3 months ago
(NEWS CENTER) -- Jayne Hitchcock travels the country talking with parents and teens about the dangers that can lurk online, and on cell phones. She uses real life examples to drive her point home.
As president of the group Working To Halt Online Abuse, Hitchcock says she doesn't want to scare teens, but wants them to be aware of what kind of trouble they could run into. She talks about sexting -- when someone sends a nude or semi-nude picture via a cell phone. They are generally exchanged between boyfriends and girlfriends, or people who are interested in one another.
"I tell them, I don't want to see any of this happen to you," Hitchcock said at a recent presentation at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. "Just think before you talk to anybody online, before you take a picture, before you send it to anyone, before you type anything, before you hit the send button. Think."
She tells the groups these images can stay with you forever. She reminds them once a picture like this is out there, there's no reigning it back in. But she also points out that if these pictures are of minors, it's illegal. It's considered child pornography and it can be prosecuted that way.
Evert Fowle, the president of the Maine Prosecutors Association, said the practice concerns him and others in the legal field. "The young person may think they're playing a prank or getting back at somebody they don't like. But the consequences of their actions could go a lot further than that," he said. "And when that happens and we're able to trace it back, then felony dissemination charges can be brought."
The Maine State Police say they receive a report of a sext about once every two weeks, and the number of cases they're getting has been steadily rising. Sgt. Glenn Lang of the Computer Crimes Unit said he's not aware of any cases that have been prosecuted in Maine.
In cases in other states, teen sexters have ended up on the sex offender registry. Lang says he's not sure that's what should happen, but he says teens need to learn this is wrong and can be dangerous.
"I don't like the idea of it damaging a child forever," he said. "Because potentially they are damaged by what happened. But at some point we need to get the point across that this has to be addressed. This has to stop."
According to a national survey conducted last year by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com, 20 percent of teens have sent texts; 48 percent of teens say they have received such a message; and 44 percent of teens say it is common to forward those messages on.
That's the other concern that Sgt. Lang has. In his job, he often sees child pornography and he is worried that at some point he will see a picture that started as a message between a boyfriend and a girlfriend somewhere else.
"It starts on the cell phone and in no time the email is read on a computer somewhere and then that picture's there," said Lang. "And off it goes and potentially ends up on websites or potentially the peer to peer network."
The peer to peer network, Lang explained, is a way people exchange music, pictures, even child pornography. He worries that children who send what they think are innocent text messages could end up within that network.
Lang said he hopes through educational programs like Hitchcock's students, and their parents, will learn about the dangers of sexting.
NEWS CENTER
