Rising Online Child Sex-Abuse Linked to Falling Phone Prices

[rgMekanic]

A surge in on-demand, live streaming online child sexual abuse is being attributed to wider access to affordable smartphones and fast internet speeds. Bloomberg is reporting on the Global Threat Assessment 2018 report from WeProtect, a children's welfare group founded by former Facebook executive Joanna Shields shows that these advances have led to the cost of accessing a live video stream of child abuse to $15 from $50 a five or six years ago. The report was compiled with input from Interpol, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.K.'s National Crime Agency and Swedish software firm NetClean.

Quite a disturbing report. There really isn't anything much I can add except to say, if you are a parent, keep a watchful eye on your kids' smartphone habits, the "self-production" section should be non-existent. Thanks to cageymaru for the story.

Technology is permitting offender communities to attain unprecedented levels of organisation, which in turn creates new and persistent threats as these individuals and groups exploit online 'safe havens' and 'on-demand' access to victims.

 

[RealBeast]

Yup those damn phones are sexually abusing children just like guns are shooting people. Lucky it has nothing to do with the meatsack using either device.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yup those damn phones are sexually abusing children just like guns are shooting people. Lucky it has nothing to do with the meatsack using either device.

A bit simplistic of a view, I think the biggest jump is cell phone cameras, where as before you'd need a webcam on a computer and from there a parent can out right refuse, or the computer is in a more public place, where as a phone can be taken into the bathroom or whatever and then yeah...

It's not so much blaming cell phones, as it is saying as adoption rates start occurring at lower ages which tends to happen as things get cheaper, then that 0.01% issue rate (100% made up number) starts to become a larger number of children.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Just waiting for someone to want to ban broadband "for the children"...

 

[chockomonkey]

A bit simplistic of a view, I think the biggest jump is cell phone cameras, where as before you'd need a webcam on a computer and from there a parent can out right refuse, or the computer is in a more public place, where as a phone can be taken into the bathroom or whatever and then yeah...

It's not so much blaming cell phones, as it is saying as adoption rates start occurring at lower ages which tends to happen as things get cheaper, then that 0.01% issue rate (100% made up number) starts to become a larger number of children.

Maybe simplistic, but reading the article I felt it was rather obviously going to happen this way.

 

[umeng2002]

So we stop child abuse by banning phones, got it.

 

[djoye]

I have two solutions:
A) We ban cell phones
B) Every time you use a cell phone, you need to verify your age and, every time you snap a photo or start a video recording and the phone detects a human object, you're required to enter the date of birth of the person(s) in the image.

 

[WhoMe]

Would not the solution be more cops with better education and tools to track the offenders? The smart phone genie has long ago left the bottle and he is not going back in.

 

[TordanGow]

A linked measurement isn't necessarily related.

100% of child predators eat food. By that measurement eating food would be cause for suspicion of being a child predator.

 

[alxlwson]

I have two solutions:
A) We ban cell phones
B) Every time you use a cell phone, you need to verify your age and, every time you snap a photo or start a video recording and the phone detects a human object, you're required to enter the date of birth of the person(s) in the image.

These are not solutions. These are called North Korea.

 

[Deleted member 278999]

 

[SighTurtle]

All of you complaining of the article and the study are missing the simple solution suggested by rgMekanic, which was watch your damn kids! Also, I swear that most of the replies literally looked at the headline and went straight to "post reply" without a look at the paper. (linked on the Hardocp post) Read the report, cause if you did, you would find the solution isn't "ban smartphones", and the report isn't some absurd amplification of a serious problem.

Would not the solution be more cops with better education and tools to track the offenders? The smart phone genie has long ago left the bottle and he is not going back in.

Guess what? The report calls for greater education for greater education for law enforcement worldwide!

Think about the fact that the increasing prevalence of smartphones among teenagers and younger is allowing for easier access for grooming through social networks, the report notes that the internet is allowing offenders to gather increasingly more material than ever before, and that the internet is allowing the sale of material worldwide, easier to ever before. The report goes into detail on this, and the replies are just riffing on the headline, what a shame Bloomberg used a clickbait headline.

 

[theBrownLlama]

dumb shit advocacy programs like this should not be given any press time.

next thing you know, another dumb shit advocacy group will say online scams had risen with cheaper access to the internet.

much wowzers

 

[theBrownLlama]

I have two solutions:
A) We ban cell phones
B) Every time you use a cell phone, you need to verify your age and, every time you snap a photo or start a video recording and the phone detects a human object, you're required to enter the date of birth of the person(s) in the image.

imagine B at a big family BBQ. heh.
i recommend just sending everything to the NSA for vetting. (not like they are already doing some of it)

 

[Vaulter98c]

Would not the solution be more cops with better education and tools to track the offenders? The smart phone genie has long ago left the bottle and he is not going back in.

I can tell you there is a massive backlog, like lots of zeros, of people who have pinged hot for kiddie porn from tracked files that the gov is watching. It's not about training, it's purely about resources. They go after the big dogs and the ones distributing. They say eventually they'll get to the rest but it's just like everything else. Take torrents for example. There are a shit ton of tracked files out there and massive lists of people downloading things illegally. But they only have the time and resources to nab the top fraction of a percent and the biggest uploaders. Same thing with drugs and other things.

 

[mustang_steve]

I have two solutions:
A) We ban cell phones
B) Every time you use a cell phone, you need to verify your age and, every time you snap a photo or start a video recording and the phone detects a human object, you're required to enter the date of birth of the person(s) in the image.

You forgot having to maintain insurance policies on the phone for such events and having extensive psychological, medical, and criminal background checks. Also a 3-day waiting period on all phone purchases, the DHS is notified of any mass purchases of phones, and assault phones (those with water protection, high capacity storage and powerful cameras) are banned outright. Also you have to carry your phone visibly, concealed carry will require a special permit. Also, stores can post no-phone signs that have legal power.

...or we can stop being facetious, and address the problem at hand. Pedos are a problem. Period. They need help and monitoring to make sure they do not do shit like this. Jacking off about methods of mayhem is not productive.