Teenage trend prompts warning

BALLSTON SPA — Children sending nude photos of themselves to their friends by cellphones is a troubling trend, and parents should be aware of it and be doing something about it, the Saratoga County district attorney said Wednesday.

District Attorney James A. Murphy III’s comments came a day after state police issued a warning to parents about the need to monitor children’s Internet use, especially with schools about to close for the summer.

Murphy said his office prosecuted four teenage boys in Saratoga County last year after they shared nude images of a girl that the girl had provided to her boyfriend via a cellphone.

He said the middle school girl and her family were so humiliated by the incident that the girl was transferred out of her school district.

“It was a case where the girl was participating in what I would call 21st century flirting,” Murphy said. “In the old days we would pass a note. Today it seems some people think it’s OK to share an inappropriate picture of yourself.”

He said the recipient of the photo held what is commonly called a “LAN party.”

“‘LAN’ stands for Local Area Network and that’s where people get together with their laptop computers and everybody goes online and they share what’s on the screen,” Murphy said.

He said through animation software, the image of the girl was changed and made part of a video that was then uploaded to the Internet for public view.

The four boys, 16 and 17 years old, were charged with felony crimes of producing and possessing child pornography because the girl was under 16. A fifth boy, who was under the age of 16, was referred to Saratoga County Family Court.

“In each of these cases, the defendants were given youthful offender status,” Murphy said. “The cases were sealed and I can’t be specific about the outcome.”

He said production of child pornography is a class D felony and a conviction is punishable by up to 7 years in prison.

“The Legislature has created laws against child pornography, but they weren’t thinking about kids who are clueless about what they see as harmless pranks,” Murphy said. “It’s a case of technology being ahead of the law and I don’t see how the law can ever catch up.”

Ray Colucciello has been a school teacher and administrator since 1960 and he is currently the interim superintendent of Ballston Spa Central Schools.

“I have witnessed the transitions of the technological age,” Colucciello said. “I don’t think anyone, child or adult, can fully realize the ramifications of what we put out in cyberspace.”

He said it’s not the school’s job to teach morality or even comment on the specific conduct.

“Our job is to help people understand the impact of these actions,” Colucciello said. “We try to tell the kids, never assume what you are doing on the Internet is private. You don’t know where it will go and there could be 10,000 people seeing you within 10 minutes.”

He said he has met with law enforcement officials who have been invited into the district to speak with teachers, administrators and students about the potential harm that can follow inappropriate behavior posted on the Internet or sent through a cellphone.

“The kids don’t seem to understand that even if you hit delete, nothing is every really gone. Employers are looking at MySpace and YouTube and they won’t hire someone who appears there in a bad light,” he said.

He said cellphone use is prevalent throughout the district, even in the elementary school.

Earlier in the week, a second grade student instant-messaged his mother about an incident at school and within minutes the mother appeared at the school, he said.

“It was actually an incident at the day care center where the child had been picked up by the bus,” Colucciello said. “There had been a suspected natural gas leak at the day care center and the kids had been taken outside. When they were brought to school, they were checked out to make sure they were okay.”

Murphy said cellphones and computers are such a common part of daily life now, it appears adults forget to teach their children the basics of protocol and self-protection.

“I think parents need to keep an eye on kids when they are on the computer and the cellphone. A regular check should be made of which sites are being visited and what calls or messages are being sent and received on the cellphones,” Murphy said. “If a kid questions your checking up on them, you need to know why. If they resist or refuse, take the phones and computers away from them.”

Colucciello said some parents don’t appear willing to tell their children to stop.

He said earlier in the school year he held a meeting with 25 to 30 parents to show them a video found on YouTube that depicted several students at an underage drinking party.

“Some of the parents were very upset and said they would handle it and others said, ‘no harm, no foul,’ and that the school had no business sticking our noses in something that happened on a Saturday night at a private residence,” Coluciello said. “But we do have a duty to look into this behavior. Our code of conduct says we have a right.”