Fiber broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. inked a Memorandum of Agreement with child rights protection group Stairway Foundation Inc. Feb. 22, 2022 to prevent the online sexual abuse of children (OSAEC).
The average age of Filipino children first going online is 10 years old. With the basic education continuity plan of DepEd, the number may be much lower, according to Ysrael Diloy, Stairway Foundation Inc. Child Protection Specialist.
"They spend an average of two hours online. The internet is very much ingrained into children’s lives today and we have to be aware of the greater risk involved,” he cautioned.
“Technology distorts reality through different filters and hides these underground activities (like OSAEC)," says Jay-Anne Encarnado, Corporate Communications and Public Relations Director.
"While Converge is an advocate of the benefits of technology, we know there are downsides as well. Instead of the internet being used for the education and development of our children, it is being used by criminals to exploit and profit off of them," she warned.
"With this campaign, we encourage everyone to go deeper into what goes on in your child’s online world, and be proactive in reporting incidents to authorities, or to us, the Internet Service Provider (ISP).”
Converge has scaled up its security measures on the network side to filter sites hosting imagery and videos of sexual abuse of children.
So far, Converge has blocked 20,000 websites on its network to curb heavy traffic to illicit sites that average 1,200 hits per minute.
And Converge spent over P100 million on substantial technological upgrades to block OSAEC, Chief Technology Officer Ronald G. Brusola revealed.
The Philippines is a hotbed for live streamed content of online child abuse, the main markets of which are Western countries.
Already, reports of OSAEC tripled in 2020 from 2019, reaching 1.3 million, according to the Department of Justice’s cybercrime office.
"The pandemic created a perfect storm for OSAEC,” maintained Inter-Agency Council Against Child Pornography (IACACP) Chair, DSWD Assistant Secretary Glenda Relova.
“The Anti-Money Laundering Council also reported that suspicious transactions linked to sexual abuse of children has doubled from P 65.8 million in 2019 to P 113.1 million in the first half of 2020," she pointed out.
ISPs play a crucial role in identifying OSAEC, for the effective action of law enforcement and prosecutors.
Converge vowed to continue coordinating with government and non-profit organizations to block malicious websites and help in the prosecution of perpetrators.
“This is not just a trend, it’s a reality. And we can’t do it alone, we need the help of the public to put a stop to this. How? By reporting to DSWD, our social workers, to the police, to the ISPs. We need the public’s help in reporting these incidents,” Christian Bioc, IACACP Secretariat and DSWD Social Welfare Officer.