When Privates Go Public
Parry Aftab
Digital Safety, Privacy and Security and Global Best Practices Legal Expert (US and Canadian)
MTV (which produced a special of the same name) created their AThinLine.org public affairs program a few years ago with the help of cyberbullying, sexting and digital drama experts (including me and one of our teen volunteers). They conducted surveys in coordination with AP that disclosed a very high percentage of teen-admitted sexting activity. It also found that the teens who admitted having sexted were 3X more likely to consider suicide (self-admitted).
Who are these teens? Ours, our neighbors', our babysitters and grass cutters and the honor students we tell our kids to emulate. Sexually inactive teens will often offer a topless sext to hold off their partner a little longer from more intimate activities. Boys offer these images, unsolicited, to show prospective partners "what they are missing." Boys and girls take them in equal percentages and this is a global issue.
Boys' sexts are rarely shared. But when a girl's sext gets into the hands of another girl, they go viral intentionally to destroy the reputation of the girl in the image.
Part cyberbullying, part teens-will-be-teens and part child sexual exploitation, sexting can lead to the teen in the image being charged with the production of child pornography, those who forward it to others being charged with child pornography distribution and recipients being charged with possession. It can also lead, in increasing numbers, to further sexual exploitation of the teen in the image.
Coined "sextortion" both the poser's peers and more traditional sexual predators blackmail the teen into taking more images or engaging in sexual activities in person or on video chat.
Since 1995, our volunteers have been working to address child sexual exploitation at the same time they worked to prevent and address cyberbullying. Addressing youth sexting now combines these two areas of expertise, and will be a priority for WiredSafety. It will be tucked into our cyberwellness program.
I presented on sexting and cyberbullying to Interpol's child sexual exploitation task force. These tough and hardened law enforcement officers were in tears when I shared some sad stories of teen suicides resulting from the humiliation of their intimate images gone viral. One of the most trusted social networks estimated that from threat of an intimate image going viral, a majority of teens who engage in self-harm do so within 30 minutes of receiving the threat.
This year we (WiredSafety, the charity I run) will create a new program we are naming "Sextpertise" to study this growing problem, create intervention points and meaningful prevention messaging to teens and preteens and help young people when their private intimate image goes public. We are looking for trustworthy partners, volunteers and sponsors for this multi-year international campaign. Interpol and Facebook were among the first supporting the campaign.
Our innovative technologies will also help law enforcement separate the voluntarily self-generated intimate images from those generated by child pornographers and sexual-exploiters of children, so they can focus their investigations.
A young teen in Budapest, Hungary asked me (during a recent presentation at his school) what a teen could do if their sexting image was made public. I realized that there was no answer that would satisfy teens.
I spent much of the 221,000 miles I flew over the last 5 months looking for solutions to these and other emerging risks to young people. Instead, I found the questions we all share. Want to help us address those questions?
We welcome your help.
Staff Threat Intel Analyst, Adversary Tactics
10 年I have to agree with Wilton...it's about time someone did something other than click "Like". I have to agree with Wilton...too many kids lean towards situational ethics, where it's perfectly acceptable for them to take pictures of people in public, but not for someone to take pictures of them. Then incorporate what Wilton is saying, that too many kids (and adults, as well) find it perfectly acceptable to take, share, and view pictures of a questionable nature.
Technical Investigator, Law Enforcement Consultant
10 年I look forward to seeing this "Sextpertise" triaining. I think, however, the youth of today are overwhelmed by technology and are not learning good social skills. We expect parents to monitor their children, but they are suffering from digital/sensory overload as well. And on a personal note, I feel the moral fiber of our society has thinned considerably. We no longer have concern for our fellow man. We went from funniest home videos and people falling down, to almost having a perversion of seeing tragic accidents in which people die. We are now numbed by seeing dead bodies carried in the streets on our national news affiliates. The tragic death of the French police officer in which a video shows him being shot, but they only blur out the "coup de gras" shot, which was not to end his suffering by the way. This creates this Hollywood movie violence scene so it's OK to watch. This goes the same for the nudity which our children are exposed. Although not a scientific study, when speaking to groups of youth, I often ask how did they learn about sex. Approximately 50 percent of the boys say from pornography and about 25 to 30 percent of the girls say online pornography. This does not cover sex introduced by the way of sexual molestation of our children. I said all that to say, the issues with teens taking pictures, performing in pictures, and sharing/distributing images is a multi faceted problem and must be addressed from multiple angles.