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Maurer is warning parents to take precautions when it comes to gaming consoles because most are hooked to the Internet and anyone can be chatting with children during game play. IBSYS.ad.AdManager.registerPosition({ "iframe": false, "addlSz": "", "element": "ad_N6C0061.2D12", "interstitials": false, "beginDate": "", "endDate": "", "getSect": "", "name": "square", "qString": "", "width": "300", "height": "250", "section": "", "useId": "16995600", "interactive": false, "useSameCategory": false, "topic": "", "swSectionRoot": "", "useZone": "", "type": "DOM" }); "My theory on it is that predators are going to go where kids are, and kids are playing video games so it's a perfect place for them to be," Maurer said.

School resource officers from across Alabama and the nation fielded complaints about an Internet extortionist badgering girls for nude pic­tures. Victims even created a Facebook page warning fe­males not to talk to the per­son with the username Meta­scape. Metascape turned out to be Jonathan Vance, an Alabama man who made lewd cyber re­quests of 206 girls and young women and attempted to hack into and gain control of their e-mail, Facebook and MySpace accounts, federal authorities say. He was suc­cessful in at least 53 cases.

The controversy around sexting is growing in part because of more incidents, but also because of the legal ramifications involved. Sending nude images of underage children through digital media can be considered child pornography, and those taking and transmitting the images can be charged—whether they themselves are underage or not.

A study last year found teens are placing more of an emphasis on image and fame than in the past. Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University who studies young people's trends, found that teens are more confident and assertive than ever before.