Sanja Milivojevic

Borders, technology and (im)mobility: ‘Cyber-Fortress Europe’ and its emerging Southeast frontier

(2013). Borders, technology and (im)mobility: ‘Cyber-Fortress Europe’ and its emerging Southeast frontier. Australian Journal of Human Rights: Vol. 19, Special issue: Human mobility and human rights: the intersections, pp. 101-123.

Media, legal and young people’s discourses around sexting:

The term sexting has come to be associated with media, political and public concern over young people’s involvement in the sending and/or receiving of nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of one another. Public discourses around sexting have framed the practice as problematic, reflecting long-held – and often very real – anxieties over young people and their sexuality. Of particular focus in relation to sexting have been the risks and harms associated with the practice and current or potential legal responses. Missing from much of this public discourse, however, have been the voices of young people themselves. In order to bring young people’s voices into the discourse, this article draws on research conducted with young people, as well as extensive legal and media analysis of sexting by young people. It contrasts these popular and legal discourses around sexting with the discourses of young people themselves, exploring the ways in which they understand and perceive sexting and how these perceptions converge with and diverge from dominant discourses. In this way, the article demonstrates the fundamental discord between such discourses, indicating the need to rethink legal responses to sexting between young people.

Review of Existing Research

In line with the critical approach of this book, it is useful to precede our own contribution to the field of research with a discussion and evaluation of the methods and approaches to researching sexting that have been used in research to date. This chapter starts with a critical analysis of the existing surveys into sexting practices by young people and then looks more closely at current qualitative research. A review at the time of writing identified ten such quantitative surveys.1 Most of these are aimed at identifying the prevalence of sexting among young people and only a small proportion drill further into the practices of, and the motives or reasons for, sexting (National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy 2008; Mitchell et al. 2012; Dake et al. 2013), or the emotional or practical consequences of sexting (Dake et al. 2013; Phippen 2009; National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy 2008; Strassberg et al. 2013; Mitchell et al. 2012; Talion et al. 2012).

Mandatory arrest law in domestic violence cases and its implementation in New York City

This paper contains the analysis of the Mandatory Arrest Law in domestic violence cases in New York State. Introduction includes the subject and main goals of the paper. Second chapter starts with historical development of the police response in domestic violence cases in New York before and after the Mandatory Arrest Law is passed, than analysis of the Law, and ends with one of the programs which Safe Horizon, Victim Service organization, developed in New York City. Third chapter gives the analysis of pro et contra arguments for mandatory arrest provision and results of surveys and studies, which were conducted in United States. In fourth chapter we present the analysis of the research conducted in two police precincts in New York City this year. Paper also contains the list of main problems in implementation of this Law in New York City.

‘Stealing the fire’, 2.0 style? Technology, the pursuit of mobility, social memory and de-securitization of migration:

Technology challenges social, economic and political borders. This article analyses the role smartphones and social media play in constructing social memory (and consciousness) of bordering practices, examining predominant accounts of migration, de-securitizing and re-humanizing mobility and attaining freedom of movement. Using the case study of the Western Balkans as one of the main transit routes in Europe and building on Stefania Milan’s ‘stealing the fire’ theory, this article investigates transformation of borders from below, as migrants reclaim technology to enable safe passage and create counter-narratives of migration. They do so by contributing to the ‘digital knowledge commons’—a collaborative body of knowledge that can shift restrictive migration policies. The article highlights the importance of studying the technology–mobility nexus, and greater theoretical engagement vis-à-vis the use of technology as a tool for social change, as migration continues to play a pivotal role in political and public debates across the globe.

Re-bordering the Peripheral Global North and Global South: Game of Drones, Immobilising Mobile Bodies and Decentring Perspectives on Drones in Border Policing

Border security, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants are undoubtedly one of the key issues in a colourful Australian political landscape in the past decade (see McCulloch and Pickering, Borders and Crime: Pre-crime, Mobility and Serious Harm in an Age of Globalization, Macmillan, New York, 2012; Weber and Pickering, Globalization and Borders: Death at the Global Frontier, Macmillan, London, 2011). Elections are won or lost based on political parties’ perceived (in)ability to secure Australian borders, especially from asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat (Manne, The Comment: Asylum seekers, 2010). Elsewhere across the Western world, border policing and regulating mobile bodies are also a priority, creating modern ‘factories of exclusion’ (Engbersen 2001) based on hi-tech mechanisms of social segregation, especially surveillance (see Broeders 2007; Koslowski 2004). With a budget over £ 320 million set for drone development (Waterfield, EU ‘spent £ 320 million on surveillance drone development’, 2014), we are witnessing ‘an emerging EU drone policy’ (Hayes et al., EURODRONES Inc, 2014;) that gradually spills across the border, to the neighbouring countries of Global South.

An Introduction to Sexting and Young People

Young people integrate online and digital technologies into their everyday lives in increasingly complex ways. As McGrath (2009, p. 2) notes, ‘[y]oung people…see technologies (especially the internet) as a vital part of their social life and the building of their identity’. As mechanisms for socialising, education, relaxation, gaming, romance or communication between friends and peer groups, new technologies provide a key framework within which young people live their lives. Yet, the ways in which they incorporate romantic and sexual relationships and practices into this technology-dominated, virtual world has been relatively underexplored by researchers and, subsequently, it has become problematic for policymakers. Media and social commentators play an important role in drawing our attention to the intersections of digital technologies, sexuality and sexual practices of young people. However, such commentary has also seen these complex interconnections misunderstood and oversimplified. At the very core of contemporary debates around young people’s online sexual practices, new technologies, social media, and childhood sexuality has been the phenomenon dubbed ‘sexting’. While sexting has many meanings, which we critically explore in more detail below, it generally refers to the digital taking and distribution of images of a nude/semi-nude person through mobile phone or social networking sites.

Online Survey Data

While sexting between young people has become a significant cultural phenomenon, a topic of popular media discussion, and the target of concern from law and policymakers, when it comes to young people themselves our knowledge of their practices and perspectives in relation to sexting is still relatively limited. The little we do know of young peoples’ engagement with sexting comes from the handful of medium-scale quantitative surveys, and an even smaller number of qualitative studies discussed in the previous chapter.

Developing Responses to Sexting

While discourses around the legal response to sexting have tended to centre on the appropriateness of the application of child pornography offences, as discussed in Chapter 4, sexting is a complex behaviour that cannot be reduced to simplistic (legal, social, media) narratives. Taken in their entirety, the results of our research demonstrate that young people’s practices and motivations for sexting rarely fit the rationales for child pornography offences that so often lead debates on appropriate legal responses to sexting. Furthermore, prosecution under child pornography laws has the potential to cause more harm to young people than was caused by the original sexting behaviour. While our research shows that young people are generally aware of the potentially serious legal consequences of sexting, such legal consequences have not been enough to deter many young people from sexting. Although we cannot truly know all of the complex reasons why individuals choose to sext despite these legal risks, our findings suggest that some young people do not think that what they are doing - largely consensual sexting - is a form of behaviour that would or should be prosecuted. Beyond this, young people are more prone to take risks and act impulsively without necessarily thinking through potential future consequences. Moreover, the very risks involved (legal and reputational) may in fact incite or excite young people to engage in the practice.

Perceptions and Practices of Sexting

This chapter and the following detail the responses of young people in focus group interviews about sexting. Eight focus group interviews were conducted with young people aged 18 to 20. Respondents were drawn from the student body of the University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, and a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) NSW Institute. These institutions represent a broad cross section of educational establishments across NSW and constitute a sample that is of mixed class and social status. This and the following chapter detail and thematise the responses of this diverse group of 54 young people which is constituted of 34 females and 20 males. The present chapter focuses on participants’ perceptions and practices of sexting as expressed in the focus groups. Through the use of semi-structured interview schedules several key themes were explored in the focus groups including: how respondents conceptualise and negotiate their online identity; how they define sexting; where their knowledge about sexting originates from; their overall reflections on sexting practices, as well as their personal and second-hand experiences of sexting; the role of age and gender in sexting; and motivations for sexting. The following chapter will explore focus group participant responses to criminal justice interventions around sexting. The focus groups provided an important forum for the examination of young people’s views on diverse sexting scenarios and on the legal response to sexting. It also canvassed their views on what would constitute an appropriate response to the issues posed by sexting.