Child pornography: FBI, Interpol, US Justice Dept think Internet is the key culprit

LAHORE: While the world’s leading psychologists, criminologists, sociologists and law-makers are pondering if internet pornography actually has the corrosive power to trigger sex-related crimes, the United States Department of Justice had stated in 2016 that the expansion of the Internet has led to an explosion in the market for child pornography.

Research conducted by the "Jang Group and Geo Television Network" shows that no country in the world is immune from individuals who seek to sexually exploit children through child pornography.

Views of US Department of Justice on the subject:

In 2017, the US Department of Justice had observed: "The expansion of the Internet and advanced digital technology lies parallel to the explosion of the child pornography market. Child pornography images are readily available through virtually every Internet technology, including social networking websites, file-sharing sites, photo-sharing sites, gaming devices, and even mobile apps."

The key American department had gone on to state: "Child pornography offenders can also connect on Internet forums and networks to share their interests, desires, and experiences abusing children, in addition to selling, sharing, and trading images. These online communities have promoted communication and collaboration between child pornography offenders, thereby fostering a larger relationship premised on a shared sexual interest in children."

Gravity of the menace:

The gravity of this global menace can be gauged from the fact that in March 2011, the European Police or the Europol had arrested 184 alleged members out of 670 identified, of an online pedophile ring and rescued 230 children which is still considered as the biggest case of its kind.

Police of several countries in a joint mission called "Operation Rescue," had targeted an online network, whose server was based in the Netherlands with almost 70,000 members worldwide. (References: The CNN and NBC News)

The American FBI:

On April 25, 2017, the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had noted that producers and consumers of child pornography operated in the shadows, and anonymous Internet networks often allowed them to carry out their illicit activities without fear of being unmasked and caught.

It is noteworthy that 56 field offices of FBI conduct child abuse investigations with the help of American Child Exploitation Task Forces, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and around 400 law enforcement partner organizations.

The FBI has held that the role of pornography in contributing to such abuse is explored by reviewing laboratory studies and the circumstances of child sexual abuse.

It states: "Rarely a week goes by in the United States that a child pornographer is not charged or sentenced for federal crimes related to the sexual exploitation of children."

The Interpol:

On its official website, the France-based International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has viewed that crimes against children are largely facilitated by the Internet, the increased use of which in recent years has led to a huge rise in offending.

The 94-year old Interpol, which facilitates international police cooperation, has maintained: "Not only can offenders distribute and access child abuse material more easily, but they can also come into direct contact with children – via chat rooms and social networking sites."

It notes that "sex tourism" is a type of crime that involves the abuse of children in developing countries by people who travel there.

Having an annual budget of around €113 million, most of which is provided through annual contributions by its membership of police forces in 192 countries, the Interpol states: "The relative wealth of the offender coupled with lack of understanding or effective legislation means that the abuse of children is easier in these countries. This type of crime is linked to child trafficking, organized crime and murder."

The CBS News:

In July 2017, eminent New York-based media house "CBS News" had aired a report that child pornography offences have exploded by more than 200 per cent in the last decade, a trend that advocates say is fuelled by the easy spread of illicit material over the internet.

It had cited Canada's example, where incidents of child pornography had climbed up from 4,380 in 2015 to 6,245 incidents in 2016 or for the eighth year in a row.

The statistics pertaining to Canada alone had hence represented a more than 40 per cent rate increase in just one year, and a 233 per cent spike from the rate reported in 2006.

The opinion of British Chief Justice, Lord Thomas:

In January 2015, the British Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, had stopped short of directly attributing blame of the murders of two young girls to pornography.

Lord Thomas had asserted that extreme internet pornography was causing rapists and murderers to commit worse crimes than before the time when such "horrific" material was available online.

The "Daily Telegraph" had reported: "Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice, said he had dealt with two deeply disturbing criminal cases which had been influenced – and intensified – by shocking internet pornography. He told MPs that he was in no doubt that in one case the offender’s actions had been made worse by what he watched online."

"The first of the two cases has left me in no doubt that the peddling of pornography on the internet has a tremendous effect on that individual," the judge told the House of Commons’ justice select committee.

The prestigious British newspaper had added: "The first case referred to by Lord Williams concerned Jamie Reynolds, a "sexual deviant" who killed 17-year-old Georgia Williams by hanging her at his parents' house in 2013. In the second case, former soldier Anwar Rosser murdered four-year-old Riley Turner in a "savage and gratuitous" attack. Both killers lost appeals against "whole life" tariffs which mean they will die in jail."

The 23-year-old Jamie Reynolds had been watching extreme pornography immediately before Georgia arrived at his home, where he proceeded to hang her.

Zainab's murder and unanswered queries:

While these heinous sex-related crimes, especially in case of children, pose a daunting challenge for international political regimes, global police forces and other law enforcement agencies, they have recently left scores of pinching queries for successive Pakistani governments and law enforcement agencies to answer after the rape and murder of a seven-year old girl, Zainab Ansari.

Meanwhile, the hyper-sexualized Pakistani society will also have to explain as to why morality has fast eroded in internet and digital age.

Punishment in Pappu rape and murder case served as a deterrent:

Many of us can recall that in 1981, a child named "Pappu" was kidnapped from Lahore's Baghbanpura area (near Shalamar Bagh) and a few days later, his body was recovered from a Pakistan Railways pond nearby.

The military court during General Ziaul Haq's Martial Law regime had sentenced the kidnappers and the killer to death. Within a week, the abductors of Pappu and his killer were hanged publicly till death at a site where Begumpura locality's vegetable and fruit market exists today.

The bodies of the culprits were made to remain hanging till sunset and this stern punishment had served as an effective deterrent as no child was reportedly abducted or raped in the country for the next one decade or so.

For the Pakistani society, an ocean of knowledge and hazards both came together with the internet.

Pakistan on top of the list of most porn-searching countries:

Research shows that the January 2015 Google search trends for Pakistan had placed it on top of the list of most porn-searching countries.

In January 2015, search engine Google had painted a shameful and miserable picture of an Islamic society otherwise bonded by religion, culture and tradition.

On June 15, 2013, the "Daily Mail" had reported that Pakistani internet users also topped Google searches for gay sex despite being one of the world's most homophobic countries.

Since the arrival of the Internet and its byproducts like the social media networking websites including Facebook and Twitter etc, no Pakistani regime has ever paid heed to its ramifications and effects on the society.

Laws to curb cyber crimes were enacted, but very late.

Departments to fight this hi-tech crime were established, but without any vision, technology or budgets.

It is true that the internet has developed at breakneck speed and it can feel nearly impossible to keep up with all of the constantly changing sites, games, and apps that young people use, but Pakistani regimes have hardly made any concerted effort to keep pace with these developments.

The tale of 33 unpaid FIA Cyber Crime wing officers:

For example, according to the July 2017 media reports, some 33 senior officials of the National Response Centre for Cyber Crime-- a specialized department of the FIA dedicated to fighting cyber crime--were not paid salaries for the last 13 months.

The fate of these officers, working in grades16, 17 and18, thus hanged in a balance due to the official red-tapism and procedural paperwork in the ministries concerned including the Ministry of Finance.

And, oh God, the FIA said it planned to hire more human resource!

With expertise in digital forensics, technical investigation, information system security audits, penetration testing, and training, the National Response Centre for Cyber Crime is entrusted with the task to investigate cyber crime and train personnel of law enforcement and spy agencies, police, judiciary and other government organizations.

In July 2017, the National Response Centre for Cyber Crime was dealing with over 10,000 complaints every month.

FIA traces what it wants to:

But despite all these shortcomings, the FIA proved it was still good enough at apprehending culprits who had impersonated a powerful federal minister to defraud ordinary people in August 2017 by offering them fake jobs.

Powerful institutions can take critics to task too:

And in early 2017, some of the country’s most powerful institutions took a few internet bloggers and activists to task for criticizing religious extremism and the military establishment.

But there is no department or institution in the country that can either protect other Pakistanis from the "untamed, unbridled and wild horse" of the social media, which is used at ease by vested interest to defame patriotic Pakistanis and conveniently dub them CIA agents, RAW operatives, anti-Islam circles or anti-Pakistan elements.

The foul-mouthed and unbridled Pakistani social media knows no bounds:

No state department or institution realizes how many foul-mouthed Pakistani social media activists, in the name of free speech, can fan sectarianism at will and spread hatred against respectable, distinguished and even ordinary fellow Pakistanis in the name of religion or patriotism, and resultantly endanger their lives!

The social media networking sites are also failing to protect young people from pornography, bullying and content on self-harm.

According to the "Huffington Post," Facebook was identified last year as one of the riskiest platforms where users could ask each other anonymous questions.

Indonesia's resolve against porn:

Pakistan should learn from countries like Indonesia, which had threatened in November 2017 to ban the messaging service "Whatsapp" if pornographic Graphics Interchange Formats (GIFs) were not removed.

According to the "Independent" and the "Reuters," Indonesia’s communication and informatics ministry said it would block the messaging app within 48 hours if the explicit GIFs weren't taken down.

The spokesman of the most-populated Muslim country had warned: "We will call all providers, including Google to clean up their network."

WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, said it wasn’t actually able to remove them itself, because communications on the application were protected by encryption.

However, the company advised the Indonesian government to work directly with the GIF providers.

It is a pity that Pakistani moralists and social activists are still not loudly calling for measures to protect millions of juveniles on the internet, where actors are using social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp as marketing tools to promote homemade pornography.

The purpose of the nude pictures is to attract online traffic to the website; the website owners then use the stats to boost their popularity profile which they present to corporate companies for advertisement deals.

Pakistan has not inked pacts with leading social networking sites:

In Pakistan's case, it has not inked agreements with global social networking sites. The victims are hence bound to keep suffering all their lives.

In March 2017, according to the "Daily Telegraph," Pakistan said it had asked Facebook and Twitter to help it identify Pakistanis suspected of blasphemy so that it could prosecute them or pursue their extradition.

The newspaper had quoted "Facebook" personnel as saying: "We disclose information about accounts solely in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law. A Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or other formal request may be required for international requests, and we include these in our Government Requests Report, which is publicized each year."

In Pakistan's case, laws to curb internet pornography and limit the sending of offensive or obscene messages/videos through social networking sites like WhatsApp etc will not bear any fruit unless these regulations are implemented in true letter and spirit.

Those guilty will have to be punished.

World punishes those who send offensive messages:

For example, a British woman was jailed for sending a married couple "grossly offensive" messages on Facebook.

Cheryl Tickner was jailed in February 2017 for 10 weeks for two offences of sending, through a public communication network, an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message.

In India, a free speech campaigner Trivedi was arrested in 2012 by Mumbai police for displaying cartoons on his website and Facebook page that mocked parliament and corruption in high places. The caricatures were shared on other social media.

Similarly, a university professor Ambikesh and his neighbour Subrata were arrested for allegedly circulating a cartoon that lampooned West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee.

The extent of internet pornography problem in the United Kingdom:

In one of its March 2016 reports, another renowned British newspaper "The Guardian" had maintained: "Cases of recorded child sexual abuse increased by more than 30 per cent last year, figures suggest. Police chiefs fear the rise is being driven by predators searching online for victims. A total of 45,456 child sexual offences were recorded across the United Kingdom last year, an average of 124 a day."

"The Guardian" had gone on to write: "Nearly 11,000 victims were under 10 years old and 2,409 were aged five or under."

Internet, child pornography and the United States:

In United States of America, strong evidence was found between 2009 and 2013 to indicate that 63,000 children a year were victims of sexual abuse.

Speaking at the May 2011 National Strategy Conference on Combating Child Exploitation in San Jose, California, the then American Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. had opined: "Unfortunately, we´ve also seen a historic rise in the distribution of child pornography, in the number of images being shared online, and in the level of violence associated with child exploitation and sexual abuse crimes. Tragically, the only place we´ve seen a decrease is in the age of victims. This is – quite simply – unacceptable."

Child pornography is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States right now. Nationally, there has been a 2500 per cent increase in arrests in the past 10 years, according to the FBI.

In 2011, the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had reviewed 17.3 million images and videos of suspected child pornography---four times more than 2007.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in nine girls and one in 53 boys under the age of 18 had experienced sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult.

It was found out that 82 per cent of all victims under 18 were female, as girls aged 16 to 19 years were four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.

Every second 28,258 American users are watching porn on the internet:

In his 2016 book "Criminology: Theories, patterns and typologies," eminent writer Larry J. Siegel, had revealed that every second, some 28,258 American users were watching pornography on the internet.

And every second, an amount of $3,075.64 was being spent on pornography on the internet. This amount is equivalent to$184,500 per minute and $11 million per hour!

Larry Siegel has received three Emmy awards and one Writers Guild Award, along with a dozen Emmy and Guild nominations. He was one of the head writers on the famous CBS Television "Carol Burnett" Show, which ran from September 1967 to March 1978 for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in 1991.

In 2007, this show was listed as one of "Time" magazine’s 100 Best TV Shows of All Time.

More findings from Larry Siegel:

About 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites. Approximately 35 per cent of all internet downloads are related to pornography.

Nearly 25 per cent of all search engine queries are related to pornography, or about 68 million search queries a day.

One third of porn viewers are women.

Search engines get 116,000 queries every day related to child pornography.

Around 34 per cent of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails. Over 2.5 billion emails sent or received every day contain porn.

Every 39 minutes, a new pornography video is being created in the United States. About 200,000