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Nude Teen Pictures On Cell Phones

By Sharon Osorio

July 9, 2010 Updated May 11, 2008 at 11:10 PM EST

It may be hard to fathom, but some female teens are using their own cell phones to snap pictures of themselves in the nude, and they're using that same cell phone to send the picture to a boyfriend's phone.
But when that photo leaves your own phone and goes into cyberspace, there's no telling where it can go.
"The problem is the second they send that image, they lose complete control over it," says Ed Suk of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "As soon as it gets in someone else's hands, it can be sent anywhere across the Internet and e-mailed."
And some teens, most recently at Pioneer Central Schools, are learning the hard way.
The district says photos of teens in both the high school and middle school were found on confiscated cell phones.
It's a situation that can be embarrassing and humiliating, and police says it's sometimes enough to make a teen feel she cannot go back to the same school.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says it could lead to even bigger problems.
"We've even had some situations where an adolescent girl will take a somewhat provocative image of herself, it gets out of her hands, gets into the hands of a pedophile who then blackmails her to send even more provocative images," says Suk.
Pioneer is offering warnings and information to parents, and encouraging them to talk with their children. And if your teen has a camera cell phone, experts recommend you do the same.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offers an informative starting-point for parents, teens and younger children at www.netsmartz.org

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