BUSI 3313 Homework Assignment #8: Sexting Laws, Ethics, and Policy

This homework assignment for BUSI 3313 addresses the topic of sexting, exploring its legal and ethical implications. The assignment begins by examining the varying laws surrounding sexting among minors, highlighting differences across states like Connecticut, Louisiana, and Texas, and discussing the potential for criminal prosecution. The second question analyzes the ethical considerations of adult sexting, considering factors such as societal views, consequences, and the reach of results to determine the severity of ethical violations. The final question focuses on how employers can eliminate sexting within an organization by implementing clear electronic communication policies, including it in sexual harassment policies, and establishing codes of business conduct. The assignment draws upon the textbook and external sources, adhering to APA citation style, to provide a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter.

Student’s Name
BUSI 3313
4/13/2020

Student’s Name
Question One
It is illegal for people below 18 years to create, possess, or share obscene content.
However, this varies among states. For instance, Connecticut’s sexting law mainly targets
individuals between 13 and 17 years who either send or receive obscene content. This law
distinguishes between the age of the sender and the receiver of such content and penalizes
senders aged 13 to 15 who send nudes of themselves and receivers of age 13 to 17 who receive
such images. However, in Louisiana, it is illegal for an individual below 17 years to send or
receive explicit photos. In Texas, the law exempts sexting among minors provided that among
the two, none is 2 years older or younger and they should be dating.
Sexting can result in criminal prosecution, including being classified as a sex offender.
This is because sharing of naked images either through a text or through social media for
individuals below 18 years is technically illegal (Lorang, et al., 2016). The law does not provide
any exceptions for teens below 18 years who create, possess and share such content among
themselves. This counts as an offense of sharing obscene images of children and meets the legal
definition of child pornography.
Question Two
In most instances, as a young person, I would consider adult sexting a minor ethical
violation or even an ethical practice. However, this perspective could change in the future.
Certain circumstances such as the consequences, relatedness, reach of result, likelihood effect,
society’s opinion, as well as time to consequences could move adult texting from a minor to a
very serious ethical violation (Haag & Cummings, 2009). For instance, society views the sharing

Student’s Name
of obscene images to be an unethical act. Besides, the consequences of sexting on an individual
are adverse. For instance, an adult may face embarrassment whenever their explicit content licks
to the public, which may result is emotional and psychological difficulties. Besides, there is also
the factor of the reach of results such as in the instance that a married individual is caught sexting
with a non-partner may result in a divorce. All these circumstances could result in adult sexting
advancing from a minor to a very serious ethical violation.
Question Four
An employer can eliminate sexting in the organization by formulating a clear electronic
communication policy. In this case, texting should be included in the sexual harassment policy
because sexting may result in sexual harassment claims (Hasinoff, 2017). The employer ought to
make sexting a code of business conduct. Besides, to eliminate employee-to-employee sexting,
the employer has the authority to sack a staff that is caught involved in this misconduct. In the
case of employee-to-customer sexting, the employer can eliminate it by including it in the
company’s policy on fraternization with clients. In case a staff sends an unwelcome and
unwanted sext with a fellow staff or customer, the company’s reputation may be ruined and in
most cases, the organization could be put out of business (Silva, et al., 2016). Besides, such an
organization could be involved it endless lawsuits where they would pay huge penalties.

Student’s Name
References
Haag, S., & Cummings, M. (2009). Management information systems for the information age.
McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Hasinoff, A. A. (2017). Sexting and privacy violations: a case study of sympathy and
blame. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 11(2), 202-217.
Lorang, M. R., McNiel, D. E., & Binder, R. L. (2016). Minors and Sexting: Legal
Implications. The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 44(1), 73-
81.
Silva, R. B., Teixeira, C. M., Vasconcelos-Raposo, J., & Bessa, M. (2016). Sexting: Adaptation
of sexual behavior to modern technologies. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 747-753.