Kids' self-victimization online

A 13-year-old boy in Washington State was arrested for posting 180 pornographic pictures, including photos of himself, in an online chatroom. After his first appearance in juvenile court, he was released to his parents while his case is pending, The Olympian reports. The case is baffling to the court and police, The Olympian adds, because of the boy's age. "Less than 3% of those arrested in child pornography cases are younger than 17. After the hearing last week, the boy's mother told reporters that "she thinks her son's dabbling with child pornography began out of curiosity and spun into something beyond his control. She said she thought the home computers had filters to block pornography." Unfortunately, cases like this are becoming less unusual, according to experts at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which runs the CyberTipline for online exploitation of children. Please see my newsletter this week for their take on this disturbing phenomenon.