Is Sexting Protected by the First and Fourth Amendments?

Three students are suing a state prosecutor in relation to a sexting case. Last February, twenty students at a northeastern Pennsylvania school were found to have sent or to be in a cell phone photo that District Attorney George P. Skumanick considered “provocative.” One photo in the suit shows two girls in bras from the waist up. Another shows a girl with a towel wrapped underneath her breasts. The photos were discovered when many of the students in question had their cell phones confiscated and searched at school. The state prosecutor threatened all of the students with sexual abuse of a minor charges for sexting semi-nude or nude photos of themselves. The charges could lead to jail time and registration as a sex offender. To avoid charges, the prosecutor required the students to attend a 10 hour class concerning pornography and sexual violence. Seventeen of the students accepted the deal, but three girls are fighting it based on their First and Fourth Amendment rights of freedom of expression and their rights to oppose the prosecutor’s deal.

There are many issues that this case brings up. First, does freedom of expression mean that minors have the right to send nude photos of themselves to other people? The defense attorney for the three girls contends that the two photos in question here do not constitute child pornography because they do not show the girls in any sexual activity, and they do not show intent for child pornography. Another issue is should minors be labeled and registered as sex offenders for sending nude or semi-nude photos to their boyfriends, girlfriends, or friends? The context and intent of the photos are clearly important, but I’m sure many these photos are not sent with illegal or harmful intent. The other issue is searching a student’s cell phone. One article states that cell phones contain personal information protected by the Fourth Amendment. Should schools have the right to search students’ cell phones?

Articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26sextext.html?_r=1&ref=education

http://www.ncac.org/The-Right-to-Sext-Sending-Nude-Photos-of-Oneself-is-a-Right

http://www.aclupa.org/downloads/MillerComplaintfinal.pdf

Tennessee School Districts Censor GLBT Websites

In April, I read about a Tennessee school librarian and two Tennessee high school students who had contacted the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) for help regarding Internet filters that two Tennessee school districts were using which restricted students from accessing any website that included GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) information and resources. The ACLU wrote a letter to each school district and gave them until April 29 to reply.

Two days ago, I read that one of the school districts did not respond to the ACLU's letter, and while the other district did respond, the response did not show enough "good faith" regarding the issue. Therefore, school media specialist Karyn Stort-Brinks and two students, along with the ACLU of Tennessee, decided to sue the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and Knox County Schools. They claim that censorship of GLBT sites infringes on the students' First Amendment rights and denies them access to vital information, resources, and organizations regarding GLBT. They also state that the filters deny students access to both sides of the issue by filtering GLBT information but not sites related to the other side of the argument.

I 100 percent agree with the lawsuit and commend the librarian and the students for standing against such practices. I cannot believe schools would even think about using this type of filtering software. The April article states that Tennessee schools must use filters to protect students from harmful and obscene sites, but this filtering software, provided by Educational Networks of America, is set to automatically filter the term GLBT. I think this is ridiculous. There is a large amount of educational information that students cannot access because of these filters. The scary thing is that 105 other districts in the state use filtering software provided by ENA. Can you imagine how many students are being restricted from accessing these sites? This seems absurd to me, and I hope this sort of discrimination is ended quickly in Tennessee and anywhere else this software or similar filtering systems are being used.

Article: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6659561.html