April 20, 2009
911 for the web
By Julian Sher
When a young teenager in England felt uneasy after a stranger
made unwarranted sexual advances to her on the Internet, she was
able to report the abuse directly to the police with a single
click of her mouse. A subsequent sting operation led to the arrest
of a man who had already lured two other girls over the web and
had sexually assaulted them.
Thanks to a crusading cop and Microsoft U.K., young web surfers
in England can use a "Report Abuse" button to immediately
contact a trained police investigator, who helps the child gather
and preserve the crucial cyber-evidence.
But children in Canada are not so lucky.
Internet and software companies in North America have balked
at installing something as simple as a 911 button for the web.
Think about it: you may have street-proofed your child to stay
away from strangers in the park, but what if your child runs into
trouble in the world's biggest playground - the Internet? Does
she know where to go for help? For that matter, do you?
The "Report Abuse" button was the brainchild of Jim
Gamble, the director of the U.K.'s Child Exploitation and Online
Protection (CEOP) centre, a sort of FBI for children that brings
together police, educators and industry. Gamble spent years fighting
terrorism in Northern Ireland and he showed the same drive in
taking on online predators.
He approached Microsoft U.K. to install a small red "Report
Abuse" button on their Windows Live Messenger -the largest
instant messenger service in the U.K. "We were intrigued,"
says Matt Bishop, the No. 2 man at the company. "Providing
parents and children with the capability to report specific child
exploitative issues directly to police could help. And building
a safer Internet makes good business sense because it fosters
user trust and confidence about going online."
Several other online U.K. firms have adopted the button, which
connects users to the Virtual Global Taskforce - a 24/7 operation
bringing together top law enforcement agencies from the U.K.,
the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. A child or parent
who clicks the button is directed to the appropriate national
police agency depending on where they live.
"The button isn't simply about reporting, it's about deterrence,"
explains Gamble. "It's a badge that says to the offenders
if you operate in this area, this web site or company is so committed
to child protection, they are making it as easy as possible for
that child to contact law enforcement so evidence can be collected
to hold you to account."
Proof that such a button is needed lies in how popular it has
become in the U.K.: The British police field no less than 500
reports a month; on average four a day are classified as "Level
One" where a child is in "immediate danger requiring
emergency reaction."
How much are your children at risk? A recent Statistics Canada
study found there were 464 incidents of child luring over the
Internet during the two-year period of 2006 and 2007. That may
not sound like a lot, but the StatsCan study also reported that
less than 10 per cent of children sexually solicited over the
Internet reported the incident to law enforcement authorities.
Most worrisome of all was the fact that a stunning 64 per cent
of child luring incidents were not solved. These are hard cases
to crack - unless evidence can be gathered quickly through prompt
reporting. Exactly what a 911 web button can help do.
But so far none of the major North American Internet companies
has signed up with the program - and what they do matters. American
giants like Facebook and MySpace dominate the web scene for Canadian
youth as much as they do for young people south of the border.
Internet executives have offered Mr. Gamble various explanations
for not going forward, none of which he finds convincing.
Some raise concerns that the button could lead to a flood of
spurious complaints. But the reporting procedure - much like filing
a complaint at a police station - is not anonymous, which discourages
all but the most authentic cases.
Companies raise the prospect of technological hurdles or cost
factors. But the button is no more than a hyperlink, not much
harder to install on a web page or chat program as an advertisement
- "rather straightforward" says Microsoft's Matt Bishop.
In its defence, the web industry insists it is already doing
much to ensure child safety. And that is true. Social networking
sites like MySpace and Facebook offer myriad advice pages and
self-reporting mechanisms. But as Gamble points out, "when
a child is in desperate need of help and support, they don't need
advice about what steps they should have taken before they got
in the situation. They need to be able to reach out and engage
law enforcement."
Some firms in the virtual world resist farming out safety measures
to an outside police agency because they feel they need to control
and monitor what occurs on their web sites. But in the real world,
if a hotel client fears sexual assault or abuse, no one expects
them to settle for a call to the front desk; they want and need
to call the police.
Why make a distinction for a web site? The so-called virtual
world is the real world which most of our children inhabit for
hours at a time. This is where our children hang around and meet
their friends - and possibly danger. Should it not be every child's
right to have direct access to the criminal justice system whenever
they are vulnerable, frightened or afraid - either on the web
or off it?
A web alarm button should not raise any "Big Brother"
fears of police spying on anyone's Internet activities. A "Report
Abuse" button is a one-way channel: it's about children reaching
out for help when they need it, not about police reaching into
your privacy.
Even if widely implemented, a "Report Abuse" button
would not be a magic bullet. There is no technological fix for
child safety. The best piece of software is in your child's head
- using his or her brain to practise safe Internet rules.
But a 911 button for the web would work precisely because it
empowers children and puts them in control. It turns the table
on potential offenders, helping to make the web unsafe for predators,
not our children.
"Offenders are deterred, parents are reassured and children
are empowered," says CEOP's Jim Gamble. "I cannot understand
why industry won't come on board."
There are alarm buttons for emergencies in subway stations and
trains, police call boxes on highways and even special cellphones
for children programmed with speed-dial numbers for help.
Surely it is time we had a simple way to call for help on the
web.
________________________
Julian Sher is an investigative journalist and author of Caught
in the Web: Inside the Police Hunt to Rescue Children from Online
Predators.
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