Tech sleaze: Cell phone porn scandal hits US school

ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA: Police tried to stop the spread of pornographic video and photos of two US high school girls, images that were transmitted by cell phone to dozens of the girls' classmates and then to the wider world. At least 40 Parkland High School students believed to have received the images must show their phones to police by Tuesday to ensure the images have been erased, or they could be prosecuted in juvenile court for possession of child pornography, district attorney James B Martin said on Thursday. But students at the Pennsylvania school said the distribution was far more widespread. "Most people got it and kept passing it along for fun to everyone in their phonebook," said Jon Gabriel, 16, a junior who said he received and deleted the images. One of the girls in the images is shown engaging in a sex act with an unidentified boy, Martin said. The other girl took and transmitted a photo of her bare breasts, he said. Martin said he was not certain if the girl shown having sex knew she was being photographed. As for the other student, "she's a victim and she's not a victim", he said.