BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THE SHOCK and trauma of child sexual abuse caused by the uncontrolled content on internet platforms and passing through the servers of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is life-lasting.
Hundreds of thousands of children as young as three years old are damaged psychologically and traumatized by being sexually abused on live sex shows over the Internet and teenagers being videoed and their images of being abused passed around the world through the dark web through the Internet for the sexual satisfaction of pedophiles.
The child sexual abuse materials that are allowed on the platforms of the telecommunication corporations and hi-tech companies like TikTok, Google, Facebook, Twitter, PLDT, Globe, Dito and many more, are at an all-time high. Thousands of children are being psychologically and sexually abused online as you read these words. Your children, your relatives’ children, could be among them.
Parents cannot know or control what their children are viewing and experiencing and with whom they are engaging over the Internet that could damage them for life. The values that you teach your children are being eroded by the grooming, seduction, violence, fake news, and sex images through the ISPs.
The telecommunication companies everywhere claim that they are immune from civil liability and not responsible for the content that terrorists, criminals or child sex abusers post on their social media platforms. It is a public billboard, free for all.
That is because the US law, known as the Communications Decency Act of 1996 Section 230, grants immunity to the social media platforms- unlike newspapers, radio and television that are responsible and liable for content.
At the same time, this Section 230 is contradicted by laws forbidding content containing racism, misogyny, child abuse, excessive material promoting terrorism and the live-streaming of child sexual abuse shows and other offensive material.
The powerful Philippine law Republic Act (RA) 11930 forbids all child abuse materials and mandated the Philippine telecommunication companies to install blocking software, although many do not and are reluctant to allow independent inspections of compliance. Any individual to be found with such material on their cell phone or computer device could get at least twenty years sentence in jail.
Not so long ago, three 10- and 11- year old boys got hold of a smartphone and bought a cheap one- or two-hour internet connection load from a telecommunications Internet Service Provider. They easily found on-line and viewed child sexual abuse material and downloaded it and viewed it several times. They were so sexually aroused they found a six-year old girl and raped her, having viewed the offensive images on the internet. Since it is allowed to be posted and not blocked, parents can do little to stop it. The ISPs will not stop it despite RA 11930 as police enforcers don’t know how to monitor the ISPs.
The reality that such material is easily available online and can be easily found in the Internet by children, leading them to abuse other children, is shocking for society in what many wrongly think is a Christian and civilized world. (To be continued)/PN
