the prosecution of minors for photos they took themselves runs counter to the purpose of both state and federal child pornography laws: Preventing the sexual abuse of children by “dirty old men in raincoats.”

“It’s clearly overkill,” he said. “… The letter of the law seems to have been violated, but this is not the type of defendant that the legislature envisioned” in passing the statute.

Artur said that because there is no mandatory minimum sentence under Pennsylvania’s child pornography law, unlike the federal statute, the students would not necessarily be incarcerated if they are found guilty. But he noted that convictions would have "serious, serious implications," including forcing them having to register as sexual offenders for at least 10 years.

While Artur said the prosecution of a juvenile for allegedly creating and distributing child porn was new to him, a quick review of federal and state statistics showed there have been a handful of similar cases, and several convictions.

While few minors have found themselves in court for e-mailing or posting sexy photos of themselves, there is little doubt that ubiquitous cell phones and easy access to computers have tempted many to push the erotic envelope.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reported last month that a survey of 1,280 teens and young adults found that 20 percent of the teens said they had sent or posted nude or semi nude photos or videos of themselves. That number was slightly higher for teenage girls — 22 percent — vs. boys — 18 percent.

© 2009 msnbc.com Reprints

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28679588/

POP CULTURE: SEXTING VOL. 1

I know this isn’t breaking news by any stretch of the imagination but I still believe it to be a relevant & crucial topic to discuss & keep abreast of. I’m referring to what is known in pop culture as “sexting”, the act of sending nude or other sexually suggestive pics through the cell phone. This is also an all too common practice via the internet as well. Read the article, and then gauge how much you think you know about your teenage loved one’s phone activities against how much you truly know. Cheers & enjoy

Leaving a note on the desk or asking your best friend to ask the girl if she likes you or not, has become the concept of the bygone era. Nowadays, teenagers are flashing the naked pictures of themselves on the mega-pixel camera phones and sending them to their friends and girlfriends.

Many of these intimate moments of lust, end up falling in the wrong hands - or in some cases in everyone's hands , through internet - there by casting a dark spell of doom on the reputation of the pupil involved in such pictures or short nude clips.

Some parents are deeply aghast at this insane behavior of their teenagers.

"The teenagers pertaining to the generation-X are living a very stressful life, they have to live up to the surmounting peer-pressure. In the quest to glisten in the eyes of their friends they goad themselves up for "doing anything". Any thing purely means just damn anything : Ranging from having puff of cigarette, trying drugs, engaging in sexual acts and creating all sorts of nuisance, foul plays, etc. They verge in to doing all these things just for the sake of garnering a respect in their friends circle." said Ms Avneet, Psychiatrist , PGIMER Medical Institute.

" We have also seen our teen age, but we were not resorting to doing weird things that the present generation is doing. We used to engage our self in the lustful spades but not like what they are doing. My son last month whisked around the nude pictures of himself. He is going crazy. " said Parent of boy involved in sending nude MMS's to his friends.

" It's in the spur of the moment, they are blinded by the teenage "tendency of misjudgment", as they blatantly spill their images to their friends, without having a glimmer of an idea about where those intimate moments being glossed in the unblinking eye of a mobile-camera , might end up : The images can be indexed in the search engines, or may be they can end up on the porn websites Initially, the teenagers tend to take it as a fun , but these images can really spread like a wildfire .I will suggest the teenagers to practice caution while doing an illegal activity, since you don't know when the mistakes done in their nascent years can revert to disturb the later years of your professional or marital life." warns Mr Animesh, Web Marketing Lead, Miracle Studios.

Courtesy: Miracle Studios: Your very own web design company - Because we care

More resources

http://www.miraclestudios.in