Sheeba Singh

© The Tribune, September 29, 2006

The global community has worked its way into our lives and we continue to be affected, in the comfort of our homes by what occurs in other corners of the world and not just our own communities. Our window to the world the cyberspace has come to offer us more than what we bargained for. Talking about the internet, which many of us have made it as a part of our lifestyle and routine, the World Wide Web, has affected us adversely.

Cyber crimes

You send your kids even to the playground and school and warning them about strangers, to come home before dark. You worry about the company they keep. Hearing stories about child molesters and predators in the media keep you worried sick. The same reasons must also worry you when your child sits on the computer. All crimes have shifted their way into the cyber world and where it was once possible to trace such horrendous criminals in the physical world, it has become a task, next to impossible, over the internet.

“A 53-year-old Burbank man was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison for trading child pornography over the Internet, prosecutors said Friday”, reported Canadian Broadcasting Service (CBS). “Berry embarked on his sordid journey into the world of pedophilia and drugs when at 13, living in Bakersfield, California; he acquired a web camera as part of a deal with an Internet service provider. A lonely kid of divorced parents without many friends, Berry hoped to use the device to make friends his own age. Instead, a pedophile sent him an instant message within minutes of Berry’s image landing on a Web site called Spotlife.com. More followed; then men worked to earn his trust.” it said.

Child porn

These are just two of the millions of stories sprawled all over by the media. “The internet is a sordid playground for people who are interested in accessing, sharing and selling child pornography; it’s estimated that there are more than 100,000 child porn web sites,” the CBS said.

At the same time, if you concentrate only on the harms of the Internet, it blocks you from all that it has to offer. The physical world, just as much as the cyber world, account for crimes, but this does not mean we stop going out of our homes.

The internet has become the biggest library in our homes, a source for us to educate ourselves, read literature, communicate with our loved ones and browse encyclopedias free of cost, at any time. This should be just the reason for us to learn about what it is going on over the internet through the internet itself. However, such advancement needs to be approached with precautions. The government of Canada, on its website, has introduced a checklist for parents or guardians to follow when both young children and the internet. This can be found at http://www.safecanada.ca/link_e.asp?category=3 and topic=94. Even if small steps were taken towards creating a safer future for your child and you, an educated lot can do a lot to put an end to illegal use of the Internet.

“Child pornography has become a multi-billion dollar commercial enterprise and is among the fastest growing businesses on the Internet. Currently the laws around the world are alarmingly insufficient to fight this epidemic,” CBS said.

Danger zone

“More than half of the 184 Interpol countries have no laws addressing child pornography. Just five countries have laws considered comprehensive enough to make a significant impact on the crime. They are: Australia, Belgium, France, South Africa and the United States, “revealed CBS.

This just goes show that India; both the government and the comprising individuals need to take necessary action to put an end to practices like these. With a vast population within Indian territory itself and being connected to the millions and billions from across the globe, many dangers are upon, not only the young, but also the older crowd.

***original article can also be found here.