Rhode Island Bans Minors From Sexting

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed a new bill making "sexting" illegal for minors, his office said.

"Sexting" is the act of people taking naked or revealing pictures of themselves and sending them to others via mobile phones or the internet.

The bill was one of more than 150 Chafee signed into law this week. Others included raising mandatory school attendance to age 18 from age 16, creating civil unions for gay couples, imposing new identification requirements for voting and moving the state's presidential primary to April 24, reports website UPI.com.

Minor teenagers who send texted photographs or videos of themselves or their friends or partners will be charged under a statute that is not as severe as the state's child-pornography laws, the new law states. Any adult who receives the images may be charged with the possession of child pornography. ThirdAge: Study: Men Want Cuddling, Women Want Sex

Moving the presidential primary election to the same date as the New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut primaries could make Rhode Island more relevant in the presidential election, supporters said.

The voter-identification requirements oblige colleges and universities to submit to the state each year the names and addresses of graduating students to improve voter-registration files, The Providence (R.I.) Journal reported.

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