Texting Daughter's Nude Photo To Teach Her A Lesson

Someone needs to revise his parenting skills... Forbes reports on one of the more (misguided) sexting stories yet.

Eugene Foster, 31 found a naked photo of his girlfriend’s daughter on her phone. After an argument about the photo, he decided to “teach her a lesson” about what could happen and “sexted” it out on her behal. He sent the photo to [38] contacts in her phone.

Now Foster is learning a lesson — that’s it’s illegal to send naked photos of minors. He’s been arrested for sexual exploitation of a minor, reports 3TV. It’s unclear whether he’ll also be charged with distributing child pornography.

[Forbes full article via azfamily.com]

Smartphones exposing children to porn

Around 1.2 million children have looked at violent or pornographic websites on their mobile telephones, according to a study that reveals the extent to which parents struggle to monitor their offspring’s activity online. The Telegraph reports.

Children as young as eight are using smartphones to browse illicit content on the internet, the research found.

The poll of just over 1,000 children aged eight to 15, conducted by YouGov for Carphone Warehouse, found that nearly half owned a smartphone such as the iPhone.

... Nearly nine out of 10 children questioned had no security settings on their telephones, and 46 per cent of parents were unaware that they were even necessary.

Read full article. Image from Digital Life'ss article How to block Internet porn from your kids.

Silent camera apps blamed for increased voyeurism in Japan

According to Mercury News via TheNextWeb, Japan’s National Police Agency reports that 1,741 cases of illicit photography were reported in the country last year, a 1.6-fold increase on the number reported five years ago. A series of apps are being blamed for the rise.

One third of the incidents are reportedly from photo taken by smartphones, according to a police spokesperson, who suspects that the grown of silent camera apps — which remove the shutter sound that plays when a photo is taken — has given wannabe voyeurs an ideal way to grab sneaky shots.

Previously: Upskirt Photographers Use Silent Smartphone Apps.

Pakistan’s Taliban Launches Jihad Against Sexting

The Taliban are on a new jihad against the always-on future. Leaflets are turning up in the tribal areas calling camera phones “the source of promoting obscenity and vulgarity,” reports Pakistan’s The News via Wired.

Over 300 cellphones and a dozen computers have been seized and burned so far. The Taliban have reportedly shut down sales of cameraphones and asked tribesmen to cooperate against the “misuse” of those they’ve yet to confiscate.

“The Taliban said they had already banned watching movies and listening to music,” The News reports. “Some of the people, they claimed, were still using their computers for watching movies and music and they had to initiate action against them.” The audacity!

It wasn’t long ago that the Taliban had a different beef with cellphones: They were essentially electronic homing devices for the armed drones overhead. Trackers placed in SIM cards used in militants’ cellphones told the drones who to kill, Taliban propaganda used to argue. Now the anti-cellphone campaign is a mechanism for social control.

Read full article.

Related articles to the Taliban and cellphones blogged by textually over the years.

Teen Sexting Not the Norm, Says Study

Studies suggest that sexting among teens may not be as common as many people think it is. ABC News reports.

One study, Prevalence and Characteristics of Youth Sexting: A National Study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that 2.5 percent of the young people surveyed participated in some sort of sexting activity in the past year, but only 1 percent admitted activity that included material considered child pornography, meaning images or videos that featured naked genitals, breasts or buttocks.

But if the definition of sexting is broadened to include sexually suggestive images, such as provocative poses with no nudity or appearing almost nude, the number of kids participating in it jumps to nearly 10 percent. Most kids participate in sexting either as a prank or while they're in a relationship.

... Dr Michael Rich, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School told ABC News in November that the number of teens who sext seems to be dropping, possibly because they are more aware of the consequences of their behavior.

"In other words, their awareness of the risk is now increased," he said.

Read full article. Image from Patrick Deese Sexting Series.

Facebook Is the Final Frontier in Amateur Porn

The cutting-edge of online smut is stalker porn: private sexy pics posted without their subjects' consent, paired with a screenshot of their Facebook profile. Gawker reports.

That's the model that's made IsAnyoneUp.com an increasingly popular destination in online porn, with 30 million pageviews a month. The site features nude pictures of young men and women, along with their real names and their Facebook account. Most of the pictures look like they were meant for private sexts with a lover, not the entire internet, and that's because many of them were.

... There's not much subjects can do to get their pictures taken down—all the pics are user submitted, so he's protected by the Communications Decency Act of 1996. In fact, attempts to evade IsAnyoneUp's attention seems to get fans off even more. When one of IsAnyoneUp's subjects tried to vanish online, a "hoember alert" is put out.

Read more.

In Japan, 'Up-skirt' photos increasing

Upskirting, down-blousing, the first evil side of cameraphones to make headline news in 2003 are back with an article in today's Daily Yomiuri Online.

According to Japan's National Police Agency, the total number of identified cases of up-skirt photos and videos taken in stations and on trains and illicit filming at public baths and bathrooms was 1,087 in 2006. The number jumped to 1,741 cases in 2010. Of those, 1,702 were cases of up-skirt photos and videos, accounting for about 98 percent.

... Especially noteworthy were videos taken using cell phones. Fifty percent of arrests made by the prefectural police on suspicion of violating the public nuisance ordinance involved filming using cell phone video cameras.

Read more. Image from aware.

Teens start sexting as a way to fit in, says Australian study

Teenagers are feeling pressure to send sexual images of themselves and others by mobile phone in what is becoming a potentially pervasive practice of ''sexting'', according to an Australian government-funded research.

Young people are experiencing pressure not only from each other but also from the "insidious" influence of a sexualised media culture that pressured them to be involved in sexting in order to fit in, Melbourne University researcher Shelley Walker says.

Read full article in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Sexting Videos sold on the Internet by Adolescents

According to Corriere della Sera, Italian adolescents film each other with camera phones, swap videos and sell them on internet.

Once upon a time, it was football cards but today’s kids swap hard-core videos of their classmates.

... It’s only a short step from shooting videos at school to webcams. Marina, 16, has been taking her clothes off on Skype in exchange for mobile top-ups for the past two years. The first time was when she answered a message on Facebook eloquently entitled: “Wanted. Girls for sale. Web-based work. No commitment”. She’s earning money and the admiration of her peers for very little effort. At least, that’s the way she sees it.

Read full article.

Numbers on college kids and sexting

More than half of all college students have received sexually suggestive images via text messaging, and nearly 80 percent have received suggestive messages, according to research by University of Rhode Island faculty in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. [via Cellular News]

In their survey of 204 college students conducted last spring, they found that:

-- 56 percent of the students had received sexually suggestive images

-- 78 percent had received sexually suggestive messages

-- Two-thirds of the group had sent sexually suggestive messages. While most of the messages (73 percent) were sent to a relationship partner, 10 percent were sent without consent of the person who originally sent the message.

Related: N.J. bill to address teen cell phone 'sexting' approved by state Senate panel - Juveniles caught sending sexually explicit photographs via their cell phones would not face criminal prosecution but rather intense education on the ramifications under a bill approved on Monday by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

He Sexts, She Sexts More, Report Says

A recent study has found that women are more likely to send sexually explicit text messages than men, but the findings may be skewed. The New York Times reports.

... There are major caveats to the study: Surveying users of a Web site for swingers does not compare to taking a nationally representative poll or conducting a community study.

Read full article. Image from 3G 4G Wireless Blog.

N.J. bill to address teen cell phone 'sexting' approved by state Senate panel

Juveniles caught sending sexually explicit photographs via their cell phones would not face criminal prosecution but rather intense education on the ramifications under a bill approved on Monday by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. Newsroom Jersey reports.

The measure (A-1561) was approved 78-0 by the Assembly in March. It now moves to the full Senate for final legislative approval.

Prosecutors in several states have even charged teenagers with criminal offenses, including distribution of child pornography.

“Teens need to understand the ramifications of their actions, but they shouldn’t necessarily be treated as criminals,” Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), a co-sponsor, said. “We need to create a path that places education and forgiveness before arrest and prosecution. Young people – especially teen girls – need to understand that sending inappropriate pictures is not only potentially illegal, but can leave an indelible mark on them socially and educationally.”

Read full article. Image from The Examiner.

Related articles on sexting blogged on textually and picturephoning over the years.

States weigh relaxing penalties for sexting

In many US states, teens caught sending X-rated photos can risk felony charges, jail time and being branded sexual offenders. stuff reports.

Now lawmakers around the country are looking at adjusting child pornography laws to prevent minors caught sexting from facing serious punishment.

They say they sexting didn't exist when they passed tough penalties for child pornography.

Legislatures in Rhode Island and 20 other states have considered bills this year to adjust penalties for teen sexting.

Read full article.

Related:

-- 14-year old child pornographers? Sexting lawsuits get serious - If a 14-year old boy coerces a 14-year old girl into making a sex video on a cellphone, then releases that video on the Internet, can he be charged as a child pornographer? A federal case in Kentucky may set key precedent.

--New Bill Would Let Sexting Teens Avoid Charges New Jersey teenagers caught texting or posting sexually explicit photos online could avoid prosecution under a measure that would give first-time offenders the chance to complete a diversionary program.

-- Court Says Parents Can Block ‘Sexting’ Cases - In the first federal appeals court opinion dealing with “sexting” — the transmission of sexually explicit photographs by cellphone — a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in March 2010, that parents could block the prosecution of their children on child pornography charges for appearing in photographs found on some classmates’ cellphones.

Anthony Weiner Confesses to Lewd Text Messages

On Monday, Rep. Anthony Weiner admitted to sending pictures to and having explicit online relations with not just one but at least six women. AllMedia NY reports.

After a photo of his package was sent to 21-year-old Gennette Cordova on his public Twitter feed, Weiner got cocky with the media, denying that it was his fault and claiming that it was a “prank” and “Twitter hoax.” Yesterday, his story changed—though he still swore he had not met with any of the women, nor had he used government resources while contacting them.

I have made terrible mistakes that have hurt the people I care about the most,” he said in the conference, “and I am deeply sorry. I have exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years.

Read full article.

Sexting Over Forty

The Wall Street Digits blog on how “Sexting” isn’t just for teens — or congressmen.

The admission Monday by New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, 46 years old, that he sent “inappropriate” messages and lewd photos of himself to women he met online is a reminder that teenagers aren’t the only ones who engage in such behavior.

People like to throw around statistics on the number of teens sexting these days. (It ranges from 4% to more than 30%, depending on things like whether the researchers counted images sent over the Internet or text messages only.)

But many of the researchers who have studied teenage sexters have also found that adults were actually more likely to send such photos.

Read full article.

A Girl’s Nude Photo, and Altered Lives

Law enforcement officials and educators are struggling with how to confront minors who “sext.” In this 5 page article, The New York Times tells the story of how a naked photo taken by a teenager girl and forwarded to her boyfriend, turns into a nightmare.

In short order, students would be handcuffed and humiliated, parents mortified and lessons learned at a harsh cost. Only then would the community try to turn the fiasco into an opportunity to educate.

Read full article.

14-year old child pornographers? Sexting lawsuits get serious

If a 14-year old boy coerces a 14-year old girl into making a sex video on a cellphone, then releases that video on the Internet, can he be charged as a child pornographer? A federal case in Kentucky may set key precedent. arstechnica reports.

The case began late in 2005, when an eighth grade girl at the Montessori Middle School of Kentucky developed a crush on a boy.

The two would attend the same Lexington Catholic High School in the fall of 2006 as freshmen. According to the complaint, the boy soon “made several telephone calls to the Plaintiff telling her that he wanted her to create a video with her telephone showing herself pleasuring herself, a video which Defendant [name redacted] said he would use when he masturbated."

The girl at first refused, but the boy allegedly told her that "he would not be her friend at Lexington Catholic High School" without the video.

This continued for some time, with the boy allegedly sending text messages to the girl in June 2006 in which he promised to “keep the sexually explicit video secret.” The girl gave in. According to the complaint, she was “finally coerced, enticed, and persuaded” to produce an 8 to 10 second video clip of herself masturbating, which she sent to the boy using her cell phone.

Fast-forward to September, when both the boy and the girl entered ninth grade at Lexington Catholic. Only a few weeks into the school year, the boy was allegedly convinced by one of his friends to transfer the cell phone video to his computer. From there, it was a small step to uploading the short clip onto the Internet, with predictable results. (An alleged attempt to upload the clip to YouTube, where it might have received even wider dissemination, was “unsuccessful because of the sexually explicit nature of the content.”)

Read more.

Related:

-- Bill would let 'sexting' NJ teens avoid charges - New Jersey teenagers caught texting or posting sexually explicit photos online could avoid prosecution under a measure that would give first-time offenders the chance to complete a diversionary program.

-- Court Says Parents Can Block ‘Sexting’ Cases - In the first federal appeals court opinion dealing with “sexting” — the transmission of sexually explicit photographs by cellphone — a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in March 2010, that parents could block the prosecution of their children on child pornography charges for appearing in photographs found on some classmates’ cellphones.

Bill would let 'sexting' NJ teens avoid charges

According to Phlly.com, New Jersey teenagers caught texting or posting sexually explicit photos online could avoid prosecution under a measure that would give first-time offenders the chance to complete a diversionary program.

State Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt of Camden, who is sponsoring the bill said it's important to teach teens the potential consequences of their actions without saddling them with a permanent criminal record.

The bill won unanimous support from both parties in a committee and is headed for the Assembly floor. A version must also pass the Senate for it to become law.

[via Switched]

Related:

-- Court Says Parents Can Block ‘Sexting’ Cases - In the first federal appeals court opinion dealing with “sexting” — the transmission of sexually explicit photographs by cellphone — a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in March 2010, that parents could block the prosecution of their children on child pornography charges for appearing in photographs found on some classmates’ cellphones.

Crime scene photo of corpse posted on Facebook gets employee fired

A former New York City emergency medical technician was fired from his job, after posting a cameraphone picture of a corpse taken at a crime scene on Facebook.

[via Cellular News]

FBI: New Barbie 'Video Girl' doll could be used for child porn

The FBI is warning law agencies that the new Barbie "Video Girl" doll could be used as a tool by pedophiles to make child pornography. CNN reports.

In an alert entitled "Barbie 'Video Girl' a Possible Child Pornography Production Method," the FBI said the doll has a built-in hidden camera in the chest and a small LCD screen for video display in her back.

The FBI "cyber crime alert" doesn't cite any misuse of the doll, which has been on the market since July, but talks about the possibility.

Previously - Call to boycott Barbie with built-in camera

Man accuses officer of forwarding his personal photos

A man who was arrested by police has accused an officer of confiscating his cell phone and forwarding sexually explicit personal photos to himself and at least one other person.

[via Cellular News]

American Civil Liberties Union Settles Student Cell Phone Search Lawsuit

The ACLU of Pennsylvania has settled a lawsuit alleging that the Tunkhannock Area School District (Wyoming County) illegally searched a student's cell phone, punished her for storing semi-nude pictures of herself on the device, and then referred her case for criminal prosecution to the district attorney's office. Cellular News reports.

Under the settlement, the school district denied any liability or wrongdoing but agreed to pay the student and her lawyers US$33,000 to resolve the dispute. The student's claims against the District Attorney's Office were not settled and will proceed through litigation.

The case began in January 2009 when a teacher confiscated the cell phone of the 17-year-old pupil, for using the phone after homeroom began, a violation of school policy. Later that morning, the principal informed N.N. that he had found "explicit" photos stored on her cell phone, which he turned over to law enforcement. He then gave her a three day out-of-school suspension, which she served.

The photographs, which were not visible on the screen and required multiple steps to locate, were taken on the device's built-in camera and were never circulated to other students in the school. N.N. appeared fully covered in most of the photographs, although several showed her naked breasts and one indistinct image showed her standing upright while fully naked. The photographs were intended to be seen only by N.N.'s long-time boyfriend and herself.

The ACLU-PA hoped to use this case to help alert school officials across Pennsylvania to students' privacy rights in their cell phones.

Read full article and ACLU press release.

Porn Industry Successfully Commercializes iPhone’s FaceTime

According to Mac Observer, adult Web site company iP4Play.com, which announced Tuesday that it has successfully brought commercial porn to Apple’s FaceTime with the iPhone.

According to the company, the first paid adult video call over FaceTime on the iPhone took place on August 13th, 2010, and that it is now closing in on its 1,000th such call.

... The company said that 93% of its customers so far are male, and that most of the calls have been five minute calls. In addition, the company said that most of the calls have been from the U.S., but that many have also come from China.

Related: - iPhone 4' Facetime appeals to Porn Industry

[via @mobile fringe]

Racy photos on cell phones, computers leads to rise in teen 'sextortion'

According to The Los Angeles Times, fFederal prosecutors and child safety advocates say they're seeing an upswing in such cases of online sexual extortion.

They say teens who text nude cell phone photos of themselves or show off their bodies on the Internet are being contacted by pornographers who threaten to expose their behavior to friends and family unless they pose for more explicit porn, creating a vicious cycle of exploitation.

Read full article.

US Airways pilot pleads guilty to upskirt photo

It's been a while since we've heard one these stories. When camera phones first became popular in 2003, they were described by many news outlets as a useful tool for perverts or "peeping tom's secret weapon".

Anyway, here's the story. An airline pilot who used his cell phone to take photos up a teenager's skirt at Philadelphia International Airport has pleaded guilty to invasion of privacy.

[via Cellular News]

Images of Child abuse 'big business online'

There are around 450 criminal gangs around the world making money from images of child sex abuse, the UK's Internet Watch Foundatino has said, reports the BBC.

Most of the gangs operate a pay-per-view system, charging a monthly fee of around £55 for access to images and videos.

Much of the material that becomes available commercially was originally traded privately between sex offenders.

Read full article.

Man bled to death while dozens of people walked by

The Huffington Post on a stabbing in Queens and how passers by ignored the bleeding man.

Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax was stabbed several times in the chest while saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker. Then he bled to death while dozens of people walked by -- one stopping to snap a picture of the dying man with his cameraphone before leaving the scene.

Shameful.

Sexting: Students sold explicit images of classmates

You would think they would know better by now, with so much written about sexting and it's dire consequences, but according to NBC Washington, students at two Bethesda schools have been selling sexually explicit images of female classmates during school hours. The girls either posed willingly for someone else or took the pictures themselves.

Many of these kids are straight ‘A’ students,” said Principal Michael Zarchin. “Great kids, who made a choice that they are going to have to live with for a long time.

Read full article.

'Sexting In America: When Privates Go Public'. MTV Explores Pitfalls Of Sexting

What seems like an innocent, flirtatious teenage gesture — sending an explicit picture of yourself to a boyfriend — could land you in way more trouble than you might imagine. MTV news reports.

That was the message of MTV News' half-hour special, 'Sexting In America: When Privates Go Public', in which we took a closer look at the dangers of sexting and the serious repercussions for the people who send and receive naked pictures of peers on their mobile phones and other devices.

Read full article for personal and heartbreaking sexting stories as well as TV special trailer.

My child, pornography and the iPhone

On Times Live, a father's story of how his 6-year-old daughter unwittingly watched her first porn flick on her father's iPhone.

First appeals court case concerning sexting

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia may soon decide whether teens can be prosecuted under Pennsylvania child pornography laws merely for appearing in a "sexting" cell phone image. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The case involves photos of two 12 year-old-girls in training bras, and a 16-year-old wrapped in a towel with her breasts exposed as she leaves a shower. The latter photo was central at Friday's hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The girls from Wyoming County, northwest of Scranton, have not been accused of disseminating the photos, which have not been made public.

This is the first appeals court case concerning sexting, the reach of the state child pornography law and the First Amendment, said Scranton attorney Michael J. Donohue, who is representing Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr.

Read full article.

Sexting leads to suicide, girl's family sues

A teenage girl committed suicide a month after graduating from high-school because her ex-boyfriend sent his friends a nude photo of her that she had sent to him by text message while they were dating. The Huffington Post reports.

The complaint filed by the teen's parents names the city, school district, ex-boyfriend, and the friends to whom he purportedly sent the picture. The couple are seeking punitive damages for discrimination, civil rights violations, the invasion of privacy, and emotional distress, reports the Courthouse News Service.

Survey. 1/3 of young adults have sexted

According to a survey by MTV and the Associated Press, 1/3 of young adults admit to having sexted (sent nude photos from their cameraphones) and 1/4 of teenagers.

[via IntoMobile]

Cellphone pictures of rape in Guinea corroborate horrific events

Cellphone snapshots, ugly and hard to refute, are circulating in Guinea and feeding rage: they show that women were the particular targets of the Guinean soldiers who suppressed a political demonstration at a stadium here last week, with victims and witnesses describing rapes, beatings and acts of intentional humiliation.

The cellphone pictures are circulating anonymously, but multiple witnesses corroborated the events depicted.

[via The New York Times]

Cameraphones and Nursery Staff

Plymouth nursery worker Vanessa George and two other people she met online have admitted a series of charges after abuse was recorded on mobile phones. The BBC reports.

As a result, one of the parents with children at the nursery where George worked is campaigning for tighter controls on staff's camera phones.

Cheryl Higgs has set up a website, nocameraphones.org, calling for staff to have to deposit their devices in a secure room while at work.

Japan. Mobile porn boom

Global revenue from pornography on cellphones will more than double to $4.9bn in the five years to 2013, while music sales will grow by about a third, according to Juniper, reports IOL.

... Japan has more than 1 000 firms producing adult content movies, generating about 17,000 titles last year, according to Tim Smith, who has worked in Japan's telecoms industry since 1999 and is chief executive of 3G service company Sairis Group.

Smith says the top Japanese adult content internet sites have as many as 1,000 new customers a day, each paying as much as ¥10 000 as a sign-up fee.

While music downloads are the "official big earner" in Japan's mobile commerce, more money is made through porn, dating sites and even fortune-telling services, says Smith, whose firm has helped run promotions in Japan for Viacom's Paramount Studios, Toshiba and MasterCard.

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.