Marlborough
and the mast...
Why the latest phones could endanger the
young
By Sean O’Neill, The Times, May 03, 2004
Technology advances let paedophiles keep one step ahead of laws designed to stop them.
THE Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into effect at the weekend, introduced a range of measures to deal with the threat of paedophile crime.
Grooming children for sex on the internet became a criminal offence, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
But no sooner have the authorities and the law caught up with offenders than the criminals
- especially the organised gangs who run the international trade in child pornography
- are moving on.
The third generation (3G) of mobile phones takes the most advanced features of mobile technology
- pictures, video and data transfer - and make them dramatically faster.
In effect, the phones work like handheld high-speed internet terminals. Their “bandwidth”, the amount of data the phones can send and receive, is seven times greater than previous mobile phones.
By doing so, 3G creates opportunities for criminals and a massive challenge for law enforcement.
The complicated nature of that task was illustrated in January when police in Glanmire, a small town in Co Cork in the Republic of Ireland, were confronted with a crime that they were unsure of how to deal with.
The owner of a camera-equipped mobile phone had been sent, unsolicited, an indecent image of a partially clothed schoolgirl. It was feared that the girl was local and that she was the victim of abuse.
Inquiries revealed that the image had been sent to hundreds of camera phones in Cork, Kerry and Limerick. In fact, it may have been sent to tens of thousands more.
Computer enhancement of the image enabled detectives to identify the school crest on the girl’s blazer. The girl in the picture was traced and found to be a 14-year-old pupil at a Dublin school.
Ireland’s public prosecutor is now studying the case file but no arrests have been made. Whether the evidence can be obtained to mount a prosecution against anyone is not known. “It’s a new type of crime using a new technology,” a Garda spokesman said.
Experts say that if the same type of incident occurred in the UK today, police would be powerless to do anything other than confiscate phones. The forensic science capability does not exist to “interrogate” and obtain evidence from phones in the same way that technicians can extract information from personal computers.
With the arrival of 3G, however, crimes like these will become much easier and more widespread. So, too, will internet grooming by sex offenders.
The introduction of 3G phones in the UK has been slow, but following an increase in network coverage, handset manufacturers have promised that new phones that improve the defects of older models will be ready by this summer. Network operators are preparing for a £400 million advertising blitz to sell these phones.
Yet last month a British delegation visiting Japan - where 3G is in widespread use
- was struck by the availability of child pornography and the use of “dating sites” in child prostitution.
NCH, the children’s charity, said that media monitoring reveals roughly one case a month where online grooming had led to a conviction. The actual number of cases is believed to be much higher.
As 3G puts the internet in children’s pockets - beyond parental supervision - the number of cases could soar.
“With the explosion in mobile phone technology, it is vital that children are protected from paedophiles and other dangers lurking on the internet,” John Carr, internet consultant at NCH, said.
“Mobile phone internet access will make it harder for parents to keep a check on what their children are viewing and doing online.”
Ute Navidi, policy director at ChildLine, said that the issue needed to be resolved now if children were to be able to go online safely. “3G is holding the internet in your hand, anything you can now do online you will be able to do on your mobile phone,” Dr Navidi said. “We have to examine how supervision and control can be exerted over mobile
technology."
The issues raised above highlight the dangers posed to children by paedophiles using 3G phones,
destroying the ridiculous notion that mobile phones somehow keep children 'safe'.