Paying for nudity on Snapchat

Elena Mateus, ScotCenter Editor-in-Chief January twenty, 2015 | 12,529 Views

With Snapchat's new installation of Snapcash, trading micro-payments for raunchy pictures is now incredibly uncomplicated.

On Nov. 17, 2014, Snapchat, the pop media messaging service, announced the integration of Snapcash, a peer-to-peer payment system through the payment service Square.

With the new installation, users who are 18 and over that are located in the U.s.a. can connect their debit cards to their business relationship and instantly send money to friends.

By merely typing the dollar sign, the amount, and pressing the new green pay button, money is deposited straight into your friend'south banking company account.

It's as straightforward every bit it is potentially dangerous.

With Snapchat being primarily image sharing accompanied by short messages, information technology won't take long until sexual aspects will come up into play.

Co-ordinate to a study done by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 20 percentage of teenagers take sent or posted nude or semi nude photos or videos of themselves. As sending nude pictures under the historic period of xviii is illegal, Carlmont has seen problems with students sending sexually explicit content.

With regards to sending nude pictures, Vice Principal Jennifer Cho said, "Just considering you're sending pictures on Snapchat doesn't mean that someone didn't take a screenshot. The Internet is forever. You no longer have control over your own personal privacy to someone else and then once that's out at that place you don't know if its going to come back at all, e'er, or not."

Third party apps like "Snapkeep" and "Snapgrab" are existence made solely to let users to screenshot pictures received on Snapchat without sending a notification to the sender.

"In that location are already bug with the amount of nudes beingness sent effectually, but what worries me with Snapcash is how easily innocent, stupid acts can plough into the addictive act of earning money with minimal efforts," said senior Yunus Evsen.

With Snapchat's circumventable age verification and semi-anonymous account system, minors potentially have the ability to sell, ship, and receive nude pictures.

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Before signing upwards for Snapcash, Snapchat asks for an historic period confirmation of eighteen years and for the user to read the Square Agreement/Privacy Policy.

Flick this: a boy and a girl begin Snapchatting innocently, and one matter leads to another. Sooner or later, ane of them asks for a naked flick. Assuming that both parties are, or claim to be, over the age of 18 and have money on their debit bill of fare, this can be made possible for a price.

Senior Nathan Rosenthal said, "Snapchat has already gotten people used to the idea of sending sensitive material to others nether the motive of an innocent flirt and false sense of security. Now they raise the stakes by adding cash incentives. Not to mention, sending inappropriate pictures under 18 is illegal by itself."

According to a poll of 198 students conducted by Carlmont Journalism, 90 percent of students use Snapchat. Of those 198, only xiv per centum are over 18. "As a pupil, Snapcash definitely complicates things and you certainly don't want to be in a position where someone wants to throw you some coin for a picture that can be a charge confronting you," said Cho.

California's obscenity laws protect minors from pornographic exploitation through possession, ship, distribution, and auction of pornography with the involvement of minors. Sending out nudes under the age of eighteen is distribution of kid pornography, and receiving nudes equally a minor or from a small-scale is considered possession of child pornography.

"Snapcash is going to bring a lot of unwarranted negative attention just considering at that place is money affiliated with Snapchat at present. With the money and naked pictures being sent around it's going to create an industry for both pornography and child pornography," said Rosenthal.

Do you believe Snapcash will lead to an increase in child pornography?