Sexting Update: Yuma County Sext Free!
As a follow up to my earlier story, I’ve been watching out for any other news about these poor kids who were charged with child-pornography for taking self-portraits. It’s really breaking my heart and I just feel for these kids. Here’s the local news’ varying reactions to the tale:
Apparently Yuma County, Arizona is quick to pat itself on the back for youth-well-raised. In an article titled “Teen ’sexting’ not seen as trend in Yuma,” Sun writer William Roller was quick to point out…
“The provocative practice of teenagers sending nude photographs of themselves via text messages - or “sexting” - is a growing phenomenon elsewhere in the country but has not surfaced locally, according to law enforcement officials.
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office also reports no occurrences of sexting by Yuma teens or any involved with posting inappropriate images online, according to Capt. Eben Bratcher, YCSO spokesman.”
Denver Lawmakers creating phone-inclusive child-porn laws
“Now, Colorado state lawmakers are looking at a bill that would expand Internet luring and distribution of child pornography laws to include cell phones in an effort to curtail sexting.
“It happened at Castle Rock Middle School. Six students took nude photos of themselves and forwarded them to classmates. One of the photos ended up being circulated in California.
At least one parent said the law should also apply to the kids themselves. “It’s wrong and they know it. It’s not like they’re 5-year-old kids that took a match to something and had to learn. These kids know better,” said parent Shannon Marx. Lawmakers said the courts will decide how to prosecute a case if a teenager were to be charged, but the law is truly intended to target predators.”
Wisconsin Teen Charged with Uploading Naked Photos of Ex to MySpace
“Alex Phillips, a ‘wise guy’ who wanted to get revenge on his 16-year-old girlfriend by posting photos of her most private parts on MySpace, now faces felony child pornography charges in Wisconsin.
“When the girl discovered the photos had been posted on the Internet with explicit captions, she contacted police, who asked Phillips to take them down or face jail time. Police said the boy refused, saying, ‘Fuck that, I am keeping them up.’”
While I’ll admit, this one doesn’t get my sympathies, it’s still a scary precedent.
Nothing sells products better than fear. Parents who are afraid their children will be forever tainted by the Sexting epidemic are able to purchase special sim cards from Houston based Spygadgets.com. The sim cards allow parents to spy on their kids every text.
“‘Our phones have been ringing off the hook,’ says Jon Marshall, CEO of SpyGadgets.com in Houston, TX. ‘Parents just want to protect their kids and they are scared. Nobody wants to see their child end up in prison or have their future ruined just because of something like this.’ Marshall sells a cell phone spy device that is used to recover data from the SIM card found in some cell phones on the market. It can let you view text messages stored to the SIM card, even deleted text messages. While it won’t recover pictures from the phone, reading the messages will give a parent an idea of what their teen is texting.”
Sucks to be young….
Tags: Sex, sex-negative, sexting, teen