Child Pornography: A Critical Issue in the Information Age

In 2014, a mom was arrested for engaging her children, nieces, and sister-in-law in cybersex.
Last year, a pedophile was arrested by the NBI for using minors in his online sex business.
A few days ago, a mother was arrested for committing acts of lasciviousness with her children in
exchange for money.

But the thing is, what’s the real reason behind all of these?
Some might say that it is caused by the tendency of the rich getting richer at the expense of the
poor; some might say that this is rooted with the overriding relationship between the developed
and the developing countries which is exploitation-prone; some might say that it was caused by
the digital divide and the adverse effects of informatization; while some might say that it was
caused by the ineffective ICT programs of our country; and some might say that it was caused
by the most pervasive problem in developing countries, poverty.
Well, here’s the surprise— all of it are true. For in some ways or another, all of it have
contributed to the proliferation of child pornography— a poverty and capitalistic-driven
technology-mediated exploitation.
But what really is with child pornography that it is considered a critical issue?
Well, child pornography is basically the use of children or minors in propagating pornographic
materials, mainly with the use of a video camera or a webcam. This may then involve children
physically performing sexual acts or children just showing nudity. Moreover, this may also
involve minors who are not legally able to consent, and most dangerously, this may also cause
serious psychological and emotional harm to the children or minors involved.
Additionally, this is usually facilitated by adults who take advantage of children in exchange of
monetary gain or pedophiles who just want to satisfy their kinks. These adults may then include
the children’s parents, relatives, friends, or even strangers who promise them lots of money.
Furthermore, since this is illegal in our country, any adult caught doing or facilitating this kind of
activity will be guilty of violating RA 9208 (Anti-Human Trafficking Act of 2003), RA 7610
(Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act), and
Republic Act 9975 (Act Defining the Crime of Child Pornography).
But what are some of the possible solutions to combat this issue?
Though laws such as those mentioned above were already established to combat the said
problem, those weren’t enough. Therefore, in 2012, the Cybercrime Prevention Act was passed.
And in addition to that, in 2013, “Sweetie” a computer-generated child robot was then launched
and was then able to capture 1,000 men trying to make her perform sexual acts. Though our
government and other countries had mixed reactions towards this said initiative, it did give us an
awareness of the scale in which child pornography and child prostitution were practiced globally.
So, in the end, based from all of those mentioned above, we can say that child pornography is
indeed a critical issue in this information age.
References:
Crawford, A. (2013, November 05). Computer-generated 'Sweetie' catches online predators.
Retrieved November 15, 2018, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24818769
Chib, A., May, J. & Barrantes, R. (2015). Impact of Information Society Research in the Global
South [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://myportal.upou.edu.ph/course/view.php?id=4269
Dayupay, J. (2018, November 13). Nanay na 'minomolestiya' ang mga anak para sa cybersex,
arestado. Retrieved November 15, 2018, from https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/13/18/nanay-na-
minomolestiya-ang-mga-anak-para-sa-cybersex-arestado

Flor, A. G. (2009). Developing Societies in the Information Age: A Critical Perspective [PDF file].
Philippines: UP Open University. Retrieved
from https://myportal.upou.edu.ph/course/view.php?id=4269
Flor, A. G. (2007). Development Communication Praxis [PDF file]. Retrieved
from https://myportal.upou.edu.ph/course/view.php?id=4269
Inquirer.net. (2017, May 10). Cybersex den busted. Retrieved November 15, 2018,
from https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/895580/cybersex-den-busted
Velez, T. E. (2014, February 18). Moms arrested in Davao's first child cybersex case. Retrieved
November 15, 2018, from http://davaotoday.com/main/human-rights/moms-arrested-in-davaos-first-
child-cybersex-case/