When British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled strong new web policies last month targeting sexual content, the Internet erupted in a panic at the spectre of censorship.
A number of media observers concluded Cameron had lost his marbles by imposing what many viewed as uptight, censorious and paternalistic antiporn rules in that country. British Internet service providers quoted in Wired magazine lambasted Cameron’s move with references to North Korea.
Despite these objections, Vancouver’s recently founded Red Hood Project applauds Cameron’s initiative, and urges the Canadian government and industry to adopt similar measures.
Here’s why: The web content that Cameron, police and child-service organizations aim to suppress includes countless images of naked children and teens, many with phone numbers or Facebook contact information easily visible. A Google search of just one phrase, “teen sex,” yields more than 500 million results. Rape of children, including infants, is commonly depicted there.
This is criminal content that would never be permitted on any network, cable channel or in movie theatres. But all of it can be found and shared by curious kids on their computers and smartphones.
In June, McAfee released a study of family online habits that showed almost 80 per cent of parents of 10- to 12-year-olds feel swamped by the pace of technological change and have lost control of their children’s web habits. Very young teens face enormous pressures to mimic what they’re exposed to, and the results are smeared all over the web, propelling devastating abuse that has prompted some to take their own lives.
Child predators, enabled by a host of social media innovations, now operate in groups, using fake accounts to lure kids in huge numbers.
John Carr, a senior adviser to the UN and EU, and former adviser to Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Vodafone, reports that in 1995, U.K. authorities estimated the number of pedophile images in circulation to be 7,000 photos. Today, Carr calculates that number at between 150 million and 300 million, with an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 offenders, a problem far beyond the capacity of police to manage.
Two recent child murders in Britain by killers addicted to online child sexual exploitation have driven overwhelming public demand for government action and accountability from the trillion-dollar tech industry that has created such chaos.
In responding, Cameron has thrown down the gauntlet.
He laid out a transformative vision of web governance, becoming the first major western leader to hold industry accountable for the rapid proliferation of online threats to children. He called on search engines to find and block searches of child sexual exploitation and for ISPs to limit child access to adult content.
Far from the draconian intrusion some have characterized it as, the proposed ISP default filter merely replicates standard industry practice for mobile providers.
His measures, or some like them, are destined to become global industry standards.
They also mark a major shift in the balance of power over the web. Social media brought the ascendance of “geek culture,” a largely young male demographic with a sense of entitlement to unfettered freedom detached from responsibility to the greater community. Their ethos remained dominant throughout most of the web’s history.
But change is coming. Timed to coincide with Cameron’s landmark speech, industry titans issued their own wave of announcements.
Microsoft, Google and Twitter have all announced measures aimed at cutting down abusive contact and trolling, and eliminating child sexual abuse from search engines and from the web itself. Facebook has been forced by public opinion to begin overhauling its moderation system. The recent parade of corporate announcements demonstrates how much more industry can do to protect kids once it’s spurred to act.
The Red Hood Project joins the growing call for major industry reform. We want social media to employ identity verification such as that used by PayPal, as well as age verification so minors can be identified for enhanced protection. No anonymous stranger should be able to fake an account and contact a child through social media.
As kids migrate en masse to mobile devices, Red Hood seeks safety measures such as clear parental warnings and non-adjustable default settings for phones purchased for children and youth.
There will always be those who will hack past any protections. But a watchful industry can minimize their impact on children and youth.
Society has a shared interest in a free and open Internet. But freedom comes with responsibility.
One way or another, we all have a kid in this fight, and they can’t be left to fight alone. Our kids need family support, a government that will step up to the plate, and industry willing to roll up its sleeves and put their safety first.
And they need you and me to make sure that happens.
Sandy Garossino is cofounder of the Red Hood Project, a Vancouver-based group of concerned citizens dedicated to keeping children and youth safe when they’re online.
