NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Theme : Important Aspects of Governance, Issues Related to Children
Paper : GS - 2
In India, though viewing adult pornography in private is not an offence; seeking, browsing, downloading or exchanging child pornography is an offence punishable under the IT Act.
As the public reporting of circulation of online CSAM is very low and there is no system of automatic electronic monitoring, India’s enforcement agencies are largely dependent on foreign agencies for the requisite information.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Child Pornography in India
- Tackling of CSAM worldwide
- India’s Efforts so Far
- Road Ahead
Context : Recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted a pan-India operation, “Megh Chakra”, against the online circulation and sharing of Child Sexual Abusive Material (CSAM).
Child Pornography in India :
- In India, though viewing adult pornography in private is not an offence; seeking, browsing, downloading or exchanging child pornography is an offence punishable under the IT Act.
- As the public reporting of circulation of online CSAM is very low and there is no system of automatic electronic monitoring, India’s enforcement agencies are largely dependent on foreign agencies for the requisite information.
Tackling of CSAM worldwide :
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U.S. model: A programme by National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a non-profit organisation in the United States, called CyberTipline calls for public and electronic service providers (ESPs) to report instances of suspected child sexual exploitation.
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ISPs are mandated to report the identity and the location of individuals suspected of violating the law and NCMEC may notify ISPs to block transmission of online CSAM.
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In 2021, the CyberTipline received more than 29.3 million reports (99% from ESPs) of U.S. hosted and suspected CSAM.
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U.K. model: A non-profit organization called Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) seeks to ensure a safe online environment for users with a particular focus on CSAM.
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It includes engaging the analysts to actively search for criminal content, disrupting the availability of CSAM and deleting such content hosted in the U.K.
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In 2021, the IWF assessed more than 3 lakh reports (about 70% reports had CSAM) and seven in 10 reports contained “self-generated” CSAM.
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UK Legislation: Though the U.K. does not explicitly mandate the reporting of suspected CSAM, ISPs may be held responsible for third party content if they host or caches such content on their servers.
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WeProtect Global Alliance : It is a global movement of more than 200 governments, private sector companies and civil society organisations working together to transform the global response to child sexual exploitation and abuse online.
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Coordinated enforcement: INHOPE, a global network of 50 hotlines (46 member countries), provides the public with a way to anonymously report CSAM.
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It provides secure IT infrastructure, ICCAM hosted by Interpol, and facilitates the exchange of CSAM reports between hotlines and law enforcement agencies.
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About ICCAM: ICCAM is a tool to facilitate image/video hashing/fingerprinting and reduce the number of duplicate investigations.
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Data: In 2021, the number of exchanged content URLs stood at more than 9 lakh out of which more than 4 lakh contained illegal content. About 72% of all illegal content URLs were removed from the Internet within three days of a notice and takedown order.
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India’s Efforts so Far :
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Shreya Singhal case (2015) Supreme Court of India, read down Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act in this case.
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As per this Section, any social media intermediary will not be in the radar of legal action for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by him.
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The SC ruling thus meant that the intermediaries ought to act only upon receiving actual knowledge that a court order has been passed, asking [them] to expeditiously remove or disable access to certain material.
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Kamlesh Vaswani case (2013): The petitioner here sought a complete ban on pornography.
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After the Court’s intervention, the advisory committee was thus constituted which issued orders in March 2015 to ISPs to disable nine (domain) URLs which hosted contents in violation of the morality and decency clause of Article 19(2) of the Constitution. However, the petition is still pending in the Supreme Court.
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Prajwala case v/s union of India: The Supreme Court (SC) ordered the government to frame the necessary guidelines/Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and implement them to “eliminate child pornography, rape and gang rape imagery, videos, and sites in content hosting platforms and other applications”.
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National CSAM portal: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) launched a National Cybercrime Reporting Portal in 2018 for filing online complaints pertaining to child pornography and rape-gang rape and was later extended to all types of cybercrime.
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Parliamentary Committee: The Rajya Sabha ad hoc Committee 2020 report, made wide-ranging recommendations on ‘the alarming issue of pornography on social media and its effect on children and society as whole’.
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On the legislative front, the committee not only recommended the widening of the definition of ‘child pornography’ but also proactive monitoring, mandatory reporting and taking down or blocking CSAM by ISPs.
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On the technical front, the committee recommended permitting the breaking of end-to-end encryption, building partnership with industry to develop tools using artificial intelligence for dark-web investigations, tracing identity of users engaged in crypto currency transactions to purchase child pornography online and liaisoning with financial service companies to prevent online payments for purchasing child pornography.
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Joint agreement: The National Crime Records Bureau (MHA) signed a memorandum of understanding with a non-profit foundation named National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2019.
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By this, NCRB receives CyberTipline reports to facilitate action against those who upload or share CSAM in India. The NCRB has received more than two million CyberTipline reports which have been forwarded to the States for legal action.
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Private initiatives: Aarambh India’, a Mumbai-based NGO, partnered with the International Watch Foundation (IWF), and launched India’s first online reporting portal in 2016 to report images and videos of child abuse.
Road Ahead :
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It’s time that India joins INHOPE and establishes its hotline to utilize Interpol’s secure IT infrastructure or collaborate with ISPs and financial companies by establishing an independent facility such as the IWF or NCMEC.
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The Rajya Sabha’s ad hoc Committee’s recommendations should be followed.
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India needs to explore all options and adopt an appropriate strategy to fight the production and the spread of online CSAM.
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On technical front:
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Permit the break of end-to-end encryption
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Build partnership with industry to develop tools using artificial intelligence for dark-web investigations
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Track identity of users engaged in crypto currency transactions to purchase child pornography online
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Liaisoning with financial service companies to prevent online payments for purchasing child pornography
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FAQs:
1. What is Operation “Megh Chakra’’ ?
Answer : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted a pan-India operation, “Megh Chakra”, against the online circulation and sharing of Child Sexual Abusive Material (CSAM).
2. What is INHOPE ?
Answer : INHOPE, a global network of 50 hotlines (46 member countries), provides the public with a way to anonymously report CSAM.