Barbie Porn

One of the most disturbing things in the modern age is the "what if" crime.  For example, Mattel (or whoever makes Barbie these days), produces a Barbie doll with a small video camera inside.  The result of this is that the FBI issues a warning document (described here) claiming that "law enforcement is encouraged to be aware of unconventional avenues for possible production and possession of child pornography, such as the Barbie Video Girl."

(Unlike the the Amazon porn guy documented here I think "child porn" production should be a death penalty case - there would be much less that way...)

Now as far as it goes this FBI document is fine.

I just wonder why they missed the whole grade school/middle school sexting thing.  Clearly this is just as bad as any Barbie camera doll - but apparently there isn't much call for parents and law enforcement to be careful about what kids are doing with their phones.  Certainly its a problem.

Clearly any cell phone or video device can be used in this sort of crime - but no one is concerned until Barbie does it.

I see a few fundamental problems here.

First off I find it troubling that kids in grade or middle school, or even high school for that matter, need phones, let alone phones with cameras in them.  Given the "porn star mentality" of most prime-time TV shows (documented here) its little wonder that kids' hormones direct them to activities that, 20 years ago, simply would not have been possible.

Now personally I don't blame the kids.  Adults are required to buy the phones and 99.9% of the time pay for the phones.  So clearly its their fault to begin with.  Yet somehow, when some highschool kids are involved in "sexting" (see this story) charges are brought against the kids.

Now I ask what about the parents?  Aren't they required for the kid to have a cellphone in the first place.  Isn't using a phone something that requires responsibility?

While the kids violate the letter of the law (with very serious consequences) the various statutes they violate were not, according Patrick Artur, a Philadelphia defense attorney, designed for "sexting".  Their primary use was to stop "dirty old men in rain coats".

So the FBI is concerned about "what if" some perv gets hold of a Barbie camera while, right underneath their noses, kids are manufacturing porn at a pace to rival commercial porn houses: 1 in 5 kids post nude pictures of themselves on cell phones - 1 in 5.  So if there's, say 15 million kids in high school (grades 9 -12) you're looking at millions of kids producing child porn as defined by the law.

So I ask "what if" that's a problem?  All this kiddie porn on cellphones.

In today's age of "its not my fault" how does this go on?

Personally I think its a question of adult responsibility abdication.

In the olden days your dad had a hunting rifle.  You didn't touch it without permission let alone take it out or to school.  There was an entire societal infrastructure around learning to use it safely and carefully and "becoming a man" as you graduated to being able to hunt with dad and his friends.  There were no school shootings in those days because society created a means to control something dangerous.

Today there is no such societal governor on our kids behavior.

The reason is simple and sad: everyone is too busy.  They are too busy working extra hard to afford cell phones for their kids - all the while not realizing what the kiddies are up to with it.  (Though there is no doubt in my mind that a significant number of parents don't care whether the kids are sexting or not - some Modern Mon's probably think its cool and are jealous.)

Now I argue with my better half about this.  One perspective is "if its wrong and you do it, you're punished".  While I agree with this from the perspective of the "olden days" I am no so sure when modern technology like a video camera cellphone is released "into the wild".

I believe that children are just that, children, and offering them an unchecked Pandora's box of sexual delights at age 12 is crime.

But, you might argue, its not a crime, its a phone.  They need it to call me when they get home from school so I know they are safe.

Right.  Safe.  Safe at home manufacturing child porn after school because they are bored.

In my childhood there was (and still is) the concept of "the attractive nuisance".  Some guy would setup a trampoline next to a cliff side.  The kiddies would show up, play on the trampoline until someone went sailing over the edge.  Bingo, the trampoline owner was at fault. (This is why all pools have fences today.)

Why?

The assumption under the law was that, as an "owner" of the trampoline there came responsibility.

This needs to be applied to the wondrous new technologies that are being shoved down the throats of ten year old by modern society.

The legal system needs to wake up and realize that its the parents that own the phones - not the kids.  The kids are not allowed to buy them unless they are eighteen.

But no, cell phones make a wonderful babysitting tool for Modern Mom so no one wants to rock the boat with talk of Modern Mom also having to be responsible for what is done with her property.  "What if" mom and dad were responsible for what the kid did... just like in the olden days?

No, the only real pornography here is watching society debauch kids in the name of convenience and corporate profits.