'Sexting' Hysteria Falsely Brands Educator as Child Pornographer

[madmusic]

Source: Wired


By Kim Zetter EmailApril 03, 2009 | 9:41:16 AMCategories: Crime

It was an incident that began innocently enough, but nearly ruined the life and three-decade career of a veteran high school teacher and administrator.

Rumors had been flying at Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia that students were distributing nude pictures of each other on their cell phones. It's a phenomenon, known as "sexting," that's become increasingly worrisome to educators across the country, and Ting-Yi Oei, a 60-year-old assistant principal at the school, was tasked with checking it out.

Read more: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/sexting-hysteri.html

[hvn_nbr_2]

1. Jim Plowman is the pervert in this case.

He's the MF prosecutor who pursued this despicable case.

[intheflow]

29. No shit.

What a fucking warped, twisted fanatic. I'm sure he has a computer full of porn at home. Projection is a bitch.

[Beam Me Up]

2. Here's what is most disturbing about this story:

"As a matter of law, the photograph does not meet the requirements established by our appellate courts and the felony charge will be dismissed," the judge wrote. "he two misdemeanor counts will be dismissed as well."

Despite the ruling, Plowman, the prosecutor, stands by his initial assessment of the photo.

"The issue of whether it meets the definition under the statute ... goes to whether it is lewd," he says. "This one I felt was because of the focus of the picture, which was the private areas ... and the provocative pose she was in. The judge felt it didn't meet the precedent case law for child pornography, but it was apparently provocative enough of a photograph that he saw fit that it should be sealed."

Plowman insists he never intended to seek prison time for Oei. He would have been satisfied with a fine, probation and Oei's resignation. The case would never have gone this far, he says, if Oei had resigned when asked.

"I thought that was a just and appropriate sanction for his behavior," he says. "But he was unwilling to be responsible for any kind of accountability for what he did."

That last sentence in the context of the story is ridiculous. This man followed procedure and reported everything about the incident to his principle. The prosecutor was brownshirting -- you either resign or face felony charges. This prosecutor should now face a law suit at the very least!

edit html

[lolly]

5. In other words

If he doesn't want me to prosecute him for a felony he didn't commit, he should confess and take the punishment for a misdemeanor he didn't commit.

[JPettus]

21. Absolutely

I would love to see civil cases against Plowman for wrongful prosecution, harassment and anything else that can be added. They can pile on him the way he piled on Oei.

[MADem]

24. Sounds to me like he just wanted the dude with the "funny name" gone, doesn't it?

Wonder if there wasn't any racial animus happening there....

[csziggy]

3. I would bet serious money Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Plowman will run for higher office

And rail against the "liberal" judge who "legislated from the bench" to throw out this case. Ting-Yi Oei was just a little cog that got chewed up along the way for this man's political ambitions.

[droidamus2]

6. Absolutely

I see way too many prosecutors in this country that just look for cases like this to get them big press coverage in, I would suspect, an attempt to set them up to run for higher office. I think they should lose their jobs when they do this but unfortunately as was stated they have a high level of immunity.

[Left Coast2020]

22. Another absolutely.

Just take the case that involved former talk-host Bernie Ward. An over-zealous prosecutor who was alleged to say "I've got a big fish now". So now Bernie is tared as a child porn distributor for doing a book--which had nothing to do with distribution. The prosecutor was a repug. Just thinking about this depresses the hell out of me.

[madmusic]

8. Like Mark Foley? nt

[bemildred]

4. Hysteria is always a mistake.

That's what I think. We all need to be mature and thoughtful.

[izquierdista]

10. Impossible

Sex is to Americans as Chuck E Cheese is to 4-year olds -- an excuse to trot out the worst possible behaviors.

[Endangered Specie]

7. "Sexting"?!? Makes those playboys you traded in high school not seem so bad huh

[AlphaCentauri]

28. at least I knew my mother, my sister and my daughter would not be in playboy

:evilgrin:

[BrklynLiberal]

9. So, how soon do you figure we will go back to burning witches at the stake??

[file83]

18. This is the new witch hunt.

What blows me away is that the context (school official gathering evidence) of the situation was completely ignored. The case was dismissed not because of context but because of the nature of the photo not being "provocative".

By neglecting the context, the logic of this prosecutor would force him to prosecute any human that possesses this photo, including himself.

The ironic part: the fact this Oei guy got put through the ringer for actually trying to STOP these activities from occurring will force all school officials to abstain from investigating such "sexting" activities in the future. The end result being the children can feel free to do what they want without fear of punishment. For if the adults are too afraid to even look at their phones, no one will find out!

Nice work Mr. Plowman.

[LisaL]

20. Exactly. Would the police investigators

investigating child porn be arrested for child pornography? Boggles the mind.

[Twitch14]

57. Um...technically, they might.

The laws about child pornography are so inconsistent, with absolutely draconian penalties, that ISP security teams investigating reports are technically in violation of most of these laws if they open and view the images. I know there are companies who have outsourced this kind of thing, not because it's cheaper, but because they can actually investigate without concerns of prosecution.

[NashVegas]

23. It's a Play Written By Arthur Miller

And ready for an updating. Hmmmmmm ....

I hope he has a good lawyer. Obvious defamation of character against the brat's mother, false prosecution, and it seems like there ought to be something he could apply to the principal.

[Realityhack]

30. We just did.

80% of the vote for that prosecutor and regardless of the case being so bad it was thrown out someone has a tattooed A right on their forehead for everyone with internet access to see. He WAS burned at the stake.

[Vattel]

11. There should be a campaign to fire that prosecutor.

People need to know when public servants abuse their trust.

[GReedDiamond]

12. Would a recall election of the idiot Plowman be too much to ask?

Plowman is a persecutor, not a prosecutor. He certainly can't be much of an effective prosecutor of actual criminals while he's wasting his time going after an obviously innocent person, the whole motivation of which was nothing more than to try and build up a reputation as a "tough guy" on "child pornographers." What a disgusting and useless freak/asshole.

[RoyGBiv]

13. There are so many levels of fucked up to this ...

I don't even know where to begin.

But this just about says it:

"These charges are so toxic and incendiary," says Diane Curling, a former teacher and Oei's wife of 35 years. "Children need to be made aware of the dangers of sexting, but to intimidate public education officials and try to make it a felony to even touch something like this is terrifying. . . . If we are not careful, we will find ourselves with a new McCarthy era. "

[varkam]

14. What does she mean we will find ourselves with a new McCarthy era?

We're in it, baby.

[RoyGBiv]

15. True ...

I'm being optimistic and hoping it means she and perhaps a few other people are finally waking up. I can dream.

McCarthy and his ideological ilk were allowed to be bastards for a long, long time. They had to destroy a few well-connected people, people who could afford things like $150,000 in legal fees, before anyone bothered to notice, much less care.

[tonysam]

16. The Principal

was a goddamned jerk as well. If you are any kind of supervisor at all, you ALWAYS stand by your people. This person didn't, and she is just as bad as the prosecutor.

But it's all too often the case in public education where administrators don't defend their people but often contribute to the abusive situation.

[Swagman]

17. and just why is it so "worrisome"? Kids are doing what kids do

naturally. Now we are jailing them for it and making them into criminals for doing very natural things. Sexual hysteria is being used to control the population. This is disgusting. The adults are the perverts.

[file83]

19. The children are doing what kids in previous generations couldn't do...

...cheaply & easily take nude photos of themselves and send them to their friends/lovers. This has never occurred before and the legal system is out of sync with this new reality, hence the dysfunctional outcome.

It's the inevitable result of this new technology and the cultural paradigm shift we see occurring in this latest generation. They are hypersexualized by the media and the internet at an early age, while simultaneously being trained to share every private aspect of their lives via social networking technologies.

The technology is way ahead of the old child porn laws. Now they are arresting kids to protect kids from each other. What a wonderful world we live in, eh? :sarcasm:

[Odin2005]

25. Knock off the 'these kids are being corrupted by new things" BS.

That's exactly the kind of thinking that is the root of this hysteria. Children only seem to be "hypersexualized" because when it comes to kids are minds are stuck is some BS notion of "childhood innocence" left over from the Victorians, and it gets even more stupid when it gets applied to teens.

[file83]

48. What planet do you live on, or at least grow up on?

Seriously, you are either too young to know what you are talking about, or old enough but have your head buried in the sand too far to know what you are talking about.

I'm from 2 generations before this one, and I assure you, the kids these days have way more access to every kind of porno in existence than kids of my generation could have every imagined. Educate your self on this shit before you spew out your narrow personal and uninformed opinion on the matter.

Furthermore, I never implied that kids from previous generations weren't horny or that they were innocent, but you did so you could set up some straw man you could knock down. But there is a vast difference between normal adolescent human nature found throughout history and today's teenage world of internet pornocopia, hypersexualized targeted advertising, and instant exchanging of socially networked homemade porn.

I'm sorry, are you keeping up with this or is it all over your head?

[Posteritatis]

26. Yeah, polaroids never existed, right?

Let's ban everything! That'll fix it! Oh, and while we're at it, continue charging kids with crimes against their future selves!

[file83]

47. I said "cheaply and easily"....Polaroids weren't cheap.

With a camera phone they snap one photo and send it to as many people as they want instantly. Polaroids? You need to take a photo for every person you want to send it to - and at $3 a pop, that would get spendy fast - and either hand deliver it via their bicycle or snail mail.

Are you catching the difference between 1970's technology and today's?? It's slightly larger than subtle.

[AlphaCentauri]

27. feeding pedophiles and rising irresponsible teens it's not fun

in the pass pedophiles had to abuse or force kids to pose for them now kids are voluntaries to please them by becoming irresponsible and self disrespected.

[madmusic]

32. Oversimplification: We aren't talking "To Catch a Predator"

However you view To Catch a Predator, legitimate or not, that isn't what we are talking about. A Salon article misses part of the point as well.

The story is a familiar one: Jesse Logan, 18, sent her boyfriend some naughty snapshots. After they broke up, he sent the photos to some high school girls, some of whom took to shaming Jesse by calling her a "slut" and a "whore." This is where the story breaks from the usual: The torment continued for some time, and worsened, driving her to appear anonymously on local TV to warn of the consequences of "sexting." A couple of months later, she killed herself; her mother, Cynthia, found Jesse hanging in her bedroom closet.
....
"The risk for suicide contagion as a result of media reporting can be minimized by factual and concise media reports of suicide," according to HHS. "Suicide is the result of many complex factors; therefore media coverage should not report oversimplified explanations such as recent negative life events or acute stressors."

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/03/07/sexting_suicide/index.html?source=rss&aim=/mwt/broadsheet/feature

That Nancy Grace-like clawing at her by other girls was not "self disrespected." There was far more to it. It is no coincidence that one of Grace's "guests" committed suicide.

[AlphaCentauri]

45. No it's not about To Catch Predators its about Teens making others look like predators

Any adult can become a suspect predator just because that person for any reason received a nude picture of a minor, when minors are spreading and sharing their own pictures, something it's wrong with that.

[Realityhack]

31. It is worrysome...

in the same way kids taking drugs or drinking and potentially driving is.
They do not understand the potential consequences of their actions. That is why we don't generally try them as adults.

A lot of these kids don't understand how long those images will be around, they don't understand the laws that are being broken etc.

Kids naturally have unprotected sex, do drugs, take horrific risks, and vandalize buildings. Just because it is 'normal' doesn't mean it isn't 'worrisome' or something we might want to discourage.

[tonysam]

33. People Don't Tolerate Child Pornography, and That's

why this happened, but in this case, it was so outrageously wrong. Yet the assistant principal is blackballed for life when he did nothing wrong.

[LisaL]

36. Well it appears a lot of the "sexting" photos are teenagers

in various states of undress, and most of those photos do not qualify as child pornography. Which doesn't seem to stop prosecutors from trying to prosecute either the teens themselves, or an unfortunate adult (in this case) who for whatever reason has the photos.

[Realityhack]

38. Yeah that I do not get.

I mean WTF. We going to start arresting teens for wearing swim suits on the beach next? wait... don't tell any prosecutors I suggested that.

[madmusic]

34. Ashleigh Banfield calls for a mandatory 5 to 10 YEARS

Perhaps the only solution now is to take drastic legal action against those who hit send. The act of emailing nude pictures of your underage friend can bring charges of child pornography. And that little felony can ruin your life. Sentences often include being labeled a “sex offender.”

Unless girls and boys live in fear of this prosecution, there is little left to help them digitally police themselves, preserve their integrity, and maybe even save their lives.

Once word gets out that sexting can get you five to ten, they may be less inclined to “strike a pose.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-03-20/drinking-age-we-need-a-texting-age/

[LisaL]

37. Yea, cause obviously we got so many open places in prisons

they need to be filled up, even with teens.
:eyes:

[Realityhack]

39. I am a little confused...

why this is a response to my post. I wasn't advocating ten years for a teen sending their own picture to someone. I don't think doing nothing is the right action either, but it is time we stopped pretending that teens don't know what sex is and that technology doesn't exist.

I was simply trying to point out that I don't think pretending that it is just fine for teens to do this all the time without any consequence simply because it is 'natural' is a reasonable stance.

[madmusic]

41. comparing worrisome and hysteria

Five to ten years is hysterical and way beyond worrisome. Sorry for the confusion.

[TankLV]

55. Riiiiight - band innocent teens doing what they've always done as SEX PERVERTS for the rest of their

live to "scare them into not doing it" is the way to go...

It's people like YOU who are the problem, not the "sexting"...

fucking idiots...

[Posteritatis]

60. She's an idiot, then

Yes, nothing will save the children like punishing someone for sending a photo to their SO by giving them a prison term comparable to rape with what would probably be far more restrictive limitations on their freedom in perpetuity afterwards. That'll help things.

Let's take it a step further and impose the death penalty. Once word gets out that sexting can get you the chair, they'll be even less inclined to strike a pose. Right?

[Summermoondancer]

35. Maybe it would have been wise to

contact the authorities and let them investigate it. Unfortunately he was trying to do his job and almost was ruined doing so.

[Realityhack]

40. Looks like that might have ended up the same way.

And investigate what? A proper investigation would have ended with 'That pic is not illegal' in the first 30 seconds.

[Summermoondancer]

42. If the pics were of kids naked they were illegal which is why if

authorities had been involved in the first place he probably would not have gotten in trouble..he shouldn´t anyway because he was investigating not participating which is different...but child porn is abuse and should always be reported immediately.

[LisaL]

46. Did you read the article?

"...nudity alone is not enough to qualify an image as child pornography. "
Do you understand that being naked in itself doesn't make it an illegal photo?

[Summermoondancer]

50. Yes, I was commenting on the prosecuter charging him with possession

because he refused to resign...the picture was of a girl who didn´t show her face, but only her torso and that was it...he was investigating the incident. Originally he was charged with failure to report child abuse, but he did report it to his superior so he was innocent of that as well.
This whole world has gone crazy...we charge a 16 year old boy in Georgia with child molestation for having oral sex with a 15 year old and give him 10 years and a lifetime registration as a sex offender...the legislature and Supreme Court had to intervene...
I feel like sex offender laws should be reserved for real child molestors, rapists, and the like.

[Realityhack]

56. Read the article

1. No child porn existed
2. It was reported to the person the VP was suposed to report it to.
3. The legal deffinition is not as simple as you claim.

0 for 3

[Arkansas Granny]

49. Per the article, he had followed correct procedure when he reported it to

the principal.

-In any event, as a matter of law, Oei was only required to report suspected abuse to his principal, which he'd done. It was then Forester's job to report it to authorities if needed.-

[progressivebydesign]

43. my teen daughter thinks that kids stupid enough or desperate enough to do that are losers.

Sad that it makes the kids with common sense looks bad. How stupid could you be not to realize that sending nude pics of yourself over the phone is a bad idea.

[progressivebydesign]

44. That's so horrific. One nasty parent destroyed this guy's life.

That vindictive woman, and his Principal who threw him under the bus, nearly destroyed him. Good for his friends and family who stood by his side.

[AngryAmish]

51. This is example #12364856944 why men should not go into teaching

[Brooklyns_Finest]

52. WTF?

Please explain. If a female teacher did the same thing (the correct action) she would have been chsrged as well.

[Lance_Boyle]

59. unless she was "too pretty for jail" n/t

[TankLV]

53. We have GOT to find a way to make sure ASSHOLES like Plowman never get into these positions

of power in the first place!

We've got to find a way to HOUND these ASSHOLES out of OFFICE and make it so uncomfortable for them that they don't even THINK they could run for such a position!

[Vidar]

54. Horny teenagers acting like horny teenagers and Joseph McCarthey born again as a prosecutor.

[apnu]

58. yet another fine example of how our legal system can't keep up with the times.

Just like our patent system.