Sexting strikes again. A British Columbia teen was charged and convicted of distributing child pornography for sharing lewd photos of her boyfriend's ex. The 17-year-old was also convicted of child porn possession and of uttering threats.
When the defendant, who was 16 at the time, found a handful of explicit photos on her boyfriend's phone sent by a former girlfriend, she forwarded them onto friends and sent a volley of threatening messages on Facebook and via text. The evidence included 36,000 text messages, many of which Crown Prosecutor Chandra Fisher admits she did not understand and accordingly took "a lesson in what some of these symbols meant."
The teen's attorney is appealing on the grounds that it is unconstitutional to charge youth with child pornography charges for sexting, as the act itself of sending erotic images is not illegal for adults.
But the case confirms that the more entrenched digital forms of communication become in our lives, the more the law will have to adapt to address the implications. Recent instances of cyberbullying have shown that the legal system is still unprepared to deal with the scope and volume of offenses committed through social networks and mobile messages, suggesting that the judge and prosecutor in this case are out to set an example.
[via The Verge]
