Online photos of water polo player spark anti-exploitation movement
SACRAMENTO — An Orange County mother was shocked last fall to discover that someone had photographed her 13-year-old son in his tight-fitting swimsuit at a high school water polo meet and posted the image on an adult Web site that invited lewd comments.
Scouring the Internet, parents soon found other such photos, hundreds of them. But their horror turned to disbelief upon learning that police could do little to stop the practice.
The Orange County parents banded together to raise a ruckus that has launched a law enforcement review, prompted legislation to crack down on the practice and prodded debate pitting constitutional rights against children's privacy.
"It's disgusting, because they're victimizing kids," said Joan Gould, a spokeswoman for the group, including the mother whose discovery sparked the outcry. "It's demoralizing to young kids."
California's penal code does not specifically ban such photography, which is protected by free-speech rights, since the photos themselves are not lewd and are taken at school athletic events open to the public.
"I think the most frustrating thing for all of the parents is finding out that it's legal," said Gould, a national water polo spokeswoman, who helped the parents investigate the incident.
The uproar is part of a much broader issue, the marriage of Internet and digital camera technology that allows photographs to be transmitted worldwide at the push of a button.
Lena Smyth, co-founder of Mothers Against Sexual Predators, said there are numerous variations on the same exploitative theme: titillating photos of children sent from cell phone to cell phone; young girls' photos posted and rated on a pedophile's site; self-titled "art" Web sites that charge a monthly fee for access to children's photos.
"There are certain areas where the law has not kept up with technology," she said.
The power of the Internet to create an overnight sensation, without permission, was demonstrated last year when sports blogs and other Web sites posted photos of Allison Stokke, a high school pole-vaulter, competing in a standard spandex uniform with bare midriff. A Google search of her name now generates 334,000 results.
Attorney Allan Stokke, Allison Stokke's father, said she was irritated, and "there may have been crude people saying crude things." But, he added, "I don't see any legal way to stop that sort of thing."
The angry Orange County parents used the same Internet that displayed their children's photos to mobilize opposition to exploitation.
After discovering the image of her 13-year-old son on an adult-oriented site, the Orange County mother — who Gould said requested anonymity to protect her child's privacy — contacted other parents. The group sought help from Gould, because she runs a national Web site for water polo fans.
Upset families hit the Internet, discovering dozens of Southern California teen athletes — perhaps 500 athletes nationwide — on more than a half-dozen Web sites catering to homosexual adults, Gould said.
The parents' group posted blog entries on Gould's Web site and contacted schools and police agencies, to no avail, Gould said.
To grab attention, the families agreed to use Gould's Web site to post links to the offensive photos, giving viewers a graphic glimpse.
"They hit the roof," Gould said.
Most offensive of all, perhaps, were posted comments beside the photos of teen athletes, not only from water polo but swimming, wrestling, cycling and other sports using tight-fitting uniforms, Gould said.
"The comments tell what people would like to do with these kids," she said.
The Orange County District Attorney's Office is reviewing state law and circumstances surrounding the Southern California case, said spokeswoman Farrah Emami, who declined further comment.
Gould said two photographers believed to have taken many of the Orange County water polo images were identified through credit lines on adult Web sites. Neither has been charged with wrongdoing.
Civil courts, rather than criminal proceedings, might prove more fruitful for families.
Margaret Johns, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, said people who post such pictures on adult Web sites could be sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress or, possibly, violating privacy for monetary gain.
Winning would be no slam-dunk, according to Johns, who said that a distress-based suit would have to show conduct that was extreme, outrageous, highly offensive and caused severe emotional distress.
"Those are tough requirements. ... but I think that publishing a kid's picture on an adult Web site is beyond all bounds of decency, or at least a jury could think so," Johns said.
La Donna Verloop, mother of a water polo player from Santa Ana whose image was not displayed, said the scandal is embarrassing and many of the kids just "want it to go away."
"It makes you sick to your stomach that people would do those kind of things," Verloop said.
A local newspaper story on the Orange County photos prompted a similar reaction from Assemblyman Cameron Smyth. His wife is Lena Smyth, co-founder of Mothers Against Sexual Predators.
He has proposed Assembly Bill 2104 to outlaw the posting of a minor's photo, without consent, on a Web site containing obscene matter. Violators could be jailed for one year and fined $5,000.
Calvin Massey, a professor of constitutional law at UC Hastings College of the Law, has not read AB 2104 but said its approach might well survive legal challenge, because it does not restrict access or photography at school events.
Government cannot simply bar speech it finds offensive, Massey said, but "I think the depiction of minors in a context in which it's pandering to those who are interested in child pornography is an adequate justification."
Even if signed into law, however, enforcement could be difficult.
Adult Internet sites can be based anywhere in the world, photographers often aren't known, and images might have been stolen or exchanged hands repeatedly before posting.
"The intent, I think, is worthwhile," Los Angeles Sheriff's Sgt. Wayne Bilowit said of AB 2104.
"But I don't know how it plays out in the real world," he said.
Credits: Jim Sanders, McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS and insidebayarea.com
My comment: Google and all other search engines do have a responsibility! If search engines don't do it by themselves, then they should be forced by law to remove all of these and similar sites from their search results, and they should by law be forced to prevent that new sites of this kind get listed.
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