In the waning days of 2008, a survey was commissioned by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com to explore electronic activity of teens and young adults.    I’m not entirely certain, but this may have been one of the first comprehensive looks at the tendencies of teens towards sharing themselves (photographically) with their companions and complete strangers.  A simple Google search indicates that since this study was commissioned, interested parties are taking notice of the wave that is sweeping across the world.  More recently, MTV and the Associated Press teamed up to revisit the realities of sexting amongst teens.  These results may be surprising to some, but they certainly are not to me.

Government agencies, non-profits, news outlets, and software companies all have a dog in the fight.  NBC’s award winning television show “To Catch a Predator” brought the scary reality of online predators targeting underage children for sexual exploitation to primetime.  Teens are bombarded by sexually suggestive content day in and day out.  Often they are approached on Facebook or MySpace by acquaintances and strangers, alike, with the ultimate goal of sexualizing the conversation.  According to the MTV-AP study, 3 in 10 young people have been involved in some form of nude sexting. Nearly two-thirds of those report that they were actively pressured into sharing nude photos with the other party. Strikingly, 29% of those that participated in sexting did so with someone they only knew online or had never even met. The only (somewhat) assuring statistic that I read in these studies is that the overall incidence statistic is slightly higher amongst 18-24 year olds (33%) when compared to 14-17 year olds (24%)…for what it’s worth.

I could go on and on quoting statistics that would frighten even the most sexually liberated parent or family in the world.  But, I think it may be enlightening to consider what those involved in sexting think about this phenomenon.  In doing so, I’d like to point to the comments section of an article written about the first study I discussed. It’s painfully obvious that many of the comments that support the act of sexting are coming from teens or children.  They see no problem with it, which is why it becomes the responsibility of the parent putting this type of technology in their hands to protect them from themselves.  If protecting your children’s innocence doesn’t provide the peace of mind necessary, consider their reputations, safety and even legal trouble that they could find themselves in.

Mobile phones and smartphone devices offer naturally curious teens the ability to explore their sexuality, almost at will.  Teens are especially susceptible to peer pressure because they just want to be liked and identified as popular. Even as adults, we may all notice how much easier it is to say something over text message that we would never say if the person was standing in front of us.   The difference being that (most) adults are emotionally and developmentally equipped to make informed decisions and accept the consequences of their actions.

This is where software companies have placed their dog in the fight.  For years, we’ve seen companies like Net Nanny make a very profitable impact in assisting parents in having some sort of peace of mind in knowing that their children aren’t becoming targets of online predators on PCs.  Here at SMobile, we’ve taken that concept of monitoring our family’s communication to mobile devices and we do it better than anyone in the world.  Of course, SMobile’s Parental Controls and Monitoring is only one aspect of our software offerings for smartphones.  Which is why I’m breaking my personal rule of mixing advertising and product support when blogging about security subjects.

In researching these statistics I came across the article that I linked to that shows the comments of teens supporting sexting.  However, before I even got to the comments section, I noticed that the author of the article was actively advocating the use of monitoring software in order to detect this type of activity.  Obviously, I’m a proponent of this type of technology when the software is on the up and up.  In this particular instance, the author provides a link to a product named “Mobile Spy”.  SMobile, along with many of the other leading mobile anti-virus vendors accurately categorizes “Mobile Spy” as a spyware application because it actively tries to obfuscate and hide itself and its true intentions from the user being monitored.  There are any number of 3rd party applications that are available to attackers that allow them to be installed on a target device, unbeknown to the victim.

At SMobile, we believe that it is imperative that this type of software capability be handled in a transparent manner.  While I’m in firm agreement that children have absolutely no right to privacy while they are considered to be in custodial care of a parent, I also believe that if parents want to monitor their children’s online and mobile activities, they need to do it in a manner that the children know it is happening.  Secondarily, the responsible use of software that is regularly tied to nefarious spying, communication interception aimed at supposed cheating spouses, identity theft and theft of corporate data or trade secrets sends the wrong message.  Paradoxically, we often see this type of spyware being used in furtherance of cyber stalking and/or harassment of unwilling participants.   Certainly, software suites such as “Mobile Spy” can assist a parent in monitoring their children’s activity.  But the clandestine manner in which the tools exist on the mobile device also lends their functionality to criminal activity.  I believe the same precautions can be taken by parents by employing products that inform the user that they are being monitored for their own safety.