Bill would criminalize some sexting

HARRISBURG – The state Senate’s Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would make it a crime for a minor to electronically transmit sexually explicit images of another minor with the intent to harass the person depicted in the image

Senate Bill 850, which was presented to committee Tuesday by state Sen. Stuart Greenleaf, R-Willow Grove, would modify the crimes code to create the offense of “cyber bullying and sexting by minors,” which would be classified as a third-degree misdemeanor.

Greenleaf’s bill would target only those minors who utilize images to intentionally harm another person, which clearly constitutes a crime, Levick said.

“It does not penalize children for engaging in what is often stupid, reckless, adolescent behavior, but focuses on harm, which is what our criminal justice system is designed to address,” Levick said.

The Greenleaf bill specifically makes it illegal for a minor to transmit an image of another minor in a state of nudity with the intent to “coerce, intimidate, torment, harass or otherwise cause emotional distress to the other minor.” The transmission must have been done without the minor’s knowledge or his or her consent.

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Sexting: Case of 14-Year-Old Girl Provides Cautionary Tale to Share With Teens

In a word: “sexting.”

It’s a hard problem to tackle. As The Times points out, kids have pitifully easy access to all sorts of technology and are growing up in the wake of the sexual revolution where you can’t pass a magazine stand without seeing all-but-naked women displayed as pieces of meat for hungry wolves.

Besides, until things go horribly wrong, teens think sexting is cool.

“Having a naked picture of your significant other on your cellphone is an advertisement that you’re sexually active to a degree that gives you status,” Rick Peters, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney for Thurston County in Washington state, tells the newspaper. “It’s an electronic hickey.”

Naturally, things have an uncanny knack for going horribly wrong.

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Apple patents ‘anti-sexting’ technology

Apple has patented technology that could be used by parents to prevent their kids from sending sexually explicit text messages — or “sexting.”

The technology, which has not been commercialized, would let a phone’s administrator block an iPhone from sending or receiving texts with certain words.

Messages containing blocked material either would not be received or would have the objectionable content redacted. Unlike other text blockers, Apple’s version would also be able to filter content based on a child’s grade level and claims to filter abbreviated words that maybe missed by other programs.

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Sexting and child porn: are they any different?

The difference between “sexting” and “child pornography” might seem obvious, but it’s not. Take one common metric for labeling something “child porn”—was it produced voluntarily? That question has its limits.

Adults can (and do) convince minors to take sexually explicit pictures by webcam, for instance. Or they acquire pictures of kids that were created voluntarily for a boyfriend or girlfriend but were later forwarded to others or posted on the ‘Net (after a bad breakup, say). Though the image might look exactly like child pornography, asking “how was this produced?” might make it difficult to prosecute those who collect and view child porn.

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Teens Recorded Sex Acts, Sent Them To Others As Text Messages

Pennsylvania is in the process of becoming compliant with a new federal law that allows juveniles found guilty of child pornography to be labeled sex offenders.

The teens were “sexting” — recording sex acts on their cell phones and sending them to others, state police said.

State police have charged eight Perry County teens with possession of child pornography.

Administrators at Susquenita High School in Duncannon recently caught three students with cell phones containing a video and pictures of other area juveniles performing sex acts on each other.Troopers charged five more juveniles with possessing and transmitting child pornography after finding out the teens allegedly sent the materials to others as text messages.

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52yr. old GA Man Has Been Implicated in “Sexting” Scandal with PA 14yr. old

A 52-year-old Georgia man has been implicated in a “sexting” scandal for allegedly soliciting a 14-year-old Tunkhannock Area Middle School student after he saw a semi-nude picture of her on the Internet. Scott Swanson of Hiawassee, Ga., was arrested Friday and charged with criminal solicitation and corruption of minors, Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. said Wednesday.

According to Skumanick, Swanson located the picture in November, and then began asking the teen for more sexually suggestive pictures.

Both the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Towns County sheriff’s office executed a search warrant Friday at Swanson’s place of business, Quest Global Angling Adventures in Hiawassee, where they found sexually suggestive photographs of the student as well as other child pornography on his computer.

Swanson was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and is being held at the Towns County Jail, pending a bond hearing April 29, GBI public affairs officer John Bankhead said, adding Pennsylvania authorities provided a referral about the case in March.

Called “sexting,” the growing trend of sending and trading provocative photos via cell phone has cropped up all over the country. It surfaced at Tunkhannock Area in October when Skumanick threatened 20 teens with child pornography charges after school district officials discovered nude and semi-nude photographs on cell phones confiscated from students. Skumanick told the students they could avoid prosecution if they signed up for a five-week educational program.

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‘Sexting’ Lands Teen on Sex Offender List

Phillip Alpert found out the hard way. He had just turned 18 when he sent a naked photo of his 16-year-old girlfriend, a photo she had taken and sent him, to dozens of her friends and family after an argument. The high school sweethearts had been dating for almost 2½ years. “It was a stupid thing I did because I was upset and tired and it was the middle of the night and I was an immature kid,” says Alpert.

Orlando, Florida, police didn’t see it that way. Alpert was arrested and charged with sending child pornography, a felony to which he pleaded no contest but was later convicted. He was sentenced to five years probation and required by Florida law to register as a sex offender.

As for Alpert, life is not easy as a registered sex offender, a label he will carry until the age of 43. He’s been kicked out of college, he cannot travel out of the county without making prior arrangements with his probation officer, he has lost many friends and is having trouble finding a job because of his status as a convicted felon. He says he feels terrible about sending the photo of his ex-girlfriend, especially since they were once so close.

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Parents fight child porn threats against “sexting” teens

Parents fight child porn threats against “sexting” teens Backed by the ACLU, a group of Pennsylvania parents is suing to block an enthusiastic DA who has threatened to file child porn charges against teen girls who appear semi-undressed in candid cell-phone photos—unless they agree to attend a five-week program on “what it means to be a girl in today’s society.”

It’s easy enough to understand the desire to deter “sexting”: when those images do get into the wild, as they all too easily do, they tend to spread with incredible speed, making an immature lapse of judgment a potentially permanent burden. On the other hand, the seven-year prison term that would accompany a conviction seems fairly burdensome too. And the girls would still find their photos plastered on the Internet: on Pennsylvania’s registered sex offenders website, along with residence and employment data.

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