Pennsylvania Teens Will Not Face Child Porn Charges in “Sexting” Case

Apr 6th, 2009 • Posted in: News

They had sent seminude photos of themselves via cell phone — an increasingly common practice in the sexually charged teen cyberculture

SCRANTON, Penn.
A debate over laws and ethics applicable to emerging technology made headlines last week, as a federal judge in Pennsylvania declined to pursue child pornography charges against those who distributed seminude photos of teenage girls — in this case, the teenage girls themselves.

The practice of sending sexually suggestive pictures over cell phones or posting them on blogs — an activity increasingly known as sexting — has become a popular practice among some teens, reports the Agence France-Presse.

But in the words of a Christian Science Monitor report, “the disconnect between the legal system and the adolescent cyberculture became glaringly apparent” when two 13-year-old girls were threatened with child pornography charges for sending provocative photos of themselves.

The charge could have resulted in the girls being labeled as sex offenders and being forced to register with authorities for 10 years, reports PC Magazine.

The case started after about 20 teens from a Pennsylvania school were investigated after school officials found suggestive photos on cell phones confiscated from students, the Scranton Times-Tribune reports.

Sources: Christian Science Monitor, Apr. 3 — AFP, Apr. 1 — PC Magazine, Mar. 30 — Scranton Times-Tribune, Mar. 30.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Oct. 1, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 17, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 29, 2007 — Related Newsline story, May 21, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 26, 2007.

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2 Responses »

1. Ethics Newsline® » News » Privacy Issues — Some High-Tech, Some Decidedly Not — Prominent in Week’s News on April 13th, 2009 at 5:57 pm:

   [...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. 6 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 16 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 23 [...]

2. Ethics Newsline® » Commentary » Sexting and Our Moral Future on April 20th, 2009 at 2:38 pm:

   [...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. [...]

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