Cyber child porn clamp on way.

Byline: MANDEEP SINGH

BAHRAIN and other GCC countries are going into cyber space to combat child pornographers and traffickers. They are on the verge of hooking up to a global online system to help track those who exploit children and sell child pornography, it was revealed yesterday.

Bahrain is already leading the way as the only country in the GCC to prosecute child pornographers, says a top official. The Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS), developed by Microsoft, will make it easier for law enforcement agencies to collaborate and share information with other police services, said Microsoft Middle East Africa Citizenship Lead Manager, Jeffrey Avina.

"CETS has already played a part in several investigations across geographic boundaries, creating links that have helped apprehend online offenders and lead to the rescue of children in countries around the world," he told the GDN.

Mr Avina was speaking on the sidelines of the Human Trafficking at the Crossroads conference at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa.

"With this system in place, agencies can break down borders through collaboration and information sharing," he said.

"Using standard web-based technologies, law enforcement agencies can collaborate on investigations into the exploitation of children based on legal agreements in place, using security-enhanced technologies."

Mr Avina said this was one of the important steps Microsoft has taken to help law enforcers around the world in dealing with this menace.

"The problem is huge worldwide and it certainly is a problem in the Gulf countries and the Middle East."

He said though no exact figures are available, everyone recognised it is an issue which needed to be tackled and also that the menace seems to be growing with time.

"This new tool will certainly be of great help."

He said Bahrain had taken the lead in prosecuting and convicting child traffickers as well as those found to be indulging and abetting prostitution.

"No other country in the region has done as much as Bahrain has and it now stands out as a model," he said.

Cyber crime cuts across borders, but laws are country specific and co-ordination often becomes an issue.

"This is where this system will come in handy," said Mr Avina.

"While the Internet offers children unparalleled educational resources and entertainment, it also contains dangers for them in the form of inappropriate and sometimes illegal content and online predators.

"Co-operation among law enforcement officials, government and industry is critical to make the Internet a safer place for children. We have a special responsibility to provide the resources needed to address issues of Internet safety."

Mr Avina said online child exploitation was a particularly serious problem, as Internet crimes - especially those involving children - are increasing at an unprecedented rate all over the world.

CETS was jointly developed by Canadian police, international law enforcement officials, and Microsoft.

"When law enforcement officials turned to Microsoft to help solve a significant challenge they faced, CETS was created to increase the effectiveness of investigators and teams by providing them with software to store, search, share and analyse large volumes of evidence and match cases across police agencies," said Mr Avina.

He said CETS contains powerful features to permit investigators to easily search information from the point of detection, right through the investigative phase.

Mr Avina said Microsoft joined the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) to help publicise its global legislative review on child pornography and model legislation that it has crafted.

"We are still working and will continue to work with the ICMEC, Interpol and governments around the world to help nations develop and enforce child pornography-related laws."

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