Sexy Photo Vaults Teen To Unwanted Fame

Allison Stokke is one of the top high school pole vaulters in America.

The California state champion has broken five national records.

But in cyberspace, people think of the 18-year-old from Norwalk very differently, because of one misleading photo.

The shot, explains Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm, was taken at a track meet and posted on a sports blog. It's made Stokke the latest Internet "it" girl.

In less than a month, a virtual slideshow of still photos has taken her image around the world.

Search Stokke's name on Yahoo and you'll get more than 180,000 results.

Fans have launched a MySpace page for Stokke. An amateur video from Stokke's past posted on YouTube has been viewed 225,000 times, and counting

The problem is that all this attention is unwanted, and out of control. Reactions on the blogosphere include lewd comments and troubling content.

The Washington Post featured Stokke's story as front page news. Her father told the newspaper. "We have to be smart and deal with it the best we can. It's not something that you can just make go away."

Out of concern for Stokke's safety, he says he will continue to monitor message boards for potential stalkers.

On The Early Show Wednesday, Internet privacy and security lawyer Parry Atfab, who's executive director of WiredSafety.org, told Storm Stokke has no legal recourse.

"The legal recourse," Atfab said, "actually goes to the person who took the photo. Copyright holders are protected a lot more than the people whose pictures are taken."

Aftab cautioned that, "Anyone is vulnerable," to this sort of thing, "especially if they're attractive and their picture is uploaded to the Internet. One of the things we need to do is be very aware.

"You need to recognize that people are taking your picture. Cell phones are being used. All kinds of devices. You can't drive across New York or anyplace else without someone taking your picture at a traffic stop. We need to be aware we are in public at all times once you leave your house."

Even though you can't stop someone from taking your picture, Aftab continued, "You can get an idea of who they are, and how creepy they may be or where it's happening. In this case, it was a legitimate photographer who's unhappy about what happened. So you have to be aware. You also have to protect your own reputation."

How?

"Don't post something that you don't want everyone else to see. I always say, don't post anything on Facebook or MySpace that your parents, principal, predators and police can't see. So, protect your own reputation."

You can also set up Google alerts.

"You can go to Ggoogle.com and search for everything that is you," Aftab said, "your name, address, cell phone number, regular number, nicknames, screen names. You search for it. Then you set an alert, at Google.com/alerts, that will give you an e-mail anytime Google finds that on the Internet. It's an early warning system. In this case, if they've got pictures of her, and they're using her name, she would find where they are early. The earlier you find it, the better it is to take them down before you became the latest celebrity online."

If you discover something like this happened to you, "If you're a young person, you need to get an adult involved. You have to tell your parents, your coach, your principal. Adults need to be involved, because it could be potentially dangerous. The 15 megabytes of fame this young girl has is not something she's looking for. You need to let law enforcement know. If you become this famous, there are going to be people who are driving by your house. Reach out to local law enforcement. They keep an eye on your safety at school, at home and wherever you are.

"You can't mess around. And I really wish that the bloggers and everyone else out there who may find a picture like this thinks before they click. If you have got somebody underage, make sure that, if you're putting something up, that you recognize the ramifications and where it could go."

To read a commentary on the CBSNews.com blog "Public Eye" about the way the Washington Post handled the Stokke story, click here.