Xbox: The Latest Casualty of Pornography

Pornographers continue to launch their assault against our children. The latest casualty of pornographic manipulation is the video game system Xbox. Here’s the latest news from Greensboro, NC, an article written by Taren Reed.

GREENSBORO, NC — A North Carolina woman is upset that a man was able to send pornographic images to her children…over their X-box! WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

A gaming system a mom bought for family entertainment and to use as a means to keep in contact with other family members across the country, became an avenue for predators to send pornographic images to her children.

She says she won’t ever be able to undo what her children were exposed to, but she wants other parents to be aware of what could happen.

“Had you told me when I bought all this equipment, a warning of some type that you were going to allow pedophiles into my home, I wouldn’t have bought it. My children would not have the systems,” Robin Espejel says she feels like she’s been tricked. She had no idea who could gain access to her children through a video game system.

It was when 10-year-old Jacob opened a message when the trouble started.

“He comes running in here frantic, telling me, I need to come look, I need to come look. Something is wrong with the Xbox,” Espejel explained.

She says she thought a cord must have come loose, so she sent her 20-year-old son, Christopher Marshburn to check it out, “I come in here and I click on the message and up pops this, this, this gruesome, nasty pornographic picture.”

Espejel says she was disgusted when she looked and saw someone sent a picture of a man’s genitals to their system.

Marshburn says his little brother’s reaction was the worst, “He starts to cry and he’s scared that it is something he’s done, and it’s nothing he’s done.”

Marshburn warned the user he was contacting children, but the Xbox user continued to send pictures of himself, most of them too graphic to show on TV.

“These are kids that are receiving nude pictures of other people, grown men. That’s a pedophilic act,” said Marshburn.

“I called the police last night, saying, how do you stop a pedophile from coming through the Xbox? You stop them from coming through the computer, they need to be stopped through this as well,” said Espejel.

She said two officer visited her home to check out the photos, but they told her she would need to contact Xbox. She says Xbox support told her they could only delete the gamer’s ID name, but it’s possible he may have several, and he could continue to try to make contact.

Kids Could Face Porn Charges?

In a March 12, 2009 article of USA Today we learn that a number of children are getting into serious trouble for sending steamy photos of themselves via the cell phone. And of course, many of these racy pictures end up on the Internet for the entire worldwide web to see. But that is a minor issue considering the trouble kids are getting into. The latest craze is called “sexting,” which is defined as nude images texted by cell phone. What is the major issue at hand here? This activity can bring the charge of distributing child pornography. 

The article documented that this week in Spotsylvania, Va., two boys, ages 15 and 18, were charged with solicitation and possession of child porn with the intent to distribute after an investigation found they sought nude pictures from three juveniles – one in elementary school. Last month, District Attorney William Shaw filed a juvenile petition against a 15-year-old girl for sending nude photos of herself over the Internet. This activity is bringing charges that could amount to becoming a registered sex-offender for up to 20 years. 

To add insult to injury, the victim, who has ironically become the perpetrator, could become a rogue-like celebrity over the Internet. Material of this kind usually hits the web rather quickly and spreads like a cancer. Before long, images of our young girls could find a resting place on the hard drives of sexual predators, as well as millions of other people who have access to the Internet. 

Education is paramount. If society does not inform our youths of the dangers of posting nude pictures of themselves on social networks, as well as texting them via cell phone, we may have to face the reality that our children will carry the stigma of being sex offenders.