Government measures for protecting children from internet pornography and predators

¶ … government take to protect children from pornography and sexual predators on the Internet?

Children are considered to be our most precious asset and the society's future. They offer the guarantee of a sound and continuous prospect for the years to come. However, nowadays, they are more and more the subjects of negative and coercive behavior that will eventually lead to a modification in the structure of their own being and ultimately damage the society. Therefore, it is up to the authorities and all those directly and indirectly involved taking actions to protect them and to ensure that the future generations will be able to take forward the heritage of the human kind.

We live in an era governed by technology and increased global interdependence that tends to manifest in every aspect of the society. It was therefore natural for children to have an increased access to everything involving gadgets, devices, and means of communication and information. At the same time however, these means are indeed available worldwide and do not discriminate between users and information receivers. This is why, more and more often, these universal means of communication have become a very common tool for those interested in pornographic and sexual practices. It can be said even that the Internet has facilitated their actions and now, pornography and sexual predators have an easier task in achieving their goals.

Seeing that children represent an important segment of the society but at the same time the most vulnerable one, it is important to take into consideration possible links between them and the phenomenon of pornography and sexual abuse on the Internet. Therefore, the issue points out the clarification of certain issues.

Firstly, it would be essential to consider the meaning of pornography and sexual predators in its wider and general perspective. In addition, it is important to address the implications of the different communication means, with special focus on the Internet, especially if we take into account the technological evolution of our society.

Secondly, admitting that children are more exposed to novelty and thus more sensitive to any media influence, a consideration of the way in which these communication means are relevant for promoting child pornography and their impact is required.

Finally, the problem of pornography through the Internet and its implication for the children around the world is indeed an issue of great concern and cannot be dealt with outside the framework of concerted actions taken internationally. However, any decision must have the full support of national and local governments and authorities. It is, after all, their responsibility to implement and follow up on the general guidelines with precise actions that would address the exact issues specific to each country or region.

There are definitions that focus on specific aspects, but they cannot be considered to be universally available, given the fact that cultural differences in the meaning of such notions as "obscene," or "erotic" automatically limit their range. The United Nations, through its High Commissioner for Human Rights considered in relatively concise terms the definition of child pornography. In the "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography," it regarded child pornography as "any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes." (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2000, art. 2)

Similarly, the Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe underlines a rather more elaborated definition, considering child pornography "shall include pornographic material that visually depicts a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; a person appearing to be a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; realistic images representing a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct."(Council of Europe, 2001, art. 9)

Another opinion points out to the precise content of the material considered to be pornographic. Thus, Interpol's specialized organ interprets child pornography as "any means of depicting or promoting sexual abuse of a child, including print and/or audio, centered on sexual act or the genital organs of children." (Interpol, 2006) No matter the degree of generality, all definitions underline the idea of the use of sexually explicit positions for one's own personal pleasure or for financial gain.

There are different means of dissemination of the information and images that could be labeled as pornographic. The most common forms of pornography take the form of visual materials that can be distributed through different channels. On the one hand, pornographic images can be presented in various discussion groups that "openly show their tendency in regard to their attitude towards children which leave little room for the interpretation of their purposes. These groups are relatively visible to anybody." (MAPI, n.d.) These groups can take the form of physical gatherings or virtual ones. In the latter case, people around the world can link and exchange pornographic material or experiences.

On the other hand, the Internet is thus another element that intermediates the connection between pedophiles and facilitates their activities, as the United Nations pointed out "Internet created unprecedented opportunities, together with the challenges and threats of its abusive and harmful use. Cyberspace hosts an alarming quantity of child pornographic material." (UN Economic and Social Council, 2004)

Thus, the Internet is the most effective instrument in the wide range of new technological innovations that, according to Tink Palmer and Lisa Stacey increase the children's availability for those wishing to take advantage of them. (Palmer and Stacey, 2004) it represents the best and most rapid environment for pedophiles to form their own identity and satisfy their needs, "it allows an individual to quickly find other individuals they did not previously know with the same interests (...) it even permits children to be contacted and enticed into an online or offline relationship." (Williams, 1999) Although in most cases, the rapid exchange of information is benefic and important for the evolution of relations, in the case of child pornography this has proven to be essentially damaging for the actions destined to prevent the proliferation of the phenomenon.

A similar situation occurs in the case of the public nature of the Internet. In the beginning, this characteristic has represented one of the strong points of the World Wide Web. It enabled full access to information to every person with a personal computer and an internet connection. Still, it did have its side effects, as this unrestricted access also made possible for those unaware of child pornography to experience it. Thus, "this sordid trade had moved from the relative obscurity of private exchanges of non-digital images and films, in person and through the postal service, to the instant transfer of material in a medium which anyone with a computer and a modem could access." (Williams, 1999, 3) This constant scene of negative aspects revolving around the Internet and its virtual universality has raised many questions that take into account the ration between the benefits it proves and the costs people have to pay. However, despite its obvious negative impact, the public nature of the Internet cannot be questioned or limited, especially because of the other benefits it produces in terms of access to information worldwide.

Therefore, briefly summing up it can be said that indeed, technology is an essential part in the overall evolution of our society and life without it would be hard to imagine. Even so, in recent time, it has been used to facilitate negative activities that have, in their turn, an important impact on the society.

The Internet has various means for providing users with connections from around the world. One would be the simple request for images of children on different sites, which are well-known for satisfying these sorts of requests. Another one is the actual posting of chat requests, in either real time or video exchange. Yet another means, through which one can establish contact, be it with those interested in child pornography or vulnerable children themselves, is the discussion forums where questions are posted and answered and thus relationships evolve. (a Elisabeth)

These are seen as rather efficient if statistics are taken into consideration. For instance, "one third of 9-19-year-olds in a UK study who go online at least once a week report having received unwanted sexual (31%) or nasty comments (33%) via email, chat, instant message or text message." (Livingstone and Bober, 2004) on the other hand, the same study underline the fact that the Internet is indeed the favorite means for contacting users with similar interests or vulnerable children, seeing that a tenth of the children aged 9 to 16 have suffered physical threat and abuse after meeting with someone with whom they had met on the Internet. (Livingstone and Bober, 2004) Thus, it can be said that the Internet does provide the virtual environment for the development of such activities, with relative success for the sexual predators.

The problem represents a stringent issue on the international agenda and is the subject of debate in all major forums around the world. This is largely due to the global nature of the phenomenon as the Internet is indeed the trademark of interdependence and globalization. The relations and connections it facilitates allow people around the world to come together in all sorts of activities, and, inevitably, pornography is one of them. Therefore, this type of complexity demanded a thorough response from the part of the authorities both at global and at the national level.

From a global perspective, the phenomenon is dealt with by numerous international organizations. On the one hand, the United Nations has been promoting concerted action in this field through the Economic and Social Council that supervises the activities of the Human Rights Council. Its annual reports on the state of children around the world have improved the visibility of child pornography as a contemporary problem. From this point-of-view, the Council monitories the evolution of national states and its elaboration of reports represents the final result of this systematic control. Thus, child pornography is addressed in a wide context and the conclusions reached make it possible for the organization, through its specialized organs and agencies, to advise and guide states to take the necessary actions to improve their record in the field.

In order to make the connection between the global level and the national one in terms of action activity, the commission for Human Rights authorizes the elaboration of these reports on the one hand, and of action guidelines on the other. Therefore, in 2005, the institution reported on the overall implications of child pornography, but it does so only based on information provided by the national governments. This comes to prove the importance of the interdependent ratio between the Commission and the national states. At the same time however, this relationship relies on the goodwill and good faith of the states involved, as some countries may ponder between sending or not accurate, reliable and true information over to the Commission for it to draft its report. Despite this impediment, this system involving both resources with authority at the global level and information and infrastructure at the national one represents the result of the complementarities needed to face up to such a transnational phenomenon.

Another important institution that places child pornography as head of the list of modern evils, and one that has tried to take action for preventing its spread while acknowledging the role the Internet plays, is Child Net International. According to its own status, Child Net is a nonprofit organization "working with others to "help make the Internet a great and safe place for children." (Child Net International, 2004) it promotes a similar action guide as the rest of the international organizations is by placing great importance on cooperation at the supranational level, counting on the support of the nation states directly involved. Still, it does not exclude the participation of any party interested in joining the global cause against child pornography on the Internet, thus, "Child Net International's mission is to work in partnership with others around the world." (Child Net, 2004)

In their attempt to influence the evolution of the phenomenon, they have established a series of guidelines and action plans that are meant to set the working areas both for the organization and for the cooperation with the other parties involved. Thus, it considers it important to focus on the instruction of children in the proper use of the Internet's resources; also, the organization tries to play a role in "Helping children and young people acquire new "net literacy" skills and giving advice to industry, organizations, parents, teachers, and care takers about Internet and mobile safety."(Child Net, 2004) Thus, they emphasize the need for proper educational training and an adequate use of the resources available on the virtual net. Finally, the third important area of action is represented by the initiative to directly address the issue of online child exploitation as well as elaborating and influencing policies in the matter.

Overall, it can be said that international organizations, be they a result of intergovernmental participation or nonprofit institutions, all see cooperation among states and every party willing to get involved as the most important element in the strategy designed to tackle child pornography and its spread on the internet. As a consequence, the decisions and guidelines decided upon at a supranational level are followed by concrete actions implemented at the national level. Therefore, again, the complementarities between global actions and local implementation are pointed out as essential.

The results of these constant consultations among states and other organizations and nonprofit bodies led to the establishment of a series of directions for action and in most cases concrete results are visible.

Firstly, according the Economic and Social Council, an important step for the states to take in their attempt to crack down on child prostitution on the Internet is the adaptation of the legal framework, as "many countries still do not have legislation on child pornography. This legal vacuum leaves a dangerous gap that exposes children to the risk of abuse, further increased by the impunity factor." (UN Economic and Social Council, 2004, 2) Child pornography presented on the Internet bares different masks, which vary from merely possessing pornographic material on one's personal computer to actually being engaged in activities meant to encourage or promote pornographic behavior. The wide range of actions that must be covered by the national legislation has made the latter become inadequate for the challenges facing our society from this point-of-view. For instance, while the possession of pornographic material, in any form of shape, is punishable by law, and therefore considered to be a crime, other means of Internet interaction such as grooming, or luring, that is "online enticement of children for sexual acts," is yet to be properly addressed by the criminal system. (UN Economic and Social Council, 2004) From this point-of-view, additional legislative measures should by taken by the states in order to address the evolving practices of those engaged in child pornography on the internet.

In addition, another important step states must make for a better control over the phenomenon is the improvement of the criminal legal system that would somehow exclude the treatment of children as criminals and consider them as victims of those practicing pornography. It has been common practice for children who are involved in such act to be considered for criminal charges for having, knowingly or otherwise, be part of Internet pornography. However, this is psychologically unfair, especially taking into account the emotional stress they are faced with both during the actual activities and afterwards, as part of a criminal trial. This is why it is important to bear in mind the vulnerable capacity of the child and to ensure that the legal system treats him as a victim, and not as a criminal.