Australia. Parents get sext message

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, parents in Australia will be urged to snoop on their children in a bid to halt an alarming rise in the number of teenagers sending sexual images of themselves via mobile phone.

A NSW State Government campaign starting this week will remind youngsters and their parents that the growing practice of sending saucy pictures through cyberspace can have lifetime consequences.

Horrified by increasing evidence that more and more vulnerable girls are capitulating to their boyfriends' demands for sexy pictures, Community Services Minister Linda Burney will hit the airwaves to warn against such momentary madness.

Schools will receive no-holds-barred fact-sheets warning parents that "sexting" can haunt their kids for life, damaging careers and relationships. In a blunt warning, the fact-sheets explain it takes only the click of a button to "forward them or load them onto the internet.

Read full article.

High School Teacher Recounts "Sexting" Ordeal That Ruined His Career

danah boyd tweet points to this "chilling story of educator in a sexting mess," and says "We should all be horrified by the prosectors' obsession with 'sexting'." Ting-Yi Oei, the Virginia high school teacher in question, is male. All charges against him have since been thrown out of court. But as in the case with Julie Amero, that final acquittal doesn't erase the personal and professional damage caused -- nor does it make up for the reckless tech-stupidity of prosecutors and school officials involved in the case.

Ting-Yi Oei's "sexting" witchhunt story begins about a year ago, when a fellow teacher told him about a rumor that some teens at the school were texting naked self-portraits around to one another.

[via boingboing]

Federal Judge Sides with Teen Girls in Pa. Cell-phone ‘Sexting’ Case

A federal district judge in Allentown, Pa., has temporarily barred the district attorney of Wyoming County, Pa., from prosecuting three teen girls on felony child pornography charges for circulating two semi-nude photos of themselves to their classmates via cell phones two years ago. CNS News reports.

In one of the pictures, two 13-year-old girls posed together wearing bras, according to court documents. The other photo depicted a teen girl who was naked from the waist up.

The ACLU, representing the teens' parents, had filed suit against Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr, who had said he would pursue felony charges against the girls unless they agreed to participate in a five-week after-school sexual-harassment program and probation.

“Here you have a prosecutor threatening children with very serious felony charges when he has no basis in law to do so,” said Vic Walczak, legal director for ACLU Pennsylvania and the plaintiffs’ attorney in the case.

Walczak and the ACLU also claim that the images are protected First Amendment speech – and that the girls didn't consent to having their pictures distributed.

The federal judge agreed with the ACLU.

Read full article.

Related: - Prosecutor sued over semi-nude teen photos case

Prosecutor sued over semi-nude teen photos case

The American Civil Liberties Union sued a Pennsylvania prosecutor on Wednesday over his threats to charge three teenage girls with child pornography for allowing themselves to be photographed partly clothed with cellphone cameras. Reuters reports.

The case involves the growing practice among teens of "sexting," a play on the term texting, in which nude or semi-nude photos are sent on cell phones or posted on the Internet.

Pictures showing two of the girls wearing white bras, and another standing topless with a towel wrapped around her waist were discovered by school officials in October 2008, the ACLU said. The pictures did not show any sexual activity.

... "Kids should be taught that sharing digitized images of themselves in embarrassing or compromised positions can have bad consequences, but prosecutors should not be using heavy artillery ...to teach them that lesson," said Witold Walczak, ACLU Pennsylvania legal director.

3D porn for iPhone without special glasses

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, now iPhone lovers can use their hot devices to view steamy adult videos in 3D.

Adult Entertainment titan Pink Visual is filming porn videos that can be viewed in 3D on iPhones encased in Wazabee 3DeeShells tailored for the popular Apple mobile devices by German firm Spatial View .

3DeeShell is described as "protective skin" that iPhones can slide into. A window built into the shell allows 3D viewing without special eyeglasses.

Watch video demo.

Teens caught 'sexting' face porn charges

According to USA Today, a growing number of teens are ending up in serious trouble for sending racy photos with their cellphones.

Police have investigated more than two dozen teens in at least six states this year for sending nude images of themselves in cellphone text messages, which can bring a charge of distributing child pornography. Authorities typically are notified by parents or schools about so-called "sexting."

... In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Juvenile Court Judge Thomas O'Malley struggled to figure out what to do with eight teens, 14 to 17, caught trading nude cellphone pictures of themselves. He says the father of one of the girls found the images.

If the 17-year-old who sent the nude photos to an ex-boyfriend were convicted of a child-porn charge, he says, she would be a registered sex offender for 20 years.

"These kids have no record, not even a parking ticket," says O'Malley, a father of four teens.

He required each to do community service and to ask peers if they knew sexting was a crime. They told O'Malley they surveyed 225 teens; 31 knew.

Related:

-- Sexting: New, Dangerous Teen Trend

-- Sexting - fears as teens targeted

Police uncover German paedophile ring using mobile phones

A paedophile network in Germand distributing pictures on mobile phones has been busted, police said Friday, reports Earth Times.

Police found mobile phones being used to distribute pictures via MMS on a large scale.

"This is not the biggest case in Germany's history," the prosecution said, "but it has an extraordinary dimension".

The search, codenamed "Operation Susi", started after the mobile phone of a 33-year-old man was found to contain the telephone numbers of 465 men and women with whom he had exchanged pornographic images of children.

Around 1000 police were involved in the nationwide search Tuesday and Wednesday, seizing telephones, computers, videos and storage devices such as hard drives, USB sticks and CDs.

Navy voyeur filmed naked sailors

A British Navy officer who cut holes in the ceiling and walls of changing rooms so he could film female shipmates has been jailed for two years, reports the BBC.

... The court heard that he used his knowledge of the building and his engineering skills to find a space inside a wall, from where he filmed the clips over six months.

Teens charged for nude pics on phones

Police in Pennsylvania said six high school students are facing pornography charges after three girls sent photos of themselves via cell phones. UPI reports.

Greensburg police said the three female Greensburg-Salem High School students, ages 14 and 15, have been charged in Westmoreland County with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography after they allegedly took pictures of themselves -- two of the girls nude, the other semi-nude -- with their cell phones and sent them to other students, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Tuesday.

Three male Greensburg-Salem students, described as 16 and 17 years old, were charged with possession of child pornography after the pictures were found on their cell phones.

Lisa Rullo, former principal of the high school and current district director of student services, said students are made aware of laws and district rules regarding pictures on cell phones. "We inform the students that it still is child pornography (if they give or possess it) and ... this is something they don't want to have at all," she said.

Adult Entertainment Expo crashes the CES party

Apple might not want anything to do with it, but if one thing is clear, it's that porn on the iPhone is going to be huge. cnet news reports.

Blockquote>While there don't seem to be any porn-related apps available for the iPhone, there is a plethora of adult entertainment available on the Web, and a growing amount of that content is being optimized for Apple's hit device.

... Digital Playground is one of the adult content producer making their movies available on the iPhon, a Google search for "iPhone porn" returns millions of results. But Digital Playground seems to be among the most committed to building an iPhone-optimized site suitable for large amounts of its content.

Sexting - fears as teens targeted

An explosion of teenage sex texting is alarming Australian teachers, police and youth counsellors, reports Stuff.

"The mobile phone phenomenon, dubbed "sexting", led to 32 Victorian teenagers being charged with child pornography offences last year.

A survey by Australia's Girlfriend magazine found that four out of ten readers had been asked to forward a nude photo of themselves.

Sexting involves taking or sending an explicit photo of oneself and forwarding it to friends or potential suitors."

Also a problem in the US - Sexting: New, Dangerous Teen Trend (ABCNews, May 2008)

Man jailed over indecent images on cell phone

A 32-year-old man who used mobile phones to download more than 1,800 indecent images of children has been jailed for a year and a half. The BBC reports.

"Police found the images on three mobile phones and two memory cards. He had rigged up a system to allow him to view the images on his television."

How camera phones have fuelled frenzy of honour killing in Iraq

The murder of women who are deemed to have disobeyed traditional codes of morality is even more common in the rest of Iraq where government authority has broken down since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Independent reports.

"A surprising reason explaining the massive increase in the number of honour killings is the availability of cheap mobile phones able to take pictures. Men photograph themselves making love to their girlfriends and pass the pictures to their friends. This often turns out to be a lethal act of bravado in a society where premarital or extra-marital sex justifies killing.

The first known case of sex recorded on a mobile leading to murder was in 2004. Film of a boy making love with a 17-year-old girl circulated in the Kurdish capital, Arbil. Two days later she was killed by her family and a week later he was murdered by his.

Since then there has been a sharp increase in the number of women suffering violence – it is almost always the women rather than the men who suffer retribution – as a result of some aspect of their love life being pictured on mobile phones.

In 2007, at least 350 women, double the figure for the previous year, suffered violence as a result of mobile phone "evidence", according to Amanj Khalil of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, citing figures compiled by women's organisations and the police directorate in Sulaymaniyah.

The true figure is probably much higher. Bodies are buried in the mountains. Violence is concealed. Whole extended families and clans feel a genuine sense of shame because of some supposed act of immorality."

Image from Tree-in-the-Sea.

Teenager charged with felony in sending nude cell photos

A 16-year-old West Jordan High School student is the latest teenager to face felony charges after allegedly sending nude photos of himself over a cell phone to several female students. The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

"The boy was charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court this month in connection with allegedly sending a 16-year-old girl nude pictures of himself and texts about "sexual matters," according to charging documents. He's facing three counts of dealing in material harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony."

Mobile phone top-up in exchange for sexual photos

The BBC reports on a court case about a carpenter who was arrested for having underage sex with young girls.

Paul Etheridge, 24, had more than 200 indecent images of girls, aged 13 to 15, on his mobile phone and thousands more on his computer.

The court was told Etheridge offered mobile phone top-up vouchers to girls in return for them sending indecent images of themselves in messages.

Det Supt Pete O'Sullivan, of Surrey police, said: "Most worrying of all, he escalated from downloading internet images, to grooming girls to make their own photos and actually meeting a girl to carry out sexual acts.

"Technology provides a wealth of benefits for young people. But with many children now owning their own mobile phone or having a computer in their bedroom, parents must also be aware of the potential dangers."

Middle school students swap nude cell phone photos

Four students at Daphne Middle School in Alabama, two boys and two girls - in separate incidents - used cell phone cameras to take nude photos of themselves and exchanged the images, police said, reports The Associated Press.

"Police and school system officials have declined to release the students' names because of their age (between 11 and 12).

Photos from the incidents were apparently seen and exchanged by other students. Police do not believe the pictures resulted in any sexual contact or abuse.

"We're trying to educate and kids, as well as the parents, about what can occur with a cell phone," Beedy said. "If you give your child a cell phone with a camera, you need to be aware because of the trouble they can get into."

Porn to spice up cell phones

Size matters in pornography, except when it comes to tiny mobile phone screens, the next frontier for erotica. Reuters reports.

" If the adult entertainment industry has its way, Americans will soon get a choice of free porn on cell phones -- or at least some photographs of good-looking girls in bikinis.

Unlike in Europe, mobile porn has yet to take off in North America as carriers have been afraid of offending political and religious groups and parents concerned about children being exposed to adult content.

That may change this year as phone companies plan to loosen control on their networks to allow a wider variety of gadgets and services, while introducing new tools to shield minors. More advanced phones with better Web browsers like Apple Inc's iPhone also offer higher quality pictures and video."

Cell phone porn scandal hits U.S. school

Police tried to stop the spread of pornographic video and photos of two U.S. high school girls, images that were transmitted by cell phone to dozens of the girls' classmates and then to the wider world. MSNBC reports.

"... One of the girls in the images is shown engaging in a sex act with an unidentified boy, Martin said. The other girl took and transmitted a photo of her bare breasts, he said.

Students interviewed at the school Thursday said the pictures were circulated about two months ago, and that the images have been distributed well beyond the high school and even to people outside the state — including to Harvard University."

Sex offender banned from owning cameraphone

A sex offender in the UK has been banned from owning a cameraphone after he admitted keeping indecent images of girls as young as nine.

[via The Bolton News]

Mobile porn on Telus phones upsets archbishop

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Vancouver is considering cancelling contracts with Telus after the phone company began making pornography available through its cellphones. The Star reports via SMS Text News.

"Canada's second largest phone company now offers pornographic photos and videos to its customers and confirms it has been receiving complaints from upset customers.

Archbishop Raymond Roussin is upset, saying the move takes the "accessibility of pornographic material further into the public realm.

"Given the increasing awareness about the problem of sexual addiction to pornography through Internet access, and the abuse that this perpetuates of vulnerable persons, Telus's decision is disappointing and disturbing."

Spain launches cellphone paedophilia crackdown

Nearly 50 people suspected of exchanging child sex pictures and videos over mobile telephones and the Internet are under investigation in Spain, authorities said on Thursday, according to AFP.

"... The investigation into the source of the images exchanged has extended to Argentina, Colombia and the United States.

Spanish police said they analysed 73 000 cellphone text messages, searched 45 homes and seized roughly 100 cellphones and 3 000 archives with paedophile content as part of their investigation."

Mobile sex video prompts virginity tests in Indonesia

A plan to carry out virginity tests on female high school students in a district in Indonesia's West Java province has been dropped after a public outcry, reports Reuters.

"The head of Indramayu district, Irianto Syafiuddin, is reported to have made the proposal for virginity tests after a video showing two high school students having sex circulated via mobile phones."

"We can't accept this idea. It's unfair as the porn video was just an isolated case," a female student, Gita, said.

Many in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, place high value on virginity, although pre-marital sex is not uncommon among the younger generation."

Iran to filter "immoral" mobile messages

Iran's Telecommunications Ministry will start filtering "immoral" video and audio messages sent via mobile phones, state television reported on Saturday. Reuters reports.

"The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, a body set up after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has instructed the ministry to buy the equipment needed to prevent any misuse of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), it said.

... It did not give details of the techniques it would use to filter such messages, when it would start or how it would define "immoral" messages."

Picture from Payvand's Iran News.

PixelMeTV: user generated mobile porn

PixelMeTV allows users to upload (porn) videos and then receive a percentage of the income when the clip is downloaded. Pocket Picks reports.

We’re planning to turn the PixMeTV platform into the first place that ordinary members of the public go to buy and sell their home-made adult mobile movies” Ed Baker, Director of PixMeTV told Mobile Business".

Beijing cracks down on mobile phone porn

According to the AFP, Beijing has banned sending pornographic text messages or pictures via mobile phones after busting phone dealers who sold mass-storage devices containing porn.

"Violators face fines of up to 3,000 yuan ($385) and two weeks in detention, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting city public security authorities. Those who sell such content face jail terms between six months and three years.

In the past three weeks, Beijing police have arrested 19 second-hand mobile phone dealers who were found selling storage devices containing pornographic pictures or films.

The chips can hold an hour-long film and were being sold for only five or six yuan (about 60 to 80 cents) each, a security official told Xinhua."

Adult star Tera Patrick to host mobile porn blog called "moistmob"

Adult star Tera Patrick has signed up to host a mobile portal called, Moistmob, launched by Spanish adult firm Cherrysauce. (You can't make that up!)

"Tera will have a personal blog on Moistmob to introduce the site to users, and give news on new content, launches and videos. “It is really exciting to be part of the meeting of the minds of adult, mainstream, celebrity and converging technologies,” says Tera.

[TechDigestTV via Pocket Picks]

Telus suspends porn downloads to cellphones after flood of complaints

Telus is suspending the adult-content service following a flood of complaints from customers, shareholders and religious leaders. The service was first introduced in January, making Telus the first wireless provider in Canada to offer pornographic photos and videos.

Related:

-- Canadian Company Offers Nude Photos via Cellphone

-- Porn on Telus phones upsets the archbishop of Vancouver

Canadian Company Offers Nude Photos via Cellphone

With no publicity, Telus included a new “adults only” section last month on a list of items its five million wireless customers could download from it. After passing a credit card check for proof of age, users can buy photos of naked men and women or buy one- to two-minute video clips. The New YorkTimes reports.

"Jim Johannsson, a Telus spokesman in Edmonton, Alberta, said the company decided to offer the new service after reviewing its customers’ mobile Web browsing habits. The company found, he said, that 13 of the 25 most-popular sites were what he called “adult content".

The service makes Telus the first wireless carrier in North America to sell sex-related content, and it has already been condemned by the archbishop of Vancouver, British Columbia, the company’s hometown."

Porn on Telus phones upsets the archbishop of Vancouver

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Vancouver is considering cancelling contracts with Telus after the phone company began making pornography available through its cellphones. The Toronto Star reports.

"Canada's second largest phone company now offers pornographic photos and videos to its customers and confirms it has been receiving complaints from upset customers.

Telus introduced the service in January. In doing so, it became the first wireless provider in the country to offer pornographic photos and videos.

Archbishop Raymond Roussin is upset, saying the move takes the "accessibility of pornographic material further into the public realm."

Roussin told The B.C. Catholic newspaper that the move is especially ill-considered because of the problems pornography is causing in society.

But, said Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson, the company is not breaking the law nor is it providing something that has not been available on cellphones for some time.

"We have the utmost respect for (Roussin's) perspective but the reality is that adult content has been available on cellphones equipped with web browsers for the past several years with no controls of any kind," Johannsson said."

Children film sex on their mobiles

Children are using mobile phones to film each other having sex and are then sending the images to classmates, reports The Sunday Times.

"Experts say the trend is growing and draw comparisons to the “happy slapping” craze in which children use mobile phone cameras to film assaults on members of the public.

Two weeks ago a 13-year-old boy was caught with footage on his mobile phone of two fellow pupils aged 15 having sex near their school in Warwickshire.

In another case last summer a 16-year-old boy used his mobile phone to film a 14-year-old girl having sex in a bedroom at a house party in Perth and sent the images to his school friends.

Some blame the trend on the ease with which children can access pornography on the internet or mobiles, so they become desensitised to images normally regarded as shocking.

Andrew Durham, a consultant practitioner at the Sexualised Inappropriate Behaviours Service, which deals with children’s sexual problems, said: “It is now a feature within young people’s culture that these incidences get filmed. It is similar to the way people use phones to film others being assaulted.”

... Experts believe many children are unaware that sending pornographic images can fall foul of the law.

Last month, in one of the first such court cases, a 16-year old boy admitted passing on video footage of a friend having sex with an underage girl. "

Naked cellphone video leads to resignation

An Indonesian lawmaker, who was head of the government's spiritual affairs committee, has resigned from parliament over a cell phone sex video which showed him cavorting naked with a singer, reports IOL.

"Yahya Zaini, a married member of parliament from the country's biggest political party, was caught with singer Maria Eva on footage shot on her cellphone."

Racy videos prompt call to ban cell phones in school

According to Radio Jamaica,the teachers unions in Trinidad and Tobago have called upon the Ministry of Education to implement a ban on cell phones in schools.

"The calls follow reports that school children in Tobago were caught filming themselves in graphic sexual acts on cell phones. Those reports are being investigated by police."

Mobile adult video constitute 50% of the global market?

According new research by Juniper Research, the global market for mobile text based adult services (currently 20% of the market) is forecast to peak by next year at $303 million.

After which revenues from this type of service will decline as media-rich graphics and video services become even more dominant. Netimperative reports.

"In marked contrast, mobile adult video services which already constitute 50% of the global market, will continue their rapid rise in popularity to reach $1.7bn in 2009, eventually realising $2.4bn by 2011.

By 2011 they will account for over 70% of mobile adult content market revenues, the report predicts. "

(Picture left from Netcollex.

Bus driver sent girl camphone clip of soldier being beheaded

A schoolbus driver who sent a clip of a Russian soldier being beheaded to a 12-year-old girl’s cellphone faces a jail sentence, reports The Times Online.

"John Stoneman, 39, admitted sending the girl the 30-second video clip as he drove her to school. Magistrates in Yeovil were told that the girl was distressed by the video, which is believed to have been made by rebels in Chechnya.

Stoneman was arrested after the message was traced to his phone. ... South Somerset magistrates were told that Stoneman sent the message as he took the girl to school in the village of Bower Hinton, near Yeovil. "

Related incidents:

-- Beheading video man sent to jail - A man who used his mobile phone to replay footage of a beheading in Iraq to a hotel shop worker has been jailed for 60 days (September 2005)

-- Mobile video footage of a hostage beheading - A man has been convicted of showing video footage of a hostage beheading in Iraq to a woman on his mobile phone (August 2005).

Party-goes take camera phone photos of dying 15 year old girl

Partygoers who saw a 15-year-old girl fatally shot at a middle school graduation party used their camera phones to record images of her as she lay dying, reports CBS via Alan Reiter's Camera Phone Report.

This reminds of another horrific story that happened in Birmingham lat July, where youths used camera phones to take pictures of a young boy who impaled himself on his bicycle, hampering the work of firefighters.

Cambodian PM bans 3G phones in anti-porn drive

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has banned 3G mobile phones - for a suggested 10 years - after a complaint from his wife and her friends about receiving pornography on them, according to Reuters.

"I have written to the Minister of Telecommunications to delay the use of certain mobile phones," Hun Sen told an assembly of Buddhist monks in Phnom Penh on Friday. "We can wait 10 more years until we have managed to improve morality in society."

Cameraphone video of gang rape erased - suspects go free

Four youths suspected of gang-raping a 16-year-old schoolgirl in a Berlin park last week and filming the the sexual attack with cameraphone have been released, fuelling anger in the German capital, reports Antara News.

"The youths, aged 13 to 15, allegedly attacked their victim as she walked home from school.

While allegedly gang-raping the girl, the youths are reported to have filmed the sexual attack with a cameraphones. Media reports say the four later boasted about the rape to other school children and sent copies of the video to friends.

Police who detained the four earlier this week have so far not found any film footage of the alleged rape. There is suspicion the video pictures may have been erased and mobile phones of the suspects are being analysed by experts in a bid to retrieve any pictures."

Teacher's Suggestive Cell Phone Video Surfaces

A suggestive mobile video sent by a former teacher to the teenage student she had sex with is being transmitted around town on cell phones, reports NBC4i.

"Former Tennessee elementary school teacher Pamela Rogers is back in jail after authorities said she sent the video over a cell phone to the 14-year-old boy she was convicted of having sex with.

Investigators said she sent almost 20 videos at a time when she was ordered to have no contact with the boy. As a result, she is back in jail on probation violation charges."

Related:

-- Teacher's saucy video is a hit

-- Nude teacher mobile snap wows Cyprus

Vodafone floats curfew on adult shows

Vodafone is proposing to broadcast video clips with restricted content to mobile phones only after a "watershed" time, similar to that which applies to free-to-air TV, where restricted content is only shown after 8.30pm on school nights and later on weekends. Stuff reports.

"Under the mobile content code, restricted content could include sex scenes, nudity, violence, and offensive language.

The proposal would mean Vodafone would be able to stream such content at night without requiring age verification"

Hospital staffer accused of molesting comatose children and taking cell phone photos of himself in the act

This has got to be the darkest story every on how someone (mis)used a cameraphone.

The Associated Press reports that a respiratory therapist has been accused of molesting brain-damaged, comatose boys and girls, taking cell- phone photos of himself in the act, and posting them on the Internet.

"Wayne Albert Bleyle, 54, is in jail on $5 million bail after pleading not guilty to two counts of child molestation and 24 counts of child pornography. But prosecutor Laura Gunn said Bleyle molested many more patients over the past decade, preying on the hospital's weakest of the weak, including youngsters who would never be able to speak.

Gunn said that when an investigator asked how many children he had abused, Bleyle replied: "How many snowflakes are there out there?"

Cell phone used to nab subway flasher

New York City police say a 15-year-old girl used her cell phone camera to snap a picture of a man who was exposing himself to her on the number seven train about a week and a half ago, reports the Associated Press.

"Police released the man's photo and said it was taken at 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Queens".

Related:

-- Associated Press

-- Subway pervert arrested

-- Mobile Phone Sousveillance In Action Again

Porn sent to new cell phone - but cell phone number was recycled

This is the second story I've read about new cell phones sold with recycled cell phone numbers, padding the new owners bills with subscriptions by previous owners. The first was in the US, this one happened in England.

A UK dad is outraged that his teenage son was bombarded with unsolicited pornographic text messages through his mobile phone - and charged for it, according to the local paper in his hometown, The Wilmslow Express.

The father bought his son a cameraphone for his 17th birthday and was shocked to receive a bill for £150 the first month.

According to the paper."His son told him someone was sending him adult content - explicit and pornographic material- but he did not know who, why or even how to stop it.

Will, a training consultant, discovered his son had been given a recycled phone number and the previous owner had signed up to an adult dating service.

Related:

-- Getting a new Cell Phone -- and the Old Owner's Subscriptions - An interesting article in The Washington Post on how the US cell phone industry phone industry routinely recycles used cell phone numbers and how subscriptions to online services from previous owners can be charged to new users.

Unwitting cameraphone porn stars

MSNBC writes on the perils of cameraphones, as young people are using them to film intimate moments and how these moments, first spread, then take on a life of their own.

Picture left, women posing for a camera phone photo in Ormond Beach, Florida

"The top three subjects the blogosphere was buzzing about last week via Technorati, were “Tammy,” “ Tammy Download” and “Nyp Tammy.”

According to The Star (Malaysia), “Tammy” was a 17-year-old Singapore student who filmed herself having sex with her boyfriend on her videophone. The phone was lost — then found — by people who released the video onto the Internet.

“I have done nothing wrong,” “Tammy” told The Straits Times, a Malaysian newspaper. “I don’t know why people are making such a big fuss about it. Everyone does it [films video clips of themselves], even my friends.”

“It was just for fun ... we don’t intend to be porn stars,” she added.

... The second part of her statement should make people take notice: more young people are snapping pictures and video of themselves on their camera phones... and not always in the best situations.

Those that post their camera phone snapshots online may not intend to become “porn stars,” but as law enforcement and the media have time and time again pointed out, that may be what they unwittingly become to online predators. This raises the question: are camera phones and the Internet a perfect match… or a perfect storm?"

Cameraphone Sex clip scandal rocks India

Two second-year electronics studentsarrested on Monday for filming and circulating an oral sex clip featuring their female classmate, according to The Times of India.

The MMS clip was filmed about three months ago. Hanuj allegedly made the girl perform oral sex on him and captured her movements on his mobile handset, a Nokia 6680. The girl did not realise that she was being filmed.

According to the police, Hanuj showed the MMS clip to his friend Nikhil and the duo downloaded the pictures on a computer and sent the MMS to their friends.

On learning about the MMS, the girl left Aurangabad. “We will take action against the students involved in the whole affair,” said principal of JNEC College, S. Deshmukh."

Happy Shagging

UK's Daily Snack reports that randy teens have sparked a new craze, "happy shagging".

Teenagerss are using mobile phones to film themselves having sex then forwarding the clips to their friends, in a new trend they call "daisy chains".

"Kids as young as 13 are taking part in the group sex sessions. Health workers in south London were tipped off about the craze by a parent who found a sex film on their child’s mobile."

[via MobHappy]

A few days ago, Swiss daily Le Matin had a story about youngsters exchanging hard porn and violent clips over their mobile phones, though not engaging in sex themselves. And in the small Canton of Appenzell, police got hold of a teenager's phone that had clips of authentic beheadings.

[via Textually.org/fr]