High School Athletes End Up on Porn Sites

Privacy Concerns Raised as Photos of Student Athletes Found on Porn SitesFont SizeThe parents contend these images constitute child pornography because the Web sites feature only images of the boys when they're not actually playing and often crop images to focus on their swimsuits and genitals. "They juxtapose the photos next to really explicit images, and by the time they're done cropping them, we think they can be considered pornographic," said Joan Gould, an international water polo official and spokeswoman for a group of Orange County players' parents. "This isn't just happening with kids from California," she said. "We've found pictures of kids in Michigan, New York and across the country. They're posted on message boards for adult men all over the world who lewdly discuss their physical attributes." Gould said she has contacted the FBI, and that federal investigators "were sympathetic but said there is no legal recourse. On the surface it is legal." Parents in Orange County were further upset when they said they found evidence that some of the photos were taken by someone who worked for the University of California at Irvine Police Department. Parents said they connected the IP address of one of the sites where many of the pictures appeared and a user name responsible for posting images on other sites to the individual. The person allegedly tied to the photos could not be reached for comment, but the UCI police said it was investigating the matter. "UCI is aware of the issue and the matter is under review," said university spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon. "The UC police department is initiating an independent investigation and cannot comment on personnel issues." The father of one boy in the Costa Mesa area, who asked not to be identified, said the images are intended to be exploitive. "These pictures don't show anything about the sport. All they show are young children in Speedos," he said. "All the pictures were taken out of the water, when the kids are doing dry land stretches or adjusting themselves. There are no action shots of them actually playing." He said he recognized at least 30 children in the photos and had received no response after filing complaints with the state attorney general and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office. "There is no clear law here to protect these kids," the father said. "When confronted by us on message boards, these photographers continuously cite their First Amendment right, but the First Amendment was written at a time when people could never have anticipated this sort of thing." The father said some of the boys have had to go through counseling or have quit the team because of negative comments made by other students who learned their pictures appeared on gay Web sites. Both parents said area schools have since taken a more deliberate approach to monitoring who is allowed to attend and photograph sporting events. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the parents might be able to take legal action against the photographers and Web sites. "This issue represents just one of a whole range of new issues arising around the use of personal images on the Internet," said Rotenberg. "In some cases, publishers of online information may be immune because of an act of Congress. Internet publishers are given broader protections than other forms of media, but that doesn't mean the parents don't have a case. "If the pictures appear alongside other more explicit images, it might be an example of a false light privacy tort, which occurs when publishing a true fact but in a context that allows people to draw a wrong conclusion," he added. "If that's the case, there may be a basis for the parents to bring an action." In the meantime, La Donna Verloop and other parents have taken it upon themselves to monitor pools and ensure that only credentialed photographers snap pictures of their children. "The schools have added a security guard and set up changing tents on the pool deck, but I took it upon myself to make sure the kids were protected," Verloop said. "I travel with my son's team everywhere they go, and I search every nook where someone might be hiding with a camera."

The naked truth

By Daniel Patrick Sheehan Genevieve Marshall and Brian Callaway Of The Morning Call Once in cyberspace, images like those of nude Parkland students are with us forever.We begin on a fogey-ish note: What's the matter with kids these days?The news out of Parkland High School last week -- that at least two students had taken pictures of themselves nude and that the photos had made their way into cyberspace beyond all hope of recall -- is just the latest version of what is quickly becoming an old story. Today's technology, joined to the rashness of youth, can mean humiliating, reputation-haunting trouble.The speed of image-making and message-sending has taken away the time for reflection.''There's no time between the 'Gee, would it be a good idea to do this?' and the click of the mouse,'' said Parry Aftab, executive director of the New Jersey-based Internet safety organization WiredSafety.In addition, youth are more willing to make their private lives public in part because of media influence, she said.''They're watching reality shows, they're seeing things, they log on to MySpace and they see other people doing this and they think it's acceptable,'' she said. ''Sort of a mob mentality.''To the horror of their parents, young people living so much of their lives in cyberspace seem unaware that there is no expectation of privacy in that realm and little recourse for people who feel violated by what happens there.''People forget when they put pictures up, it's not just for their friends,'' said Sarah Rutstein, 19, a Muhlenberg College sophomore from West Windsor, N.J. ''It's really for the entire world to see.''Existing law makes it tough to prosecute cases in which photos are posted without the subject's permission.Luke Heller, a former Pennsylvania state trooper from Lower Macungie, was arrested in 2006 after posting photos of his estranged wife nude on a Web site. He initially was charged with felony crimes, including unlawful use of a computer, but a judge said Pennsylvania's computer law wasn't appropriate for the circumstances of the case. So Heller could only be prosecuted on less-serious misdemeanor charges. He pleaded guilty to harassment and was sentenced to three to 12 months in Lehigh County prison.In the Parkland case, authorities threatened to prosecute anyone who knowingly held on to the pictures -- not because they were disseminated online, but because the subjects are underage and the images constitute child pornography.Despite the threat of prosecution, the pictures -- including one of a sex act between a boy and a girl whom officials have yet to identify -- have been circulating for months and, according to some students, have already been sent to people in other states.Experts said the fallout is potentially devastating.''Look at what one click can do,'' said Sarah Stevens, a Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network physician who specializes in adolescent medicine. ''That's a level of damage to an individual that I don't think can ever be undone.''The wife of a Virginia school administrator learned earlier this month how fast a few choice words can spread when she left an angry cell phone message for a high school student who called her husband at home to ask why he hadn't ordered a snow day. In a minute-long tirade that within a day had been forwarded to hundreds of students, posted on YouTube and picked up by the media, the woman made reference to ''snotty-nosed little brats'' as she scolded the 17-year-old caller for his impertinence.The student's decision to post the administrator's home and work numbers on a Web site and encourage others to call him has some wondering if he crossed the line.Stevens says teenagers aren't fundamentally different than they were before technology changed the speed of life. They are impulsive risk-takers ''who sometimes do things they kind of know they shouldn't do,'' she said. ''Some of that is part of the process of figuring things out and growing up.''But many of the safeguards that helped protect teens despite themselves have disappeared, she added. Many cell phones have cameras, and a growing number are Internet-ready. The combination has made it devastatingly simple to take inappropriate photos that spread from phone to phone like a virus.Before the advent of that technology, Stevens said, ''you'd have to get a camera, which had film in it…When you took the picture, you had to take it somewhere to be developed, and if there was something inappropriate there, it probably stopped at that point.''What happened at Parkland isn't unique, said Muhlenberg College students, who had no problem reeling off examples of technology-aided vengeance and voyeurism.Four years ago, Melissa Kaplan saw something similar happen at her suburban Philadelphia middle school. A ninth-grader used her cell phone to take photos of herself naked and send them to her boyfriend. He sent the photos to his friends. It was the talk of her town for several weeks.''It became a community problem,'' said Kaplan, 19, a Muhlenberg College sophomore. ''You just don't take pictures of yourself naked, and failing that, you certainly don't send them to someone else.''Christopher Szczerbienski, a Muhlenberg freshman, said a girl at the high school he attended in Holmdel, N.J., tried to make her boyfriend jealous by taking topless photos of herself with another girl. She sent the photo over her cell phone to his phone, and he got his own revenge by quickly forwarding them to everyone he knew.''People talked about it a lot for a few weeks but the administration didn't know about it,'' said Szczerbienski, 18. ''Now it's just a funny story.''And a cautionary tale.''Teenagers need to learn to stand up for themselves,'' he said. ''You don't let people take photos of you that you wouldn't want your parents and the entire world to see. You don't do that to yourself, either. And you certainly don't pass them on.''''They think it won't happen to them,'' said sophomore Trisha Kadakia, 20, of Cherry Hill, N.J. ''Even though it happens all the time.''Muhlenberg students said they were cautioned during orientation about the potential for lasting negative impact when they publish anything on the Internet, from diaries on weblogs to networking profiles and photos of them drinking before they turn 21.Sororities warn their pledges not to post photos of themselves drinking alcoholic beverages on Facebook and other social networking sites. They are told to adjust their privacy settings so only friends can see their photos, and officials in risk management check to make sure they haven't posted anything that would harm the student's reputation or the sorority.College students have seemed to interpret this message as such: As long as the alcohol is in a red plastic cup, no one will be the wiser.''It's become part of the college experience to get drunk and take stupid photos,'' said sophomore Emily Harris, 19, of Chatham, N.J. ''And then on Monday you check all the party albums to see what happened.''Inappropriate gestures. Body parts exposed. Beer cans in the hands of underage students.''A lot of kids are posting pictures with the unrealistic expectation [that] only the people they want to see it can see it,'' Aftab said. ''But this is not a diary locked up in your sock drawer.''From the Morning Call 30/01/08

Web Link Among Young Suicide Victims?

Police in a small British town are investigating a series of suicides of young people, and whether the Internet was some sort of common communications denominator in any of the deaths.
What's certain is that something tragic and mysterious is going on in Bridgend, Wales, reports CBS News correspondent Mark, Phillips.
For reasons that are baffling experts, Bridgend has become the center of the apparent cluster of suicides among young people.
First, says Phillips, there were seven victims, all aged between 17 and 27. All hanged themselves over the past year. Each knew at least one other person in the group.
Now, the town's coroner has revealed another six recent suicides, bringing the total to thirteen.
There was almost a 14th victim, but her parents found her hanging, barely alive, and were able to save her.
But they say she can't remember trying suicide, or why she did.
The Internet, Phillips observes, particularly tribute sites on which people place eulogies to the dead, has emerged as a suspect in these cases. Some of the victims posted messages before killing themselves. The link isn't clear, but it worries experts.
And, according to London's "Sunday Times," at least three of the victims "all shared friends on Bebo," a popular social networking Web site in the United Kingdom.
Madeleine Moon, a local member of Parliament, says, "What's alarming (is) ... there are chat rooms (not just on Bebo) that people go into to talk about suicide and to contemplate suicide."
Still, authorities in Wales say there's no clear connection among the cases.
Schools and parents in Bridgend have been put on suicide watch. Counseling is being offered.
But, notes Phillips, nobody is exactly sure what causes or signs they're looking for.
On The Early Show Monday, clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere told co-anchor Julie Chen, "We've seen this before. It's called suicide contagion or suicide clusters. ... What they share in common is that these are young people who are actually vulnerable to suicide. They all come from the same geographical area, though we know there are no boundaries because of the Internet. And the media, but most importantly, what we've seen in this particular case, many of these kids have died by hanging. So, they do know one another or know of one another, and they do communicate on these sites.
"Suicide is the third leading cause of death with teens," Gardere continued. "And therefore, what we see, the first teen who commits suicide almost serves as a role model for other kids. In other words, they open up this book for them that these other kids can now latch onto. And if they're having depression or other mental health issues, then they can choose this inappropriate way of venting a lot of their anger and their depression.
" ... A lot of these kids are putting entries in before they die. So certainly parents should know what's going on on these Web sites. But it's also telling me kids are talking to one another and not talking to their parents. And in many ways, they're glorifying their suicides, getting attention in death that they were not getting in life. So parents, wake up. Smell the coffee. Your kids need to speak to you. There is an epidemic as far as depression and other psychological issues with our teens, and we need to address it.
"I think," Gardere concluded, "certain parents should know what their kids are doing on the websites, and if their kids are having some sociological, some psychological issues, talk to them and make sure that there's some sort of intervention."