Publication Date
7-2010
Document Type
Casenote
Abstract
The capabilities of modern cell phones are advancing at an unprecedented rate, and with these advancements, cell phones now resemble personal computers in numerous ways. Messages, pictures, and videos, which were once transmittable only by computer, can now be sent from one cell phone to another or from a computer to a cell phone and vice versa. While the differences between these two electronic devices may seem increasingly trivial to the average electronics user, these differences are pivotal for the criminal defendant who has used a cell phone to send a sexually explicit text message to a minor. The disparity lies in the scope of Georgia's obscenity statutes and in the extent to which certain statutes have been expanded to apply to cell phones. In Frix v. State, the Georgia Court of Appeals applied three obscenity statutes to text messages sent to a minor from a cell phone. The appellate court dismissed two of the three obscenity charges against the defendant based on the court's classification of cell phones and cell phone content. Thus, Frix laid the foundation for the role cell phones will play in Georgia's obscenity statutes-a role that will likely evolve along with the capabilities of modem cell phones.
Recommended Citation
Strong, Hayley S.
(2010)
""Sexting" to Minors in a Rapidly Evolving Digital Age: Frix v. State Establishes the Applicability of Georgia's Obscenity Statutes to Text Messages,"
Mercer Law Review: Vol. 61:
No.
4, Article 15.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol61/iss4/15