The ‘Send’ button is forever.
That’s what Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy told a group of students, educators and parents at Shenendehowa High School on Monday, May 4, at a presentation geared at teaching about the realities and consequences of `sexting.`
Sexting is the practice of sending racy or pornographic photographs via cell phone or the Internet. It’s thought to occur mainly amongst teens and is increasingly becoming the subject of public scrutiny as more cases of sexting gone wrong pop up around the country.
According to one survey by the National Campaign, 20 percent of teens with a camera-equipped cell phone have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves, and the practice is even more popular among slightly older age groups.
It’s `21st century flirting,` said Murphy, whose office handles 30 to 40 sexting-type criminal cases per year, a number that has only increased over the years. With the prevalence of cell phones and their tiny cameras, teens are communicating in a more disconnected manner, sometimes with disastrous conclusions.
In a case in Saratoga County ` Murphy would not say where ` a high school girl sent a nude picture of herself to her boyfriend at his behest. Later, in the heat of an argument, he forwarded that image to friends in an act of retaliation.
Soon the image was on the Internet, and it was picked up by a pornography site in Holland. It then proceeded to bounce around the globe, hitting almost every continent and visiting dozens of computers within a single day. And after the image left the borders of New York and the U.S., the chances of ever recovering it became infinitesimal.
`It had devastating consequence for her,` said Murphy, who added that the girl eventually dropped out of school from the embarrassment. `She pushed ‘Send,’ and it’s gone forever. She can’t get it back. I can’t get it back.`
That sequence of events, though unusually devastating, is the standard story. Girls tend to send pictures to guys more often than vice-versa, and they are more often struck with the negative consequences.
Those consequences can include criminal charges when the photographs are of minors. In the above case, the girl sending a picture to her boyfriend is technically distributing child pornography, a felony that, with conviction, can lead to registration on the sex offender registry. The boyfriend is guilty of possessing child porn and of distributing it.
At least one 18-year-old in Florida is on a sex offender registry along with rapists and pedophiles for distributing photos of his 16-year-old girlfriend to friends.
The Saratoga County District Attorney’s office does not generally prosecute young girls whose photos end up distributed all over, said Murphy. The social fallout is usually punishment enough. For those who take the pictures and pass them on, however, legal ramifications are considered on a case-by-case basis.
`I do not believe that the Legislature intended to target middle school and high school students who were sending their picture to a boyfriend,` said Murphy. He said that most DAs in New York are like-minded.
In Vermont, the Legislature is considering a bill that would legalize the consensual exchange of graphic images between two people 13 to 18 years old. Passing along the images to others would remain a crime. The bill has passed the Senate and is being considered in the Assembly.
Supporters, who are quick to point out that they do not condone sexting, say it’s a reasonable way to protect teens from paying for their poor judgment for decades, and they argue it closes a loophole in sex offender laws that were never meant to be used to prosecute youngsters.
While that alleviates concerns about turning hormonal mistakes into life-altering felonies, Murphy worried that such a change might present adult criminals ` child pornographers, predators and pedophiles ` a crack to slip through.
`I worry about watering down the child pornography laws, because when we need them, we really need them,` said Murphy. `If you have a smart DA and a smart police department, that won’t happenIf you don’t have a smart DA, you don’t elect them again.`
Shenendehowa Superintendent L. Oliver Robinson said that while the district has not suffered any major incidences of sexting mishaps, teachers and officials are well aware that students sometimes pass inappropriate material via cell phone, and they thought it best to collaborate with Murphy’s office to get out in front of the issue.
`There was a clear indication to us that it could grow into something much more,` Robinson said. `It’s part of our modern day reality. With technology comes many new opportunities, but also challenges that we have to face as a school district.`
Just as big a problem as sexting from phones is the information that teens put on the Internet about themselves. With social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook becoming increasingly popular, it is easier than ever for college admissions, employers and the police to pull up details on a person with just few keystrokes.
Photos of inappropriate behavior can bar a student from college or dismiss them from a job interview.
`That moment is captured by somebody you least expect,` said Murphy. `Seven years later, that photo can come back to haunt you, and that’s a really tough lesson to learn.`
The solution to both the problem of sexting and social profiling is simple common sense, and sometimes that has to be passed on from parent to child.
`You control what photographs or what information gets sent out about yourself,` advised Murphy.
While parents can sometimes feel helpless when it comes to the electronic world their children increasingly inhabit, with its own language and etiquette, Murphy stressed the importance of becoming involved in children’s cellular and online habits.
Some tips:
Have passwords to your child’s online networking sites handy. Without a password, it can take police hours to get the proper authorization to enter the account in an emergency.
Consider setting limits on phone and computer usage. Having all of a household’s phones charge at night in one location is an example.
Talk to your children about their texting and online habits, and inspect their text message logs and Facebook or Myspace profiles.“