A photo is forever, warns Nils Frederiksen.
A nude snapshot sent through picture messaging on cell phones can reach out to anyone, anywhere, and the sender can never get it back.
"These are things that could come back to haunt you," said Frederiksen, spokesman for the state Attorney General's office.
Area students and parents received a lesson in teens and technology from the state office last week at Claysburg-Kimmel and Portage Area schools in an attempt to prevent their students from taking part in the activity known as sexting.
Assemblies with Craig LeCadre, a state Attorney General's Office outreach specialist, were held during the day for students, and a parent session was held at Portage Elementary School in the evening.
"Our whole goal is to try to educate the parents on some of these topics to open a dialogue with their children," Portage Area Junior/Senior High Principal Ralph Cecere said.
He said students and parents need to realize the responsibility that comes with advancing technology.
Minor issues such as cell phones disrupting class have come up in the district, which is taking the proactive approach, he said.
Other area schools are addressing the issue, as well.
The Altoona Area school board adopted a sexting policy last month instructing students to immediately delete messages containing sexual content, including nude photos.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss any student discipline cases," district spokesman Tom Bradley wrote in an e-mail response to questions concerning any incidents within the district.
"Sexting has not been a problem here this year, and we continually warn kids about issues like these."
Besides possible criminal charges for possessing child pornography, the policy states students can face suspension, and the district can confiscate the phone and destroy an image.
Frederiksen said sexting can become a criminal offense when photographs of underage subjects are involved - as was the case with six Greensburg teens charged with child pornography in juvenile court in January.
Greensburg police said teen girls sent nude or semi-nude cell phone photos of themselves to teen boys, and Greensburg Salem High School officials found the photos after seizing a student's phone.
Frederiksen said the consequences don't stop with criminal charges against the teens, either.
"You're putting the devices in their hands," he said of parents. He said, legally, the phone is in the parent's name.
Frederiksen said photos sent through a cell phone can end up online and can even turn away potential employers. He said photos taken in someone's teen years could end up in the sight line of co-workers, enemies and future family members.
"Be very careful because there is no undo button for that type of thing," he said.
Even deleted photos are not gone forever, Frederiksen said.
Penn State Altoona career services director Rebecca Maguda said employers are using Spokeo.com - a search engine which digs through social networks for information - to search out job candidates.
"Be aware of what you put out there," she said.
For more information on outreach and education programs from the Attorney General's Office, call 800-525-7642.
