Do Kids Have a Right to Privacy when it Comes to Texting?

Should you be able to read what your kids are texting?
Should you be able to read what your kids are texting?

In the age of sexting and cyber bullying, you might assume that parents could easily monitor what they're kids are doing on the phone and online. But you'd be wrong.

"If I have a 13-year-old being harassed via text, I can't call and get those texts," father of six Rich Crandall, a republican state Senator from Arizona, told the Arizona Republic. So he's proposed a law (Senate Bill 1219) that would require cell phone companies to give Arizona parents access to their minor children's text messages.

Right now, federal law requires that the people who create the content -- in this case, the kids -- must be the ones to allow others to access it. In order to avoid violating federal law, wireless companies would probably have to get the child's permission before giving the content of the text messages to the parents. Parents, on the other hand, feel that they should automatically be able to access that content, given that they are usually the ones who purchase the phones and pay the bills.

Wireless companies could charge a fee for the service. Right now, a parent who want to read his or her child's text messages has to somehow get hold of the phone before the messages are erased (and hope the phone isn't password protected), or get a court order for the service provider to release the records.

John Kelly, a Verizon Wireless lobbyist, pointed out that the law would force cellphone companies to create special procedures for customers in Arizona to follow, which would be an additional expense and would cause plenty of confusion.

"We are very sympathetic to the intent," he told the state Senate Judiciary Committee, "but it is a burden on the company."

What do you think? Should there be a law allowing parents to read their kids' texts? Or do minor children automatically have a right to privacy?

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