Teens' Nude Pics "Spread Like Wildfire"

Kids Who Use Cell Phones To Take Nude Self Portraits Rue It When The Pics Wind Up On The Web

(AP)  Teenagers are increasingly snapping naked pictures of themselves on their cell phones, officials say, with the photos often falling into the wrong hands.

Sometimes the photos end up in everyone's hands, via the Internet.

"It used to be that kids would make mistakes, and it was local and singular and everyone knew it was part of growing up," said Catherine Davis, who had a frank talk with her two sons after several students' nude self-portraits recently spread through the wealthy New York City-area suburb of Westport, Connecticut. "Now a stupid adolescent mistake can take on major implications and go on their record for the rest of their lives."

Such images are complicating the work of investigators whose job is to find exploited children. Authorities trying to identify youngsters in naked photos are increasingly discovering that the teens themselves took the shots, said John Shehan, a director at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

School administrators in Santa Fe, Texas, confiscated dozens of cell phones from students in May after nude photos of two junior high girls began circulating. The girls had sent the photos to their boyfriends, who forwarded them to others, officials said.

In La Crosse, Wisconsin, a 17-year-old boy recently was charged with child pornography, sexual exploitation of a child and defamation for allegedly posting nude photos of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend on his MySpace page. The girl had taken the pictures with her cell phone at her mother's home and e-mailed them to the boyfriend, authorities said.

"They were pretty graphic," said sheriff's Sgt. Mark Yehle. "I think they just do it to impress their boyfriends. When he breaks up, he `vents,' in his words, by posting them. He apparently didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He didn't know it was illegal."

Psychologists said the phenomenon reflects typical teenage hormones and lack of judgment, with technology multiplying the potential for mischief. It also may reflect a teenage penchant for exhibitionism, as demonstrated on MySpace and countless other Web sites and blogs.

Brianna Moran, 15, who attends the same school as the girl in the La Crosse case, said she is not surprised by such behavior. "They probably think they're hot or something. If you look at people's MySpace, all the pictures are slutty," she said.

In suburban Syracuse, New York, several teenage girls sent naked pictures on their phones to their boyfriends, only to learn that another boy had collected them from the Web and was trying to sell a DVD of them.

Some boys are photographing themselves, too. In Utah, a 16-year-old boy was charged with a felony for sending nude photos of himself over a cell phone to several girls. Four middle school students - two boys and two girls - in Daphne, Alabama, took photos of themselves on their cell phones and traded the images back and forth, authorities said.

Connecticut police Sgt. Jim Smith, who investigates cybercrime and online child pornography, conducts seminars in which he warns parents about the use of cell phones to send nude pictures.

"It's often so spur of the moment that they're not thinking about where those images might end up," Smith said. "They might think it's just fun and games at the time they do it, but these images can really spread like wildfire."

[pdalookout]

The same thing happened to my teen. We found out what she had done just after signing up with PDA Lookout where we could monitor her text messages and GPS. Thankfully we got her phone and her friend's phone before any real damage was done. www.pdalookout.com

[stampin35]

Our loved one was 19 when he met a young gal where he was working. She told him she was 17 and everyone working there, including him, had no reason to believe she was lying about her age. She looked mature, she acted mature and dressed very "mature." Even the boss that owned the store had not questioned her age. After several weeks of exchanging text messages, he found out that she was only 12. AND the only reason he found that out is when the mom confronted him in the store about her actual age. He stopped all conversations and told her she had to quit texting him or HE WOULD go to jail. SHe was underage. The two of them never met outside the walls of that store. THey never went on a date. They never touched each other. Over a year later, our boy was arrested and jailed on 250,000 dollar bond for electronic soliciation. These text messages lasted maybe 5 weeks. He moved on, met our daughter, was engaged to be married this year and has a 8 week old child. He remains in jail and his facing trial next week which could send him to prison for 13 years with *** offender for life. His lawyers as so much told him mom that this is out of their hands, and even tho they believe in his innocence, text messaging is ''so new to the court" they are not sure if he will be found innoncent of this.

[culturechang]

libsluv2spit,I can see how my comment was misunderstood. What I meant was that they put these severe punishments in place without realizing it was going to snar some innocent high schoolers. Yes, people who develop and distribute child porn should be punished severely, but the law does not make any exceptions based on circumstances. A 5 year old being raped is over the top. A 17 year old topless girl who sends a picture to her boyfriend is another deal, but the law is the law. It does not distinguish.

[closethippy1]

*** stands for S.E.X

[closethippy1]

Oh, the human body. What a beautiful and wonderful thing it is at ANY age.
I''m sick of people making a big deal out of anything that has to do with the human body and ***.
Get over it and let life flow, will ya?!

[jboxton]

Wow...when I was in high school girls were scared to KISS guys. I grew up one generation too early!

[haoli25]

Re: libsluv2spit


I am amazed that you can type with your head that far up your @ss.

[bobnjersey]

[feeling more of a prude now?? reckless liberalism is poison]
[Posted by libsluv2spit at 04:35 PM : Jun 05, 2008]

get a grip ... the technology is what''s allowing it to be a problem ... and the choices of these kids to use that technology in this way ... not liberals.

[denn034]

Of course, they''re going to spread like wildfire. $ex ed can only be contributing to this fad as well that''s for sure.

[culturechang]

Actually is was reckless conservatism that insisted on the Draconian child porn laws.....and a reckless conservative administration that has made it a criminal priority.