- 05/03/2021
- Category: Commentaries
Cybercrimes are often associated with data theft and privacy, which require advanced skills to hack into someone’s data. Unfortunately, nowadays, almost everyone can commit cybercrime without having any major skill. Currently, there are a lot of people preying on others through social media. Even worse, this is done to children and teenagers who are still in the developing phase. The formula works perfectly, predatory, manipulative adults with immature adolescents and the internet between them. The predators usually pose themselves as a teenager and gain contact and then further ask for more. They are profiling their victim only by stalking them online while teenagers post their lives publicly, not realizing the threats they bring upon themselves. The cases of sexual abuse to children online are often not visible to the children and especially to the parents as the predators disguised themselves[i]. This also happened to both boys and girls. So how to tackle this issue?
Before going deeper into the solutions, this article would like to explore the current condition and challenges. Firstly, online predators meet their prey in their homes’ convenience due to social media and technology development. Moreover, sometimes this can go undetected in gaming platforms such as Roblox and Clash of Clans[ii]. In popular games that are supposed to be used by adults, kids can also play within them and be exposed to mature content. The primary strategy is for the online predators to approach the kids by gaining their trust, either posing as a friend or as a trusted persona[iii].
Secondly, in handling cases of online predators, the approach has often lack of preventive action with police or law forces focusing on handling incidents after it happens rather than preventing it from happening in the first place. Meanwhile, due to the freedom that technology brings, the threats of online predators increased significantly. Third of all, due to its online nature that could target victims from dispersed locations, police often face difficulties identifying the victims of online pornography, especially when it comes to children[iv].
In order to tackle the acts of online predators, improvement actions must be taken. As a starter, stricter security measures could be taken for users who register for online gaming accounts. For instance, before registering to an account of online games, the user should provide a verification ID that suggests the user already complies with the age standards. However, this must be accompanied by a safe encryption or data protection of the data as well. Besides, preventive measures must be taken from education about the topic in school, family, online, or offline. The education materials should consist of the issue identification and how kids could guard themselves. Issues of pornography are often considered taboo. Thus, parents or teachers often do not give space for children to ask questions freely. In some cases, children go online to find information about the issue, and rather than getting answers, they could quickly become prey to online pornography content. Therefore, the most crucial step is to establish trust between the parent and children.
Finally, to help police identify victims and better track children’s movement, an identification card for children and teens should be introduced. For instance, last year, after capturing a children’s online predator, police faced difficulties despite already collecting thousands of children’s pornography content as they could not identify the children’s photos in the documents to an identification document[v]. Children usually only have a birth certificate, but it is not equipped with a picture. An identification card will also be helpful to identify cases of missing children.
All in all, cases of online children’s sexual abuse have increased due to technology’s existence. However, this has not been proportionally met with proper preventive action to combat online predators’ existence. Therefore, more improvement should be made starting from family, school to civil society, in general, to educate and create a safe space environment for children to equip them with the necessary means to safeguard themselves from online predators.
Author: Theodore Great
Editor: Amelinda Pandu Kusumaningtyas
[i] FBI, 2016. Threat from Pedophiles Online is ‘Vast and Extensive’. [Story] Federal Bureau of Investigation. Available at: <https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/threat-from-pedophiles-online-is-vast-and-extensive> [Accessed 8 Oct. 2020].
[ii] Dewabrata, W.A., 2019. Paedofil Mencari Mangsa Melalui Permainan Daring. [online] Kompas.id. Available at: <https://kompas.id/baca/utama/2019/07/30/pedofil-mencari-mangsa-melalui-permainan-daring/> [Accessed 21 Dec. 2020].
[iii] Anon 2019. Video games and online chats are ‘hunting grounds’ for sexual predators. [online] The Seattle Times. Available at: <https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/video-games-and-online-chats-are-hunting-grounds-for-sexual-predators/> [Accessed 16 Dec. 2020].
[iv] Leba, E.E., 2020. Polisi Sulit Identifikasi Ratusan Korban Pedofil WNA Perancis. [online] Kompas.id. Available at: <https://kompas.id/baca/metro/2020/07/10/polisi-sulit-identifikasi-ratusan-korban-pedofil-wna-perancis/> [Accessed 21 Dec. 2020].
[v] Alfajri, I., 2019. Puluhan Anak Korban Pornografi Belum Teridentifikasi. [online] Kompas.id. Available at: <https://kompas.id/baca/utama/2019/07/22/puluhan-anak-korban-pornografi-belum-teridentifikasi/> [Accessed 21 Dec. 2020].
