Young People, Crime and Community Safety: engagement and early intervention Australian Institute of Criminology International Conference

Transcription

1 Young People, Crime and Community Safety: engagement and early intervention Australian Institute of Criminology International Conference RACV Club, Melbourne, Australia February 2008 CONFERENCE PAPER: Cyber crime and safety for youth and other vulnerable groups Chris O Connor Detective Senior Sergeant Victoria Police

2 Cyber crime and safety for youth and other vulnerable groups Chris O Connor Detective Senior Sergeant Victoria Police Anything that illegally threatens the psychological, emotional or physical wellbeing of our children and young people is the business of police forces and other relevant agencies. The focus of this presentation will be online child sexual exploitation - but it can be equally applied to all online activity. I do not profess to have the answers but I do propose to highlight the unique nature of the threats to our children that exist via online communications. The evolution of the online services has challenged all industries to re-assess the way they do business. This is particularly pertinent to the child protection and law enforcement industries because although offline and online offending amount to the same result the potential for online offending is unimaginably magnified. In the current world environment no number of police or laws will eradicate the criminality through traditional means. However, innovative approaches, cooperation and inter industry partnerships involving government, non government, children, young people, parents and the community will. That is not to say law enforcement in this state, country and globally is not making inroads. There are partnerships between internet service providers, software manufacturers, telcos and law enforcement. Indeed there are partnerships between non government bodies, government bodies, industry and the community. But many of these partnerships are localised, single focussed and heterogenous. The online services are unique and as such criminal activities online are carried out using unique methods. By extension unique crimes require unique solutions! The 2006 Australian Census identified, 58% per cent of Australian homes had an internet connection 43% of Melbourne households with broadband connection (AAP, 2007). 1

3 In 2005, the (then) Australian Broadcasting Authority and NetAlert Ltd, commissioned a report into the behaviours and attitudes of home internet use. Both parents and children were surveyed. Key findings from the report were 37% per cent of children accessed the Internet on a daily basis 33% accessed it two to three times per week. Just over one-third of young children (8-9 years) nominated first using the internet between 5-6 years of age. The largest proportion of children aged 12 or 13 years nominated they first accesses the internet at 9-10 years (ABA, 2005). The end result is that more children are accessing the online services at younger ages than ever before research in the United Kingdom highlights that, 75% of children have internet in their home; 92% of children have internet at school; 57% of the 9-19 years who go online once a week have come into contact with online pornography; 33% of daily and weekly child users have received unwanted sexual comments online.(powell: 2007) Children and young people are, by definition, vulnerable to the behaviours and practices of adults. For these reasons our society imposes age restrictions and constraints on access to adult activities such as possession and consumption of alcohol, vehicle driver licensing, film classification, property ownership and voting rights to name a few. Many of these restraints are an acknowledgement that somewhat arbitrarily, children and young people do not have the required developmental, emotional and social capacities to make appropriately informed decisions. Complementing these restraints are formal and informal educational processes and support designed to prepare children and young people to make appropriately informed decisions. Traditional child protective practices and programs acknowledge the role of parents and significant adult role models in the positive development of children. Traditionally, many threats have been constant and their containment well suited to both didactic and experiential learning programs. Risk assessment and management of threats such as personal safety when in public, on transport, in recreational activity and respect for other people s property, beliefs and lifestyles and so forth have been the primary responsibility of parents, supplemented by the education system, other government bodies, community, religious and recreational non government bodies. To this point you may be thinking that I am presenting on the topic of sociology 101. What does this all have to do with the safety of children when online? The point I wish to make is that traditionally our society has evolved 2

4 ordered and well structured processes focussed on the healthy development of our children that prepares them to make appropriate decisions for their age. The advent of the online generation has challenged those ordered and well structured processes. Like me most of you are involved in organisations committed to the maintenance and protection of our young people s wellbeing. And like me many of you are either publicly or privately incensed that our generation allowed the unrestricted development of information and communication technologies with little consideration for the sociological implications. Risks to vulnerable children and young people have always been extreme but the online services have created environments where all children and young people are at risk. In many ways the technical and experiential knowledge needed to navigate cyberspace is in the hands of our young people sometimes to the exclusion of their parents. In this regard parenting is desperate for help. That help has come in the form of school, government and non government programs designed to empower and protect children on and offline. But away from the school intranet children are once again at risk when online. The intent of these programs is that the knowledge gained will reinforce protective values and behaviours in the child. But if a child has low self-esteem or from a disadvantaged, dysfunctional or abusive home environment then that person is at extreme risk. But really, no child is immune; all are at some degree of risk for example children own and use game consoles, mobile phones and other devices that have internet connectivity that can be accessed in the privacy of their own bedroom or accessible with and through friends and associates. Existing threats to the balanced development of our children come in the forms of photographs, movies, text, audio, drawings and any other type of visual imagery representative of:- adult erotica/pornography and associated deviant sexual behaviour child erotica/pornography and associated deviant sexual behaviour incest, rape and associated deviant sexual behaviour scenes of real human execution graphic scenes of real and choreographed physical violence explicit medical procedures scenes of mob violence graphic accident scenes bullying 3

5 racial vilification religious vilification personal vilification backyard chemistry covering anything from improvised explosive devices to illicit drug and alcohol manufacture web sites and forums that, intentionally or otherwise, act to reinforce or legitimise the deviant or abusive behaviour. Well! Are these threats more real for the current generation of young people than previous generations? They are without question! I make several suggestions for this. They are:- Production access Product content and control Market size and ease of access PRODUCTION ACCESS The ease of access and use of graphic and web hosting software has enabled any user to produce online material as professionally as if it were commercially constructed. The online services have provided the vehicle to give unparalleled voice and power to individuals and philosophies that previously existed underground or had little access to the mainstream community. PRODUCT CONTENT and CONTROL The content of websites, social network and discussion sites are only subjected to limited censorship, control or moderation. Communication globalization has greatly compounded the difficulty in prosecuting the hosting of illegal content or censoring inappropriate content. MARKET SIZE and EASE of ACCESS Market size equates to a potential audience of all users of online services. The ease with which most products can be accessed is relatively unrestrained. Even pay-for-view websites offer samples and free tours of sites sufficient to show the user the type of material enclosed. HOW ARE YOUNG PEOPLE INTRODUCED TO THESE THREATS? Net Psychology The internet has its own language, behaviour and psychology. It is the world of shortcuts. The English language is abbreviated, coded and iconised. All designed to express thoughts succinctly and in the quickest 4

6 time. Have you ever watched a young person text messaging on their mobile phone. Their thumb is in constant express motion; or the speed and accuracy of their keyboard skills when chatting with online friends. All highly skilled and all self taught. If only they had learn their times tables or grammar with such commitment! But it is that very skill that threatens their protection. Much about the internet is speed and now, speed and now. There is often so much going on that you feel you do not have time to think clearly. You may well be carrying on several discussions with numerous users in difference groups, all at once. Such activity comes with high cognitive demand. And you may find yourself typing or saying something you do not really mean or to be cool or to keep that person talking to you. Net psychology equates to the tenet I want it and I want it now. Vulnerable status The natural vulnerable status of children is compounded when online for several reasons. The spontaneity of face to face communication with its body language, voice pitch and inflection, eye contact, conversation content all provide us with a solid basis to make a value judgement about continuing communication with another person. Much of that is missing in online communications, even with webcam and VOIP. Children and young people with low self-esteem, self-respect or self-worth may not value their bodies and be prepared to give it to someone else in return for emotional or material support. It is not uncommon, in such circumstances for a child to enter an online relationship knowing or suspecting that the other person is several times their age. Offender behaviour A common ingredient of child sexual assault offending is the manipulation of a child designed to seduce the child into sexual activity and/or ensure the child s silence. This grooming process focuses on the weaknesses that are a child s wants, needs, emotions and underdeveloped concepts of trust and self. Child molesters develop skills and behaviours that make them appealing to children. They identify with children, are non judgemental, respond to wants and generally communicate at the child s level. Some provide material goods and environments pleasing to children. In essence they are skilled at identifying potential victims. Such children are often ill equipped emotionally to combat the grooming process. Some of the offending dynamics have changed as well. People who, prior to the online services, would not have acted on child focussed sexual fantasies because of legal sanctions, access to material or fear of apprehension, are now also at extreme risk of offending. 5

7 The person who formerly reframed from acting on his fantasies is now at extreme risk of offending. New types of offenders have emerged. One is the person who trawls for child pornography and abuse material. Whose motivation is not contact offences but to satisfy masturbatory fantasies by collecting and cataloguing large quantities of material. Another type is the offender who satisfies his fantasies by seducing children whilst online and engaged in sexual discussion and variations of cyber sex. No men that we have arrested for these types of behaviour could guarantee they would not have committed a contact offence of a child had been available. That is the compounding threat of these types of behaviour. THREAT LOCATIONS CHAT ROOMS DISCUSSION GROUPS SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ONLINE GAMING VIRTUAL WORLDS MOBILE PHONE and WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES CHATROOMS, DISCUSSION GROUPS and SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES Live real time text/voip or Webcam access to any other user anywhere on the globe. File transfers/sharing of any audio visual product. Subjects that cover the whole range of human thought. The opportunity to post very personal information. Release of information such as school, names of friends, hobbies, sports played, favourite music, likes and dislikes; just the sort of information online offenders use to comment the grooming process with a prospective victim. ONLINE GAMING The popular gaming consoles such as Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo Wii are all internet-abled and can function similarly to desktops or laptops. They each have live chat function enabling communication with other players via text, video or voice technologies as well as the ability to share files. VIRTUAL WORLD The virtual world is a computer-based virtual environment that simulates or replicates the real world such as Second Life, Red Light Centre and World of Warcraft. 6

8 There are a number of virtual worlds and like most online activities access varies from free to credit card based. These virtual worlds allow users to be whom they want and behave in any way they want. They are adult worlds and sex is a key element. The only real security against young people under that age of 18 entering them is if they give their correct date of birth when registering. Virtual Worlds also provide for communication between users via chat and file sharing. Although credit card payments determine movement of users to more sexually focussed areas young people are still at extreme risk to online sex predators and sexually deviant behaviour. MOBILE PHONES and WIRELERSS TECHNOLOGY This next generation of mobile phones are virtual mobile internet connections. Camera and video quality is continuously improving as is speed, storage and general use. These are unique times of unique crimes that require unique responses from our community. The internationalisation of communication insists that a national approach to child protection as it applies to information and communication technology is a necessary requirement if we wish to minimise the risks. WHAT CAN BE DONE? BIOMETRICS Being in Law Enforcement I am in a position to observe from the sidelines. It has been my experience that nationally, the child protection industry, in relation to information and communication technology, is somewhat heterogeneous. 7

9 NATIONAL BODY representative of all child focussed and relevant bodies accepted as providing standard programs for child protection and empowerment. There maybe existing bodies that could take on this l 8