The spotlight is once again on issues of child safety and child sexual abuse ahead of National Child Protection Month in April.
With ongoing arrests and court appearances of alleged offenders being reported in the media, the most recent of which occurred at the end of March, the crackdown on the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse images is at the forefront of the fight to keep children safe.
According to Lauren Wain, business development manager at African Risk Mitigation (ARM), the number of arrests could be even higher if Internet service providers (ISPs) were allowed to be proactive, rather than reactive, in the war against child sexual abuse. “Unfortunately, the ISPs are caught between a rock and a hard place. While they might want to assist law enforcement, the structure of the law has placed them in a predicament.”
ISPs fall under the jurisdiction of both the Film and Publications Board (FPB) regulations and the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act (RICA). While clause 27A of the FPB regulations states that “Every Internet service provider shall take all reasonable steps to prevent the use of their services for the hosting or distribution of child pornography”, RICA states that “Any person who intentionally intercepts or attempts to intercept, or authorises or procures any other person to intercept or attempt to intercept, at any place in the Republic, any communication in the course of its occurrence or transmission, is guilty of an offence.”
The law goes on to list exceptions to this, which includes “interception directions” issued by a judge, individuals who are party to the communication, consent, interception through the course of carrying out business, prevention of serious bodily harm, location in case of emergency, or if authorised by other acts. However, the exception in the case of the risk of serious bodily harm only applies to law enforcement officials.
Yet the FPB regulations stipulate that “If an Internet service provider has knowledge that its services are being used for the hosting or distribution of child pornography, such Internet service provider shall (a) take all reasonable steps to prevent access to the child pornography by any person; (b) report the presence thereof, as well as the particulars of the person maintaining or hosting or distributing or in any manner contributing to such Internet address, to a police official of the South African Police Service; and (c) take all reasonable steps to preserve such evidence for purposes of investigation and prosecution by the relevant authorities.”
“This really offers a conundrum to ISPs,” says Wain. “It is the ISP’s responsibility to prevent the spread of these images, and yet RICA prohibits them from having a monitoring tool that can monitor or intercept traffic. How many cases in the past two years could have been prevented if ISPs were allowed to actively get involved in the fight against child sexual abuse?”
Wain explains that the comprehensive solution offered by NetClean, which partners with law enforcement agencies around the world, including Interpol, has done much to assist in the war against these offenders internationally. “The company’s three products, working together, have resulted in the successful arrest and prosecution of hundreds of offenders around the world. While local ISPs have their hands tied, South African law enforcement has also benefited from the data provided by NetClean.”
NetClean’s Analyze is used by law enforcement agencies to investigate, find new illegal material and to identify new victims, while NetClean ProActive blocks what is found and identified via NetClean Analyze and new material is shared back to law enforcement agencies for investigation. This results in an up-to-date solution to stop child sexual abuse content.
“The product created for ISPs, NetClean WhiteBox, blocks access to URLs containing child sexual abuse content, but is a solution that local ISPs are unable to use as a result of South Africa’s regulatory framework,” says Wain. “However, local companies and law enforcement are using the other products, helping to fight the scourge of child sex offenders. In particular, South African business has become aware of the fact that their networks may provide the key to helping law enforcement identify and catch perpetrators.”