• UGI USER
  • Oct 23, 2022
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An online fight where children need to be saved

Why in News:  Recently, under operation  “Megh Chakra” CBI conducted searches across States and UTs against the online circulation and sharing of Child Sexual Abusive Material (CSAM).

 

Key Points: Laws on sharing of online Child Sexual Abusive Material (CSAM) in India:

  • In India, viewing adult pornography in private is not an offence (SC in 2015 case).
    • However, seeking, browsing, downloading or exchanging child pornography is an offence punishable under the IT Act.
  • As per the Information Technology (IT) Act, of 2002, it is punishable to show children any pornographic content.
  • Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are exempted from liability for any third-party data if they do not initiate the transmission.

 

Global effort against CSAM:

  • USA: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), operates a programme called CyberTipline, for public and electronic service providers (ESPs) to report instances of suspected child sexual exploitation.
  • K: Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), was established by the United Kingdom’s Internet industry to ensure a safe online environment for users with a particular focus on CSAM.
  • INHOPE: It is a global network of 50 hotlines (46 member countries), that provides the public with a way to anonymously report CSAM.
    • It provides secure IT infrastructure, ICCAM (I- “See” (c)-Child-Abuse-Material) hosted by Interpol, and facilitates the exchange of CSAM reports between hotlines and law enforcement agencies.

India’s efforts so far:

  • ‘Aarambh India’: a Mumbai-based NGO, partnered with the IWF, and launched India’s first online reporting portal in September 2016 to report images and videos of child abuse.
  • National cybercrime reporting portal: launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in September 2018 in compliance with Supreme Court directions for filing online complaints pertaining to child pornography and rape-gang rape.
    • The portal was later extended to all types of cybercrime.
  • National Crime Records Bureau (MHA) signed a memorandum of understanding with the NCMEC in April 2019 to receive CyberTipline reports to facilitate action against those who upload or share CSAM in India.
    • The NCRB has received more than two million CyberTipline reports which have been forwarded to the States for legal action.
  • Jairam Ramesh Committee recommendation (2020):
    • legislative front:
      • widening of the definition of ‘child pornography’
      • proactive monitoring, mandatory reporting and taking down or blocking CSAM by ISPs.
    • Technical front:
      • building partnerships with industry to develop tools using artificial intelligence for dark-web investigations
      • tracing the identity of users engaged in cryptocurrency transactions to purchase child pornography online and
      • liaisoning with financial service companies to prevent online payments for purchasing child pornography.

Challenges in India:

  • public reporting of circulation of online CSAM is very low
  • there is no system of automatic electronic monitoring
  • Dependency of enforcement agencies on foreign agencies for the requisite information

What needs to be done

  • India should join the INHOPE
  • Establish a hotline to utilise Interpol’s secure IT infrastructure
  • Collaborate with ISPs and financial companies by establishing an independent facility such as the IWF or NCMEC.
  • Earnest implementation of the recommendation of Jairam Ramesh committee.
  • On-streaming platforms like Netflix and social media platforms should have a separate adult section where under-aged children could be disallowed.

Conclusion:

India needs to explore all options and adopt an appropriate strategy to fight the production and the spread of online CSAM. Children need to be saved.

 

Mains :

  1. Define Child pornography and discuss its impact on children and society at large. (10M)