Cyber Crime Against Children

The following example essay on “Cyber Crime Against Children” highlights the challenges of cybercrime against the person involving children being addressed in many countries through parental guidance and educational initiatives.

The last two decades have seen a rapid development in the fields of technology and communication technologies. It took quite some time when phones became available to general public, but after that there had been a boom in the technological innovation and advancements. The bulky phones were soon replaced by the pagers and very quickly with mobile phones.

In last 10 years, the Bluetooth and touch screen technology changed the scenario of communication all around the world.

As everything comes with a price tag, the technology too has on one hand helped in communication advancement and convenience, but on the other hand it has made way for crime at new, different and global levels. The internet or online crime has increased exponentially which has led to many changes in existing laws and creation of new laws to fight the internet crime all over the world.

Besides online monetary fraud, online abuse has become a big menace for law enforcement agencies to handle. The online abuse is a term used to define any type of abuse over internet, on social media, messaging apps, emails, chats, games or on live streaming sites, and it includes bullying/cyberbullying, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or harassment of any kind. (NSPCC, 2018)

Online abuse is equally harmful as physical abuse. This too has long lasting impact on the victim.

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The online abuse can lead to anxiety, eating disorders, self harm, suicidal thoughts, depression and other mental disturbances. (HM, Govt, 2017)

Across UK, the sexual offences against child apply to online sexual abuse also, including

• Sexual communication with a child
• Causing or inciting a chills to engage in sexual activity
• Causing a child to watch sexual act
• Paying for sexual service of a child
• Causing or inciting sexual exploitation of a child
• Engaging in sexual activity in presence of a child

According to NSPCC data, 2018-19, average 22 online crimes take place everyday in UK and the children related cyber crime has doubled since 2015-16.

UK is the first country in the world to have introduced online safety laws. These laws ensure that internet users across UK are safe online and these laws make host companies and other social media platforms responsible for strictly monitoring contents on their sites or other Medias. Defamation Act 2013 and section 103 of Digital Economy Act 2017 lay out the responsibilities for website hosts and social media platforms towards protection of users from online abuse. In April 2019, Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) and the Home Office opened a public consultation “Online Harms White Paper” to set out governmental measures to keep UK users safe online. (DCMS, 2019)

The Crown Prosecution Service, Association of Chief Police Officers, Local Government Association of England, and Association of Directors of Social Services have developed a protocol for “Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse Cases”. This Protocol clearly indicates the roles and responsibilities of all the parties involved in the case i.e. Police, Local authorities, Investigating Officials and other organisations involved like school or institutes.

UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS), Department of Education (DfE), England, Home Office, Department of Education Northern Ireland and Education Scotland Parentzone have developed resources and prevention guidelines for parents, teachers and other individuals who work with children regarding the child users online.

Since internet is not restricted to a local area therefore the internet related crimes are also spread across the whole world. In 2013, Virtual Global Taskforce was established by collaborating law enforcement agencies from around the world to combat the increasing online child abuse crimes. The UK Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP), Interpol, Australian Federal Police High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC), RCMP National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC), Canada, US Department of Homeland Security Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Italian Postal & Communication Police joined the Virtual Global Task Force. (ECPAT International, 2017) There are many examples where members of VGT have worked together in investigation of online child abuse crimes.

In an article published in leading newspaper of UK ( The Independent, 2019), it was reported that according to the data collected by various law and protection agencies, the number of online child abuse offences have doubled in last 4 years. Although the target age group for offenders is 13 year olds but many crimes have involved children less than11years including some babies.The Chief of NSPCC said that these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.

The actual figures could be devastating as there are hundreds and thousands of children who don’t report such offences to anyone. These kinds of crimes have increased the cases of mental disorders, depression and suicidal tendencies in certain age groups.On one hand technology has helped in rapid development, and on the other hand technology is becoming a Frankenstein monster which is eating up the bright future of societyThe head of Britain’s National Crime Agency lookup at the government to be more strict with such abusers or offenders and feel they deserve the same punishment as rapists.

The crime is not a new thing in the world and child related crime have been in existence since time unknown. Recent revelation in Grand Jury report in USA has brought into light the sexual exploitation of small children in the holy places and that too by highly dignified people related to pious place as churches, jolted the whole world and also put to shame those who misuse their position and power for exploiting others. The residential schools revelation in Canada or minor rape cases in developing countries like India are all examples of physical abuse of children.

The last two decades have seen a rapid development in the fields of technology and communication technologies. It took quite some time when phones became available to general public, but after that there had been a boom in the technological innovation and advancements. The bulky phones were soon replaced by the pagers and very quickly with mobile phones. In last 10 years, the Bluetooth and touch screen technology changed the scenario of communication all around the world.

Unfortunately the advent of technology has come up with a new kind of crime as well. Besides online data theft and fraud or data leaks, online sexual abuse has also emerged as a crime which is becoming bigger with each passing day and each new technological innovation. The term Online child abuse has become known just around 2010 when social media and gaming sites started becoming popular and also the technological devices like tablets and gaming consoles became easily available and affordable to the common man.

The facilities like Wi-Fi have eased the use of internet anywhere in and out of home but on the other hand the accessibility of the web related applications like Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp type of messaging and social media sites became available to kids in the convenience of homes and schools.

As everything comes with a price tag, the technology too has on one hand helped in communication advancement and convenience, but on the other hand it has made way for crime at new, different and global levels. The internet has provided an opportunity to the criminals to not only obtain the objectionable and sexual pictures and videos of innocent children by luring them through social media and chat sites, but also provided them with a platform to circulate those pictures around the world thus making online child abuse a global crime which is not possible to handle by police or law enforcement agencies of one particular country. The internet or online crime has increased exponentially which has led to many changes in existing laws and creation of new laws to fight the internet crime all over the world. (IWF, 2008; Byron, 2008)

Besides online monetary fraud, online abuse has become a big menace for law enforcement agencies to handle. The online abuse is a term used to define any type of abuse over internet, on social media, messaging apps, emails, chats, games or on live streaming sites, and it include bullying/cyberbullying, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or harassment of any kind. (NSPCC, 2018)

Online abuse is equally harmful as physical abuse. This too has long lasting impact on the victim. The online abuse can lead to anxiety, eating disorders, self harm, suicidal thoughts, depression and other mental disturbances. (HM, Govt, 2017)

Across UK, the sexual offences against child apply to online sexual abuse also, including

• Sexual communication with a child
• Causing or inciting a chils to engage in sexual activity
• Causing a child to watch sexual act
• Paying for sexual service of a child
• Causing or inciting sexual exploitation of a child
• Engaging in sexual activity in presence of a child

According to NSPCC data, 2018-19, average 22 online crime take place everyday in UK and the children related cyber crime has doubled since 2015-16.

UK is the first country in the world to have introduced online safety laws. These laws ensure that internet users across UK are safe online and these laws make host companies and other social media platforms responsible for strictly monitoring contents on their sites or other medias. The protection of Children Act 1978 (England and Wales)(c.37) states it is illegal “to take, possess, distribute or publish indecent photographs of children under the age of 16”. In May 2004, The sexual offences Act (2003, S.46) amended the age limit to 18.

Paul Hagan was found guilty in August 2008 for illegally possessing around 15000 abusive images of children and also distributing more pictures around the web. The website was estimated to have millions of objectionable pictures related to sexual child abuse. (Hunter, 2010)

The online child abuse has originated a new term grooming. In UK, the term Sexual Grooming is legally defined as “communicating with a child with the intention of meeting in order to commit a sexual offence”. (The National Archive, 2010)

Defamation Act 2013 and section 103 of Digital Economy Act 2017 lay out the responsibilities for website hosts and social media platforms towards protection of users from online abuse. In April 2019, Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) and the Home Office opened a public consultation “Online Harms White Paper” to set out governmental measures to keep UK users safe online. (DCMS, 2019)

The Crown Prosecution Service, Association of Chief Police Officers, Local Government Association of England, Association of Directors of Social Services have developed a protocol for “Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse Cases”. This Protocol clearly indicates the roles and responsibilities of all the parties involved in the case i.e. Police, Local authorities, Investigating Officials and other organisations involved like school or institutes. The sexual offenders can face imprisonment for upto 10 years. (Sexual Offences Act 2003s15, (4) (b)).

UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS), Department of Education (DfE), England, Home Office, Department of Education Northern Ireland and Education Scotland Parentzone have developed resources and prevention guidelines for parents, teachers and other individuals who work with children regarding the child users online.

Since internet is not restricted to a local area therefore the internet related crimes are also spread across the whole world. All the member of European union formed the Council of European Convention on the protection of Children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse in July 2010. Under this convention the member states were held responsible for enforcing the strict rules and laws in the matter in their respective states and also spread awareness to protect children against such offences by involving the parents and educational institutions so that they keep an eye on the children’s online activities and get involved actively with the police and other law enforcement agencies to combat any crime related to online abuse of children. (EU, 2010; Williams, 2011)

In 2013, Virtual Global Taskforce was established by collaborating law enforcement agencies from around the world to combat the increasing online child abuse crimes. The UK Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP), Interpol, Australian Federal Police High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC), RCMP National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC), Canada, US Department of Homeland Security Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Italian Postal & Communication Police joined the Virtual Global Task Force. (ECPAT International, 2017)

There are many examples where members of VGT have worked together in investigation of online child abuse crimes. In UK, the CEOP was formed in 2006 to deal with the increasing number of internet related sexual offences involving children. The CEOP has been vested with not only investigative powers but they also have the authority to prosecute those found guilty of the crime.

The organisation has a multi task force which not only includes law enforcement officers but the team consist of highly qualified, trained and experienced IT professionals, psychologists, law professionals and social counsellors who work together to identify the crime, protect the victim and get hold of the offender so as to protect others from becoming prey to the abusers who may have successfully committed such crimes in the past as well and were able to slip from the hands of the authorities. (CEOP, 2006-10)

The social networking sites like Facebook have been very cooperative in handling such crimes. Facebook has created a panic button “ClickCEOP” with help of which a child can report about any harmful activity by clicking on that button. (Allan, 2010)

The laws related to handling online child abuse cases in UK have also given special powers to the law enforcement officers where they can use those powers to investigate the cri e and also prosecute the offender on basis of the seriousness of the crime and the past record of the offender if available with the authorities and also by checking the offenders background with respect to his history of movement in various countries or through his online activities history. The officers also have the authority to possess or seize the assets of the offender so that those could be used to search for the evidences against the offenders.

The internet related crime cannot be handled by the authorities alone. This definitely calls for the involvement of parents, teachers and other people involved with children at various places and levels. The children should be taught about the prospective online abuse they may find at various sites and apps. Also it is the duty of parents and school authorities to assure the children of their endless support, faith and trust that they are and will always be protected against any harm by parents and school.

This helps in building trust and confidence in children so that if ever they find themselves in such situation, they feel confident about reporting it to their parents and teachers so that the potential crime could be stopped before making any harm to the child and the offender could be arrested by the authorities so that he is not let free to find another prey one after the other.

The technology has led to favorable developments and it becomes our duty to be alert and aggressive against the misuse of these developmental abilities of the technology so that we not only live peacefully in the world but also create a safe and protected environment for future generations to flourish and develop to their best potential, and progress for the betterment of society and mankind.