NEWS: Curbing social ills involving tech

THE case of the airline pilot who was convicted for trying to bring child pornography into Australia has again illustrated the dark side of innovative technologies when subjected to misuse and abuse.

Open University Malaysia’s Centre for Quality Management and Research and Innovation director Professor Dr Zoraini Wati Abas said the case shows a worrisome trend of people using information and communications technology (ICT) to promote immoral behaviour and social ills.

“In a way... ICT makes it only easier and people are at times tempted to do what would have taken a lot longer or not so easy to do before the Internet age,” she added.

Zoraini said although there are already rules and regulations to check activities related to plagiarism, scamming, pornography, phishing, for example, there are those who still indulge in these activities.

“It’s really up to the individual to control himself to remain honest, truthful and ethical, ...having the integrity is what we all need to strive for,” she said.

Curbing these social ills is not easy but not impossible, said Zoraini.

“We can, to a certain extent, address it. We will need to look at the reasons for the social ills and address them at the source. We have a better chance of reducing the social ills much further,” said Zoraini.

“Creating laws or regulations will also help minimise social ills. This means we need a variety of ways to minimise the social ills. I’m not sure how we can prevent any at all from taking place. Do we know of any community that’s free of social ills?,” she said.

Meanwhile, The Malaysian Association for the Protection of Children’s executive secretary Shahida Musa said Malaysians should go back to basics.

“Are parents being parents? Are we teaching our children the right things and are messages being transmitted correctly?

“Ignorance is always the reason but it shouldn’t be a licence for people to commit crime,” she added.

According to Malaysian Child Resource Institute (MCRI), ignorance does contribute to this type of crime.

“Immoral behaviour and social ills have always existed in society regardless of the presence of information technology. But with the onset of the age of IT, it has made it more pervasive and widespread,” said its legal and advocacy officer Michelle Wong.

As the usage of IT is very widespread today, one still needs to view it as just a tool that aids in everyday life.

“IT is meant to facilitate, rather than hinder. Unfortunately, while it facilitates the advancement of society, it also facilitates the growth of socially undesirable behaviour by providing the opportunity that might not otherwise be present,” said Wong.

“The Internet and the anonymity it provides have made it easier for the individuals with a sexual interest in children to record their activities, download files or share images with like-minded individuals,” she added.

Even though there are laws to address such crimes, the public basically is unaware of these laws, and they are not aware too that certain acts committed by others are actually illegal and a violation of their rights. This is especially so where children are concerned.

“Public ignorance about tech-related crime itself is more worrying. Many children are unknowing victims and offenders of crime. Because they do not know the laws, they can be taken advantage of, as in the case of sexual abuse and child pornography,” said Wong.

Law and protection

THE existing Child Act 2001 provides for definition of child sexual abuse and the punishment for those convicted of it.

According to University of Malaya, Faculty of Law’s senior lecturer Dr Farah Nini Dusuki, applying the law to the case, it’s clear that the pilot’s acts constitute child sexual abuse. He can therefore be charged and may be convicted under Section 31 if he is in the position of the carer of the child,” she added.

Farah however, contended that the law is not really effective. “First, it has hardly been tested, meaning no case report of the section been invoked in such cases and when this is so, people don’t know about it, hence the deterrent effect is minimal,” she said.

For laws to be truly effective, countries, governments, non-governmental organisations and the general public have to work together across borders to stop the perpetrators of illegal crimes committed via technology.
There is also the fact that tech content is now being generated not by a few people.

The source of, for example, a pornographic video of a child, is much harder to determine as it can come from any one in any part of the world, she said.