SnapChat & Sexting

One of the most popular apps categories amongst young adults and teens are social/messaging apps.  There are a plentiful supply of them too.  Vine, Kik, WhatsApp, LINE, pinger, KakaoTalk, WeChat, Tango, Telegram, and of course Snapchat.

Snapchat is a particularly interesting one from a business perspective since it is a company that has no revenue to speak of, yet it recently attracted and rejected a $3 billion buy-out offer from Facebook.  SnapChat’s claim to fame has been the ability to send “temporary” images between a closed group of “friends” with the confidence that the picture, after a number of seconds will disappear, never to be seen again.  Well thats the theory, anyway.  While this opens the floodgates for many and varied hilarious images to be sent back and forth, it also has had a massive impact on the ease and supposed confidence to engage in sexting.

Now, what is SEXTING?

Sexting is the modern conjunction given to the act of sexually explicit texting.  The concept of texts is used in this term because previously, the only way to do this was to snap a photo with your 1 megapixel camera on your clamshell mobile phone, and place the lo-res grainy image in an SMS/MMS message and send it.  All this with the knowledge that the image would then forever remain on the recipients phone until they chose to delete it.  But it didn’t really matter because no-one could make out what the image was of anyway! 🙂

Enter Snapchat and the advent of up to 41 MegaPixel(MP) camera perched in a mini computer that is your smart-phone in your pocket.  As an example, I have a stunningly detailed canvas picture on my wall which is approximate 1 meter wide.  The photo on the canvas was taken with a popular smart phone at the time with a 5MP Camera.  A 41MP could potentially be blown up as a picture to be displayed on the side of a skyscraper with great clarity.

What is the RISK?

So, I hear you saying, “if the photo disappears, why are we concerned?”

The reality is that it is notoriously difficult to remove data from mobile devices simply because of the way data is stored. Since mobile devices are so regularly recycled for newer versions, this means that Snapchat photos may inadvertently be passed on to unknown persons, when users are under the impression they no longer exist.  If you know how, it is relatively easy to retrieve them with forensic software.

 What do I need to be aware of?

There are a couple of things to be aware of, depending on your role in the use of SnapChat and other similar apps, and how they are being utilised.

A Concerned Parent

Ensure you have open communication with your child.  Explain the risks, and ensure that they are aware that even when they think images are totally gone, in reality they most likely are not.

Here are some sites which may help:

• CyberSmart: Sexting
• Kids HelpLine: GrownUp Help for Sexting
• Below The Belt App

And while this link will expire on the 18th of Dec – I recommend watching the ABC2 Documentary “Suicide and Me“
There is an astounding stat at the start – every 10 minutes, someone in Australia makes an attempt on their own life.  This program deals with, amongst other things, how to communicate with someone who might be considering drastic actions.

A Sexster

What you do with your phone is absolutely your choice – unless you are under-age, or the phone is not yours.  If you want to find out what the potential effects could be, or if you have been the victim of an embarrassing mis-use of a photo you intended to be private, you may want to review some of these sites:

• CyberSmart: How Do I Deal with Sexting?
• Kids HelpLine
• Megans Story

Warning: some of these terms are vulgar. This list is nowhere close to exhaustive, words can be combined, removed, and invented on the fly.