The Internet

As teens going to high school and having access to the internet, atleast one e-mail 'bashing' another person or one of sexual content must have crossed your paths. In 2008 there has been a great increase in such emails, and now they are loaded with sexual content. There has been the Norman Manley high school video, the 'BEACH' pictures, the lesbian pictures, the UTECH girl pictures, the Lisa Hanna look-a-like pictures, and more recently the Kingston Technical High School video.

Why do persons do this? It has been said that there is a competition between the schools to see who can produce the best sex video. This is really disgusting. These kids should be concentrating on school work, not sex, especially IN SCHOOL sex. I am sure these parents don't worry about their child's safety when they send them to school. But, the truth is the same sexual predators you find on the streets may be found in schools.

Why use the internet to bash people? Well, for one, it is the easiest way to spread information. Recently my cousin told me of an e-mail which was aimed at a girl from her school. This e-mail told of various persons the girl hated and other such information. In another e-mail, the perpetrator wrote, it was stated that most of the things written were lies, but the perpetrator envied the girl so much she did it so the girl's friends would stop talking to her.

Don't you think this is Internet Crime? No it is not the identity theft or internet scam, but it is damaging to people.

In The Gleaner today it stated that the government is cracking down on the sex-video wave and has begun to implement The Child Pornography Act. This act will make it illegal to produce, possess or circulate pornographic material. The Minister of Education also stated that they will be working closely with school administration and parents in order to crack down on this new phenomenon.

This is a good idea, yes, but it will be VERY difficult to track down such emails. For one, the media does not hear about it until weeks or even months after and then what really can be done? It is also very difficult to track down the source of the e-mail. Will all of us who get the e-mail be prosecuted for possessing pornographic material? More really needs to be said on this matter.

A crime does not only have to be physical, as words can hurt just the same or even more. It's just that words don't leave visible scars. We also need to find a way to target people who write nasty commens about others but the situation of the sexual videos is a much bigger issue.

PS: THE GLEANER IS VERY INTERESTING TODAY