2014-02-03
Philippines: Child sex abuse
THE
CORPORATE IRRESPONSIBILITY OF THE ISPs
By Fr. Shay Cullen
Child protection police working with Interpol and Europol have arrested
hundreds of paedophiles in many countries: the UK, other EU countries,
Australia, Canada and the USA, for ordering, paying, and viewing Philippine
children forced to strip naked and do sexual acts live in front of video cameras
connected to computers. These horrific and heinous crimes are generally ignored
by the Philippine police, telecommunication companies and the government
agencies that are mandated to protect the children. The children are victims of
human trafficking for sexual exploitation and the telecommunications
corporations, who are the Internet Service Providers (ISP) that allow it must be
held responsible.
The recent revelations by Interpol and police raids on cyber sex dens in
Cebu, Manila and Quezon city by the National Bureau of Investigation.(NBI)
showed that these crimes are widespread and common practice in the Philippines.
In Cordova, Cebu, the village of Ibabao has internet connections and several
cyber-sex dens. Parents even sold their children to the cyber sex operators.
Such is the level of economic and moral poverty there.
In Manila and Quezon city, fake "call centers" were raided by
the NBI and fifteen workers were arrested and charged with sending out child
pornography over the internet through the Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Every child porn image is evidence of a crime against children. Every time it is
sent out and viewed by the paedophiles, that child's dignity and rights are
violated. A recent report made by Pornhub says that more Filipinos are accessing
pornography on mobile phones and tablets than ever before, all enabled by the
ISPs. (view www.preda.org)
Thousands of young children, some from kindergarten, have been and are
being sexually and psychologically abused as a result of the illegal and immoral
corporate irresponsibility of the ISP's.
These companies are making vast profits from the child porn peddlers and
must be held morally and legally responsible for allowing and enabling these
live child sex acts to be viewed live over the internet. The abuse is only
possible through connections provided by their corporations. The Philippine
Internet Service Provider (ISPs) leaders are: Philippine Long Distance Telephone
company (PLDT), Globe, Smart, Sun cellular, and Banyantel. The members of
Philippine Internet Services Organization (PISO) are accountable too and must
answer to the Filipino people for allowing the crimes against children and the
non-implementation of the law. The Council for the Welfare of Children ought to
act and speak out and demand the law be obeyed.
The telecommunications companions and PISO seem to have an arrangement not
to implement the clear provisions of the law. They have apparently
"captured" the regulators and can act with impunity.
Republic Act 9775, under Section 9 says: “The duties of Internet Service
Providers (ISP) to monitor the content passing through their servers, notify the
police of illegal content and provide the authorities the particulars of users
who gained or attempted to gain access to an internet address which contains any
form of child pornography. All ISPs shall install available technology, program
or software to ensure access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography
will be blocked or filtered”. (complete law at www.preda.org)
Software companies that offer solutions such as Netclean Inc. have been
rebuffed.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is supposed to oversee
the implementation of the law. The law says that the ISP failing to implement
and comply with the law should pay a fine and have its license to operate
revoked for non-compliance. But the law is clearly ignored, flouted and
disobeyed. If so it is a grave injustice to the Filipino people and children
worldwide.
If PISO and the telecommunications companies are implementing the
anti-child pornography law, Republic Act 9775, and install the filters and
blocking software, there would be little or no cyber-sex or child pornography.
But it is widely easily available now, that is where young Filipinos are
introduced to sexuality, they are groomed and lured into abusive and damaging
situations. Some are video recorded involved in sex acts and are later
blackmailed over the internet that can drive them to suicide.
However, the obvious solution to the problem of child pornography is the
implementation of the law. The ISPs have put themselves above it and government
law enforcers and regulators go along with them. Such is the ISPs power and
influence that government and even the media are afraid, docile and subservient
to them. Few writers, reporters, if any, expose the non-compliance of the ISPs
and telecommunication companies.
Corruption driven by greed to make money even at the peddling of child
pornography over the internet kills conscience and moral values. The corporate
bosses of the ISPs who enable the transmission of child pornography are perhaps
as guilty as the paedophiles who order it on line. We must act now and challenge
them to comply and end impunity. [shaycullen@preda.org,
www.preda.org]