OPINION
Web wrongly blamed for child-sex offence explosion
Lazy hacks and
ignorant charity lay into the internet... Children's charity NCH has blamed the internet for a 1500 per cent
increase in child-porn related offences. Its figures reveal that 549 child-porn offenders were charged or
cautioned in 2001, compared with only 35 in 1988. And that's all the evidence the charity felt it needed to start
whipping up a storm of anti-internet propaganda, which was doubtless
music to the ears of the lazy hacks on the Daily Mail and other
even-handed rags that are always willing to blame 'newfangled'
technology for all society's ills.
There are also claims flying around that 3G mobile phones are likely
to make matters even worse. There's no evidence to support that claim,
but it makes for good copy.
Examining the figures further, however, it's worth pointing out that
until 1988, the law on possessing child pornography was very different —
hence the apparently arbitrary year chosen to compare to the present.
Until this time, being in possession of child pornography was not
illegal, and subsequent enforcement of new laws may not have been as
rigorous as it is now. We are not comparing like with like.
Then consider the fact that these figures could actually be construed
as good news. The fact that 549 child-porn offenders were charged or
cautioned compared to 38 is a victory of sorts for law enforcement. The
internet hasn't created paedophiles; these higher contemporary figures
merely portray the number of offenders who previously may have been
escaping detection. You can bet there were not only 38 offenders in 1988
and 549 in 2001 — these are merely percentages of a far more concerning
figure.
To say the numbers of those caught have increased solely because of
the internet also detracts from efforts by the UK police force to stamp
out child pornography. More people are being caught because the police
are working far harder and far more efficiently to catch them.
While the research from the NCH deals specifically with child-porn
related offences, there is an implication that the rise of child porn on
the internet has led to a rise in instances of what it calls “hands-on”
abuse.
We can only hope NCH isn't claiming for one minute that the internet
has actually created more paedophiles — but that would appear to be the
suggestion. While it is clear that the internet has provided a channel for
procuring and sharing pornographic images, it is unlikely that it has
had any impact on the actual numbers or proclivities of child-sex
offenders. The ignorance inherent in suggesting people have been encouraged to
take up child abuse because of the ubiquity of the internet is alarming.
These offenders have always existed. The internet is merely a
technological means to an end that like anything is open to abuse. The
fact of the matter is that yes, the internet has become a stalking
ground for sex offenders who will use chat rooms to 'groom' unsuspecting
victims, but the internet is not to blame. It's merely a technology and,
if anything, it's the users who are to blame.
Since the 1950s, generations of parents have been sitting children in
front of the television set. As a 'third parent', it was there to act as
babysitter, educator and entertainer. A child could be left in front of
the TV and the parents could go about their business. Too much of the same thinking now governs how people treat the
internet within the home.
The fact of the matter is that lazy parenting is just as responsible
for the exposure of children to sex offenders online. The internet
doesn't have to be dangerous. Too many parents are unaware of who their
children are talking to and what they are doing online. Too many will
allow children to have an internet-enabled PC in their bedroom, when
common sense says to put it in a communal room, and too few parents are
installing monitoring and filtering software on the family PC or locking
it with a password of which they are guardian.
Rather than standing back and blaming ‘the internet', broadcasters,
charities, MPs, parents, newspapers and schools would be of far more use
collaborating on schemes to better educate the public about the dangers
lurking online, rather than hiding behind headline-grabbing
scaremongering.
by silicon.com
23 March 2004
http://www.silicon.com/hardware/storage/0,39024649,39117724,00.htm
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