I guess new technology calls for the creation of new words to explain new phenomenon. I always thought that I was fairly clued in and up-to-date on things. Today I learned that there was such a thing as sexting. The phenomenon is generally about people who utilize all the technological capabilities of their gadgets. In this case their mobile phones.Most mobile phones now include cameras that have the ability to take still pictures and streaming video. A lot, albeit not all, people enjoy photographing and filming themselves in all their glory or in compromising positions and then sending that to friends and colleagues. This I was aware of but I did not know that this form of communication had a name, sexting.
For me when consenting adults take pictures of themselves and send them to each other is fine with me. Once you do it and then you lose control of those images and they appear on the Internet and end up causing you embarrassment, then so be it. This, I suggest, goes with the territory.
However, teens now also have mobile phones and by default also have the ability to be actively involved in sexting. The question is when kids send naked pictures of themselves to their peers of the same age have they broken the law? Are they involved in child pornography? Can they be charged?
It is clear that when someone over the age of consent encourages someone under the age of consent to photograph themselves and then sext them, then this would be something that would run afoul of prevailing legislation, at least in Australia.
New technology will require new laws to govern new developments and phenomenon.
