BY SHAY CULLEN
THE POWER of the internet for good or evil is immense. This is an electronic communications system that carries live video images, messages, documents and phone calls to anyone and everyone who has a mobile phone or computer. It is a powerful network of computers linked to each globally by which information is transmitted between computers and people almost instantly.
This amazing technology, discovered in our lifetime, continues to change the world as people are continuously connected to each other and have a vast amount of information available quickly at the click of a button.
While the system is a marvel of communication technology, what is transmitted over the network of computers to people is a very serious cause of concern. Like everything that is morally neutral in itself, it can be beautiful and is an object of wonder. It is a tool of communication and is deplorably and disgustingly abused and used for crimes of the worst kind.
All the more as computer technology has developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to be used for great good but also for great bad. There are child abusive people creating sexually explicit images of children being abused and selling them over the internet.
They claim there is no harm done as the child is not real and no abuse happens in making the image. However, it promotes horrific child abuse and is disgusting and abhorrent and must be banned everywhere. It is presently a crime in many jurisdictions.
It is widely used to sexually exploit, hurt, harm and abuse, seduce, groom and hurt children, women and men. The criminals exploit and bully the vulnerable people and post hate speech and sexually abusive material and pornography on websites and platforms like Facebook and Instagram over the Internet.
Criminals use it to defraud, scam, steal, extort, shame and threaten people. Most human trafficking is done by encrypted messages and conversations by internet connections. It continues to this day on an even greater scale.
The worst form of abuse of the internet is when corrupt people use it to transmit live images of heinous crimes committed against children. This is known as online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. It is live-streaming of sexual abuse mostly through a mobile phone connected to the internet.
The live images of this abuse are viewed on computers or mobile phones by depraved customers in different countries, paying large sums of money to view the children being abused. Most are from rich developed nations.
The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) facilitate the transmission and should be compelled to install blocking software on their server computers as they are in the Philippines under Republic Act 11930. Enforcing this is proving difficult.
Many pedophiles and child abuse traffickers save these images of child abuse and copy them. They then post them on web sites and other platforms for sale. The child is abused again and again where the terrible images of their abuse are continuously circulated and passed through the internet to other customers. The cycle of abuse is never ending. (To be continued)/PN
