From my perspective, the photo above wasn't really a problem. Although I had no interest in viewing the video, it appeared to involve only consenting adults. However, the logo on the sweater is associated with a particular order that's established a number of Catholic schools, and I wondered whether the order could sue the porn producer for trademark dilution. Maybe, it turned out. A helpful law school professor pointed me to a 1979 decision involving the Dallas Cowboys and said that the school would need to be able to show "a protectable trademark interest in their uniforms."
Practically speaking, there's no way that a school can guarantee that a distinctive piece of uniform clothing that students are required to buy will never show up in online porn. A few years ago, a 17-year-old student at a Catholic high school in the Bronx appeared in a porn video. Given the volume of low-quality amateur porn out there, it's unlikely that this would have gotten much attention -- except that the student apparently wore her school uniform for part of it.
It's not unusual for pedophiles on social networks to display children in their profile pictures to signal their interests. We've seen a few of them with photos of kids in school uniforms. Nieza Anousha has connections to some more obviously predatory users and is also displaying an image of a prepubescent girl sitting in a way that provides a clear view up her skirt. (We've blacked out the faces of both girls.)
The solid color polo shirts and navy skirts look like school uniforms. Luckily for the girls, they can't be readily identified. This is a good thing since some pedophiles take a disturbing interest in the real names and locations of children in the photos that they trade. That's why it really blew my mind when I discovered that some Catholic schools now require students' shirts and sweaters to be embroidered with the child's first initial and last name. What were the administrators thinking?
keep the good work going, society needs to see this kind of thing so they can do something about it..
ReplyDeleteThanks. From my perspective, there were some interesting legal and policy issues related to school uniforms and the Internet. Schools and organizations may sometimes be able to sue for misuse of their trademarks. For example, a business is apparently selling per-view access to online porn that uses the sweater shown in the top photo as a costume. The religious order that created the crest on the sweater and founded Catholic schools might have a strong case if they took the porn producer to court.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing misuse of children's photos online, I also found it alarming that some schools were requiring students to wear uniforms monogrammed with their first initial and last name. A savvy predator might be able to use that to track down the child online, particularly if s/he had an unusual last name.