(This is NOT the girl, but this teen's pic was taken off her profile and is now all over the internet.)Before I became pregnant, I was reporting a dozen or so underage profiles a week; sometimes I reported up to 20. Some of the children were only 7 or 8 years old. One girl was 11 and was posing provocatively at the bottom of a staircase in many pictures on her public profile which was set to 18, and after I had her deleted (which was after I contacted HER MOTHER, a friend on her list!) her mother told me off! The young girl was wearing a very short skirt, butt to the camera, and her head was a bit tilted down so her eyes were seductive. There were adult men on her friend's list! Pedophiles! Parents sometimes don't want to accept the fact that their child is A CHILD and doesn't belong online half nude and flirting to a camera. Luckily for the little girl, her father found and read the messages, and wrote to me, thanking me for reporting his daughter's profile and explaining that he and his wife were new to the internet and his wife was extremely ignorant to who would see those pictures, and what could happen. He'd even said that then men were not relatives or family friends. I reported the men as well. There's thousands more out there like that little girl. Boys, too. Now and then I still report very young children, when I spot them join one of my groups and I check their profiles. I don't understand how parents are unaware of what kids in grade school are doing online.
Back to this 14 year old.
OMG, what on earth was this girl thinking? I'm actually wondering what her parents are thinking. She's FOURTEEN. She posted herself naked to THE WORLD. Some parents would be aghast. Some parents would would act like it's "no big deal" that she takes the pictures, but say MySpace isn't where she should have put them. Hmm.
Mar 26, 2009 3:15 pm US/EasternNJ Girl, 14, Arrested After Posting Nude Pics
Teen Faces Child Pornography Charges After Posting Nearly 30 Sexually Explicit Images Of Herself On MySpace
A 14-year-old New Jersey girl has been accused of child pornography after posting nearly 30 explicit nude pictures of herself on MySpace.com -- charges that could force her to register as a sex offender if convicted.
The case comes as prosecutors nationwide pursue child pornography cases resulting from kids sending nude photos to one another over cell phones and e-mail.
MySpace would not comment on the New Jersey investigation, but the company has a team that reviews its network for inappropriate images. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped off a state task force, which alerted the Passaic County Sheriff's Office.
The office investigated for a month and discovered the Clifton resident had posted the "very explicit" photos of herself, sheriff's spokesman Bill Maer said Thursday.
"We consider this case a wake-up call to parents," Maer said. The girl posted the photos because "she wanted her boyfriend to see them," he said.
It is not a crime to view the photos, Maer said, but it is illegal to download them. Authorities are looking at additional arrests but have no plans to charge people who accidentally viewed the photographs, such as any of friends who have access to the girl's profile.
Investigators are looking at individuals who "knowingly" committed a crime, he said, declining to comment further because the case is still being investigated.
The teen, whose name has not been released because of her age, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. She was released to her mother's custody.
If convicted of the distribution charge, the girl would be forced to register with the state as a sex offender, said state Attorney General Anne Milgram. The sex offender law calls for, among other things, restrictions on how close such felons can come to schools.
In northeastern Pennsylvania, a prosecutor recently threatened to file child porn charges against three teenage girls who authorities say took racy cell-phone pictures that ended up on classmates' cell phones.
The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal judge to block the filing charges, saying that the teens didn't consent to the picture's distribution and that the image is not pornography, in any event.
"Teenagers need to know that there are serious consequences for sharing risquDe or compromising pictures of themselves, but trying to teach that lesson with heavy artillery like child-pornography charges -- which can have lifelong consequences -- is uncalled for. Who does it protect?" said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the New Jersey ACLU.
Called "sexting" when it's done by cell phone, teenagers' habit of sending sexually suggestive photos of themselves and others to one another is a nationwide problem that has confounded parents, school administrators and law enforcers.
Prosecutors in states including Pennsylvania, Connecticut, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin have tried to put a stop to it by charging teens who send and receive the pictures.
Milgram, the attorney general, could not recall another case in New Jersey in which a youth was charged with child porn for posting photos of themselves to a social networking site. She cautioned parents to get on those sites and monitor what their kids are talking about and posting.
"Unfortunately, youth don't have the same judgment as adults, and often, adults don't have the same technical savvy as the youth."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Sorry, but the AP can tell me to take it down. Bring on the C&D, I'll remove it. This is something EVERY PARENT needs to read and then speak to their kid(s) about. YEESH.
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