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April's Tip for
Parents
From ISVI's Information Technology (IT) Department
You Sent What?!?
They may have thought it was funny, they may have thought it was flirting. But,
they probably didn’t think it was a felony. Whatever you call it; six teenagers
(three girls and three boys) were arrested and charged with sending and
receiving child pornography. Which begs the question, why didn’t they think what
they did was a crime? The answer may surprise you – the racy photos in question
are self portraits taken by the three girls that they willingly shared with the
three boys.
Many experts agree that the high profile arrests and highly controversial case
from Pennsylvania falls under the legal definition of child pornography, which
is a felony. Since their arrest, five of the six students accepted a lesser
misdemeanor charge allowing them to avoid trial and the possibility of having to
register, if convicted, as a sex offender (the mother of one of the boys is
still considering to fight the charges against her son). The strict legal
response by law enforcement and prosecutors may have been an attempt to shine a
light on an increasingly common practice among teenagers: it’s called sexting.
Sexting is really a combination of two words, sexy texting. Students with
camera-equipped cell phones take nude, semi-nude, or erotic pictures of
themselves (sexy) and text message (texting) them to others. Most of the time,
the pictures are shared between friends; often it’s between boyfriend and
girlfriend. But, sometimes those self-portraits are sent to people they only
know online. A survey suggests that as many as 20% of American teens send
sexting messages.
The “Sex and Tech Survey” of teens and young adults, conducted by The National
Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy in January, shows that sexting
is a practice more common among teen girls (22%) than teen boys (18%).
Surprisingly, the survey shows that sexting starts at a young age – 11% of young
girls between the ages of 13 – 16 say they’ve sent a sexting message. And, not
surprisingly, teens apparently know that it’s wrong; 75% of teens who admit to
sexting say that sending sexually suggestive content can have serious negative
consequences. Police are investigating more than two dozen teens in at least six
states this year in connection with sexting.
Besides the legal issue, teens may not fully understand that once they send the
digital image, they lose control over it. The former boyfriend, for instance,
can e-mail the racy photo to his friends and classmates or post it on his
networking site for the online world to see, virtually forever.
Parents, now that you know about sexting, it’s a good idea to monitor your
children’s cell phone activity. Talk to them about online safety and how it
relates to cell phones. Teachers, children need to understand that they can’t
assume that what they send is going to remain private. Their best friends one
day may be rivals the next. Advise your children and students that it’s OK to
resist doing anything online that makes them feel uncomfortable. And, reinforce
the reality of Cyberspace, that anything sent never really goes away – so
it’s important for them to think before hitting the send key.
“Is it the kind of image that a teen would want someone on a college entrance
committee to see, or a job recruiter to find by conducting a normal online
search?”
Credits: This article was directly taken from the
I-Safe.Org's
I-Parent Times March, 2009 - April, 2009 Newsletter. It has been duplicated in
its entirety so parents of visually impaired young people can be equally
informed and actively involved in the Cyber safety of their children.
About I-SAFE, Inc.:
Founded in 1998, I-SAFE Inc. is the leader in Internet safety education.
Available in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Department of Defense schools
located across the world,
I-SAFE is a non-profit foundation whose mission is to educate and empower youth
to make their Internet experiences safe and responsible. The goal is to educate
students on how to avoid dangerous, inappropriate, or unlawful online behavior.
I-SAFE accomplishes this through dynamic K-12 curriculum and community outreach
programs to parents, law enforcement, and community leaders. It is the only
Internet safety foundation to combine these elements.
The I-SAFE Inc. Community Outreach initiative extends Internet safety awareness
beyond the classroom by bringing students, parents, school and community
leaders, and others together to spread this knowledge throughout the entire
community; www.isafe.org
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