With our societal addiction to the internet, smartphones, and computers, today’s teens face growing exposure to new forms of harassment and bullying. These can sometimes lead to criminal charges for those engaging in this conduct, and potentially anxiety, depression and, suicidal thoughts for the recipients.

Sexting is the sending, receiving or forwarding of sexually explicit material over electronic devices, including cellphones and computers. Sexually explicit material includes nude or partially nude photos or videos. Studies have revealed that more than 50% of young adults have sent nude or seminude photos of themselves to others, and more than 70% have received such materials. New Jersey, like many states, criminalizes the sending, possession, sharing or viewing of sexually explicit photos and videos of anyone under the age of 18 under its child pornography laws. That means that a student under 18 who sends a nude photo of themselves to another student under 18 could face criminal prosecution. While there is a diversionary program available for juveniles charged with their first sexting offense, these are serious matters that persist in middle and high schools across the country.

Revenge porn, also referred to as non-consensual pornography, is the distribution of sexually explicit images of an individual without his or her consent and without legitimate purpose. It is an ever-increasing, invasive form of cyber harassment. It usually involves a former sexual partner, who sends nude photos or videos to the victim’s family, friends, or employer in an effort to degrade, embarrass, and harass. In New Jersey, this form of harassment is a third-degree crime, exposing the perpetrator to 3-5 years in state prison.

Cyberbullying is the repeated and intentional harassment of another person over electronic devices. Cyberbullying is rampant among teenagers and has recently resulted in a number of highly publicized suicides by victims. Studies have demonstrated that the adverse impact of cyberbullying can last much longer and cause greater damage than traditional forms of in-person bullying.

These activities are the latest form of domestic violence, stalking, and harassment. They carry serious criminal penalties and require experience and expertise to handle correctly, as they risk incarceration, criminal fines and penalties, and civil restraining orders.

Stahl Gasiorowski Criminal Defense Lawyers aggressively defend individuals charged with complex federal and state crimes. Founder Robert G. Stahl is recognized as one of the top criminal defense attorneys in the NY/NJ area for his skills, knowledge and success. To contact the firm, call 908.301.9001 for the NJ office and 212.755.3300 for the NYC office, or email Mr. Stahl at rgs@sgdefenselaw.com.

Electronic service providers like AOL voluntarily and automatically scan customers’ email transmissions and electronic storage spaces using sophisticated image detection and filtering programs to detect viruses, malware, and illegal images like child pornography. When such scanning reveals that a customer has accessed, transmitted or stored child pornography, the service provider is statutorily required to notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The NCMEC is obligated by law to then alert federal law enforcement, which can then lead to government investigation and serious criminal charges in state and federal court. Courts have almost uniformly rejected challenges to the search and seizure of child porn discovered in such instances, relying on the private actor doctrine, which excludes searches or seizures conducted by private actors from Fourth Amendment scrutiny.

A recent case decided by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals notably broke from the ranks in holding that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the agency statutorily obligated to maintain the electronic “tip line” for services providers to report possible child pornography violations and to forward such “tips” to federal law enforcement, was acting as a governmental entity or agent when it searched the defendant’s email without a warrant.

Although the decision paves the way for future suppression motions in similar fact scenarios, there are some cautions. Most importantly, the government in that case failed to raise on appeal numerous legal arguments, such as attenuation, exigent circumstances or the good faith doctrine that may have provided the Court with a basis for finding that the NCMEC’s warrantless search might nonetheless still be considered reasonable. Additionally, at least one district court in New York has held that a defendant can be said to have consented to the search of his private emails by the Internet Service Provider in accepting the ISP’s terms of service. Those boilerplate terms explicitly advised that customers’ emails will be subject to automatic, systematic searches and referral to authorities if any illegal material is discovered.

Clients facing charges for possession or distribution of child pornography can be assured that the attorneys in the Law Offices of Robert G. Stahl are up to date and aware of all advances in the legal landscape to challenge evidence and hopefully obtain dismissal of criminal charges.

The problem is, increasingly these days when you surf the web or engage in virtual conversations with others, you are indeed being watched. And if the content of your interaction leads toward behavior that federal or New Jersey law has made illegal, this can lead to a bad conclusion.

Take as an example the recent case of a Lindenwold man who thought that he was engaged in an online conversation with the mother of an 11-year-old girl. The engagement eventually led to the man allegedly transmitting images of child pornography online as an exchange what he hoped would be the mother’s use of her daughter in an online video sex act.

As it turns out, the supposed mother was a federal agent, and now the New Jersey man is facing federal charges including attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child and attempted manufacture of child pornography. If convicted, he could be sent to prison for a decade or more.

Online sting operations are not necessarily infallible, and anyone accused of committing an Internet crime should seek legal counsel experienced in defense of Internet crime charges.

Source: SFGate, ” Indictment: Man sought webcam sex show with child,” June 17, 2015