Reconsider current laws to protect children from harm involving selfies by The Yomiuri Shimbun EDITORIAL

Topic: Reconsider current laws to protect children from harm involving selfies

By: The Yomiuri Shimbun EDITORIAL

Publish Date: Wednesday, 20 December 2017

Published on : The Japan News

Reconsider current laws to protect children from harm involving selfies

The Yomiuri ShimbunIf children take nude photos of themselves and send them by email or other means, a “selfie” of this kind could cause them irreparable harm. Pertinent regulations must be reinforced.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly have passed proposals to revise their respective ordinances, aiming to prevent abuse of children involving selfies.

The revised ordinances are designed to ban requests for children under the age of 18 to send explicit photos and videos. They also include penalties. The Tokyo metropolitan government will put the new ordinance into effect in February, and the Hyogo prefectural government will do so in April.

The current law against child prostitution and child pornography has no provision banning requests for photographic images. The ordinances, which have been strengthened to make offenders liable to punishment even from the time of their demand for such images, reflect a sense of urgency about a continued increase in serious harm.

Of all victims in child pornography cases dealt with by the police authorities nationwide last year, 480, or close to 40 percent of the total, were involved in such incidents through their selfies. More than 90 percent of these victims were junior high and high school students.

In many cases, children carelessly send their photographic images to persons they have encountered through such social networking sites as Line and Twitter. In requesting selfies from children, perpetrators use smooth talk, such as praising their appearance and offering to give them an allowance.

Photographic images can be easily sent from smartphones. It has become an everyday occurrence to mingle with others through the internet, and consequently, people feel less reluctant to interact with strangers. The factor behind the sharp increase in victims seems to be a change in the environment surrounding them.

Intl cooperation vital

Once a photographic image is released on the internet, it will immediately spread. In some cases, such images can be illegally sold. There is no denying that such images, even if sent by victims to someone they dated, could be used in cases of “revenge porn,” in which they are intimidated by their partners if and when their relationship has broken up.

This month, the Osaka prefectural police arrested a man suspected to have sexually abused a first-year junior high school girl, threatening to “spread your picture.” Given the current situation in which heinous crimes have been committed, it is understandable for local governments to plug loopholes in the current laws through their ordinances.

The government and the Diet must not stand idly by. Shouldn’t they reconsider the existing laws, closely assessing the effectiveness of the ordinances?

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and 10 domestic internet-related major corporations have initiated efforts to prevent the spread of explicit photographic images that have been released on the internet. If and when advice is sought, these companies share pertinent information and voluntarily delete the images in question, without waiting for the person involved to submit such a request.

To achieve better results, it is indispensable to cooperate with overseas internet service providers and others. It is essential to steadily expand a network of rescue efforts.

What is more important than anything else is to ensure children realize they should not easily send selfies. A great danger lies behind the convenience they enjoy. They should be taught about the characteristics of the internet both at home and in school.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 20, 2017)