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Cell phone porn on the rise in Michiana

 St. Joseph County High Tech Crime Unit says cell phone porn is on the rise. Teens and even younger children are sending sexually explicit photos of themselves to others, and those photos are ending up everywhere.

"Recently, this girl sent a video of herself to her boyfriend. He then sent it to everyone and now people are calling her bad names," Samantha Novey, 14-year old student. Novey has a cell phone and is closely monitored by her mother.

"Especially with someone at her age. She's 14-years old and it's a very influential age. It's important to watch out for things she does, the pictures she takes, and pictures of her friends," says Natalie Rivenes, Samantha's mother.

The St. Joseph County High Tech Crimes Unit says more teens are carrying phones and most of those phones have cameras. Teens can share and distribute those photos to others. It's called cell phone porn and it's growing in Michiana.

"It's a really big problem. Kids are taking inappropriate photos using cell phones and trading them over cell phones and putting them on the computer and trading on the computer," says Mitch Kajzer.

He says the department gets several cases a week, but at that point, it may be too late.

" It's difficult to tell parents and the child that once it's out there, it's never coming back. The photo will always be on the internet somewhere," says Kajzer.

He says parents need to take an active roll, even if it means taking away from privacy.

This peer-to-peer porn is a national problem and many people are stepping up to advocate cell phone and internet safety.

Marian Merritt currently lives in Los Angeles, but has been traveling around the country as an advocate about this. She's also the author of Family Online Safety Guide.

She discusses the importance of parental involvement. She says it's important parents watch what their kids are doing and viewing on phones and the internet.

She says the key to combating this problem is having more control over your child's cell phone.

For more information, visit www.norton.com/familyresources

Online Reporter: Colleen Bormann