Are Your Children Producing & Distributing Child Pornography?

If the statistics are true, they just might be.  We have always known that each generation takes the previaling technolgy and uses it in a new way.  This has always been the case and always will.  The computer our parents used was for work.  The computer our children use is for entertainment.

It is common practice for children to take provocitive images and post them to social networking sites.  However, the pictures that make it to the social networking sight are often just the tip of the iceberg.  Boys and girls alike receive peer pressure to snap a quick pic on their camera phone and "share" it.

What many people have failed to realize, is that this constitutes child pornography.  When an underage boy or girl takes a nude photo with their camera, they are legally being considered producers of child pornography.  The fact that they are a child doesn't necessarily count in that situation.

Sending that picture adds "distibution of child pornography" to the list of charges.  Again, it doesn't matter that the picture is of themself, was taken by themself, and was sent as a picture mail to somebody.

Now to the recipient.  By receiving this picture mail, they an now be charged with receiving child porn.  Should they forward it, add distribution.  Should they keep it, it's posession.

The laws were obviously written before child pornography was able to be produced and distributed by the victim of such pornography.  As such the laws will probably change in some way to accomodate those situations.  However, education would be a small start.  In cases where your child gets caught in any part of this circle, they may be deemed a sex offender.

Even if they are the star of the child pornography that they personally produced, they may have to register as a sex offender for the rest of their lives.  This is probably not the burden that you want for your young child.  Given that children have been playing "show me yours and i'll show you mine" for what could be the entire history of clothed humanity, the convenient and pseudo private nature of portable electronic devices (pda/digital camera/camera phone) creates a significant danger to your childs ability to live a normal adult life w/o being registered as a sex offender...

The Internet Is On The Cellphone

For the uninitiated parent, internet access is not limited to the home computer.  Your kids also have access via todays portable devices such as cellphones.    Sites that are sometimes abused are easily accessible via mobile portals.  

For example, the mobile portal for myspace works not only from higher end pda phones but also from the lower end phones found in backpacks and back pockets in your home.  If a parent neglects to understand this fact, the "grounding from myspace" doesn't work out too well.  

Keeping children safe is not as simple as blocking myspace from your home router or telling them "no myspace for a week".  If they want it, they will access it.  Unfortunately, if they want to hide it from you, you're probably not going to know about it until it's too late.

The Coolest Parents Ever!!!

If you want to be the coolest parents at school you have to give the kids access to something they can't easily get at another parents house.

The easiest way to do this is to provide unmonitoried high speed internet access.  Make sure and setup a comfortable environment safe from prying parental eyes, particularly in a basement or a kids room on the other end of the house.

This at least allows the kids access to what they want and some chance of getting it w/o getting caught.  Since news travels fast, this information will find it's way around school as soon as the next video including 2 cups starts "going viral".  This will also allow a stress free environment for the kids to watch phone pics and videos of the "hottest girls/guys" in school putting on a show and enjoying the subsequent attention for being "so cool".

It also allows an easy venue for forwarding some of those compromising photos around the school when necessary.  Also, make sure to NEVER NEVER NEVER ask about their myspace, facebook, myyearbook, friendfinder profiles.  Although they might have nothing to hide, many kids will have three probable scenarios:

1. Blow your mind with what they and their friends are posting on the internet.

2. Show you the "safe" profiles they have created with you in mind.

3. Show you the "safe" profile because they are being the only responsible kids in their school

In short, unfettered access is bad.  If you need to check in on your kids, do it.  This is particularly important during early development and internet exposure.  You have to teach your children how to use the internet unless you want the internet to use your children . . .