CYBER CRIME AGAINST CHILDREN THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL

ADVANCEMENT

STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

1. As we have seen, India has taken steps to become a "digital India," to enhance governance
and transparency. India is a developing country, and it is necessary to achieve the goal of a
society empowered through technology. Although the use of technology is increasing, but the
problem is, children and young people in India have never used it. According to several surveys
and estimates, India is the second country in the world in the matter of smartphone users, which
is both encouraging and concerning. Today social networking sites is used by people in many
ways such as communication, messages, Information, letters, court summons, and for email
purpose. Due to modern technology online classes are available in all college and high school
today. The use of technology is well understood by even young toddlers. Nowadays, it is
observed that children engage in a variety of activities on social networking sites, including
gaming, talking, forming groups, video calls, watching online videos and movies, and more. It
has observed some people, especially children and teenager, use technology for illegal purpose to
express their feelings, harass, intimidate, stalk and harm others over the internet through mobile
phones, laptops, computers and other similar devices. Today, social media is accessible to nearly
every school-aged child. However, it is surprising that only a few children are capable of
managing their personal information. By posting private details about their personal life through
online, they expose themselves to various forms of cyber harassment. The development of the
internet has both positive and negative effects, like cybercrime, which affects everyone,
including children. Every time a cybercrime affects children, a child is the victim, so it must be
taken seriously. Cyber Crime include things like System hacking, spamming, spreading virus in
systems, credit card fraud, Cyber pornography, Cyber stalking, Cyber Bullying, Cyber
defamation, Online trafficking, posting ludicrous images, sending fake emails to obtain
confidential information, misusing confidential information, malware, ransomware attack, social
media frauds, software piracy, identity theft, phishing and scam etc. Through the use of fictitious
identities in online chat rooms, criminals are able to persuade victims to meet in person, resulting
in forms of juvenile sexual exploitation such as sex trafficking and sex tourism. The children do
not know to whom they are talking. They only realize they have made a mistake when they meet
in person and see the person they were talking to, possibly an older man in his 40s or 50s. Many
youngsters commit suicide when their nasty photos are shared online. It is observed that
youngsters frequently avoid about disclosing their mistakes to their parents or anyone else due to
the fear of causing additional issues.

2. The problem with Cyber Crime is that of the evidence because in physical world proof of
crime can be done easily and in a more appropriate way but in virtual world to come up with
evidence is bit difficult because real world is bit different than virtual world. To come up before
the court, at all stages the gathering, storage and detection is not easy. In the real world,
fingerprints, blood stains, marks can easily be traced but in virtual world such things and traces
are not found easily so here the judiciary plays an important role because court had to distinguish
the various attributes regarding the nature of evidence. In the whole process of investigation of
Cyber Crimes, the most important part and help comes up with computer forensics because they
are the one who preserve the Cyber Crime evidences and any small mistake by them can lead to
the diminish value of the evidence. That’s why the awareness programme mostly makes the
people understand about the importance of back up of data of their devices especially of their
computer system and mobile device as it contains most data of the victims life and easily
available to the investigating team in the cyber world. Electronic data interchange and other
forms of electronic commerce are legalized by the Information Technology Act, 2000 but it does
not mean that this act last forever for the Cyber Crimes as law changes according to the society
and needs of the people. There will be time to time changes in the law and the technology
advancement for the betterment of the society.

3. In today’s world internet and digital communication technology have come into existence in
both rural and urban India but the main problem is that the setting up of Cyber Crime cells in the
police stations in many cities and urban areas are not there which create hurdles in the life of
many people. Despite knowing how to use technology, many people are unsure about where to
go, if they become victims of the technology. Many rural areas have no Cyber Crimes cells at all
and moreover if there are cells, there are no efficient police force to deal with the problems
especially in the cases of the online harassment of children and basic infrastructure to deal with
the internet and digital crimes. There is no awareness regarding the Cyber Crimes present in our
society and it is mainly because of the education regarding these crimes and moreover there are
no focused groups to deal with these types of cases like unaware police officials, lawyers, and
the public.

4. "The most prevalent forms of cybercrime in the Indian context are: Cyber bullying, Cyber
morphing, Cyber stalking, trolling, and phishing. However, our current legal system provides no
protection for many of them. As a result, the Information Technology Act, 2000 must include
two clauses i.e. first clause will cover all regulations pertaining to the safety of electronic devices
and second clause will focus on legal backing so that evidence can be used in court. It was
observed that there are no Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for dealing with cybercrime
issues. Officers must receive adequate training regarding standard operating procedures and the
implementation of devised protocols. Additionally, a significant issue is the lack of officers in
cyber cells. As a result, posting-capable officers with sufficient knowledge of various
cybercrimes, technical knowledge of computer resource, ethical hacking, and other topics are
required. The lack of uniformity in international cooperation has been discovered. When a case
of cybercrime involves another nation, the procedure becomes time-consuming and several
regulations must be followed. Due to cross-border legal issues, foreign services providers are not
enough cooperative during investigations. It is suggested that regulations governing the decoding
of IP addresses for service providers should be changed, and all service provider should relocate
their servers to India in order to track IP addresses for faster and better investigations.
Investigation should be done inter country. To effectively control cybercrime, transnational
treaty between countries must be signed. Due to the lengthy procedure and the fear of revealing
his/her identity, many children do not file complaints. People usually blame a child for being
online or active on social media when he gets trolled in social media sites. As a result, it is our
social responsibility not to mistreat children but rather to assist them in speaking out against such
criminal. Training must be imparted to children during awareness campaigns and knowledge
should be given them to enhancing their privacy, since children do not possess sufficient
knowledge regarding privacy settings and use of technology. Therefore, professional individuals
with advanced technology knowledge and experience dealing with cybercrimes must organize
community-based awareness campaigns. Even if victims file a complaint and police conduct an
investigation there are insufficient e-courts where cases can be resolved.
5. From the birth of the child, ethics and family rules play an important role in molding the
child. Just as every family has its own rules and discipline every society has a set of rules
generally enforced through a set on institution called Law which aim to provide a set of objective
rules to control behavior and maintain order in society, thereby developing intimacy in
relationships with peace and harmony. With the advent of technology and dependency of all the
real world activities shifting to virtual world there has been a need of law to regulate the online
traffic and hence all the social networking sites have their own terms, conditions and norms
majorly based on the United States First Amendment Guarantees on Right to Speech due to
which socializing without restrictions in the virtual world has become easy. In the wake up all
nations upheld the concept of freedom of speech and expression in their Constitution. However,
International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights provides certain restriction in freedom of
expression which limits speech regarding defamation of an individual, public order, health
morality and protection of national security. India, Unites States and United Kingdom guarantee
the right to freedom of speech and expression with some restrictions and limitation. Social
networking sites have some limitations on content which create a threat to national level, but
these limitations prove to fail as far as protecting children from internet is concerned. Indian
constitution Article 19 (2) has stated eight grounds for restrictions on freedom of speech wherein
three of which limit speech harmful to decency and modesty, defamation and Incitement to an
offence. Children and teenagers using the social networking sites fall prey to unwanted and
unexpected harassment by users. Ultimately they are portrayed in such a manner on the globally
visualized social networks that their privacy is infringed to an extent that children tend to suicide
due to shame and embarrassment. Do children in India have the Right to Privacy as guaranteed
by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? Social networking sites do not
take the responsibility for wrong arising out of invasion of privacy or issues related to cyber
bullying, annoy, insult, pester or spy on others. Globally India ranks third in cyber bullying list
leaving behind United Kingdom and United States far back. United Kingdom and United States
are seeking to address cyber bullying with new legislature as there is no specific law which deals
directly with cyber bullying with the globally known fact that troubled children take his or her
life, and more worse to know that death was the direct result of mean words on social networking
sites. Situations where children are using social networking sites consequently suicide and such
offences are not recognized as contempt of humanity and illegitimate act, there are fair chances
of cyber bullying and related issues to be worsened and intensified under the rule Freedom of
Speech. In India, the Information Technology Act 2000 as Amended in 2008 and the Indian
Penal code, POSCO Act, 2012 regulate the online offences but there is need for legal framework
of child victimization. In the Information Technology parent Act, 2000 had no provisions to
address issues related to children on internet where the Amended Information Technology
Act,2008 section 67B has addressed issue related to child pornography by directly and clearly
expressing the term ‘Children’ in the clause, unfortunately child cyber bulling has not been
directly addressed throughout, even the age defined in the amended Information Technology
Act,2008 puts in a puzzle, though the social networking sites have rules and provide age
limitation while browsing a social networking site, but there is no perfect method to analyze the
age of the user.

While framing the Constitution of India, founding fathers as framers of it were influenced by the
concept of Human Rights and incorporated a number of Articles in the form of fundamental
rights and the same includes the Rights of Children. Though several legislations have been
enacted in this direction, yet the victimization of children has swelled with the advent and
development of internet which can be minimized only by social efforts and strict regulations in
domestic laws of the nation in parity with international standards.

6. The major challenges in the area of cybercrimes against children are related to the procedural
aspects of litigation, such as the conflict of jurisdiction, loss and lack of evidence, unavailability
of a Cyber army and a judiciary with a working understanding of cyberspace. Given that
cyberspace has no borders and that the rules are formed while keeping in mind the concepts of
territorial sovereignty, the current principles of jurisdiction for cyber space must either be
changed or new ones must be established. Currently, a number of national courts are using and
interpreting established principles while taking into account their own territory or nationals. In
regards to the same issue or the same offender, multiple nations are claiming jurisdiction.
Because the accused is not physically present or has no property in a sovereign state, no nation is
able to take meaningful action. India is adopting new technology in the digital era despite being a
developing nation. Hence India is a part of the cyber world, which connects it to the rest of the
world and performs a wide range of functioning. As everything is virtual it is hard to set any
kind of physical boundaries because of the wide range of functioning. It has been noted that a
lack of boundaries contributes to the rise of the following problems related to jurisdiction.
Tracking a user or website is incredibly challenging, and occasionally impossible. There may be
a case that certain website components are hosted in several different parts around the world.
Despite the fact that the website is hosted in one location, the user might be anywhere in the
world. Moving the website and switching the server's physical location are both simple
processes. The determination of jurisdiction is a significant issue because the crime might be
committed anywhere in the world; it can be described a double edged sword. Territorial
boundaries today seem to have no significance or limitations with the expanding arms of
cyberspace. The concept of territorial jurisdiction as defines in Section 16 of the Civil Procedure
Code and Section 2 of the Indian penal code provides limited weight to the significance of
cybercrime-related matters, so alternative dispute resolution methods must be implemented in
their place.

7. Policymakers and other stakeholders lack the capacity to handle situations involving
suspicious activity or even evident crimes. They reveal the criminal activity's enablers, from the
alternative payment methods to the hosting companies. The question is still open: How can
government agencies, law enforcement agency and businessman come together in order to fight
with cybercrime in a new way that goes beyond what has been done before? In order to start
addressing this issue Cybercrimes must be understood as a component of the larger issue of
malicious cyber activity. This includes the actions of a continuum of malicious actors, from low-
level hackers and pure criminals to organized criminal groups and nation-states with their
proxies and surrogates. It needs to be handled strategically and proactively by an alliance of key
business and governmental stakeholders, including but not limited to law enforcement. Simply
said, because of the severity and complexity of the issue, a public-private partnership made up of
U.S. and international stakeholders is urgently needed in order to start developing a truly
strategic plan for reducing the frequency, impact, and risk of Mali and validated for their
contributions.. The two most significant issues are, first, that malicious cyber activity carries
almost no repercussions, and second, that the cyberspace wild west nature makes serious
malicious behavior possible to continue operating in impunity by making use of vulnerabilities,
attack tools, alternative payment methods, and illicit hosting companies. More serious kinetic
activity is made possible by flourishing malicious activity. A practical illustration of capacity
building in domestic and international markets for the purpose of combating the expansion of
cybercrime is the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA.org). It is now
necessary to launch a project to develop a roadmap for a proactive plan to combat malicious
cyber activity that makes use of all available resources and involves key stakeholders from both
the government and private sectors. The Financial Services Technology Consortium and the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children should be commended for their efforts in
addressing the global problem of child pornography. A working group of key stakeholders who
understood the problem of child pornography and the flow of alternative payment and hosting
services that enable and reward it will be the center of the effort. With a focus on the strategy,
data on malicious actors and those who enable them to operate successfully and anonymously in
cyberspace must be collected and shared. In addition, in order to improve the security of online
interactions, communications, and transactions between individuals and organizations, the
strategy ought to identify and capitalize on existing technologies and procedures. We can more
effectively establish connections between the offending activity and those responsible for it by
strategically collecting and exchanging data. This will allow us to complement the traditional law
enforcement response with one that fully utilizes the powers and resources of governments and
the private sector. Only by comprehending the tactics and hierarchies of our adversaries can we
start to civilize cyberspace.
8. The Budapest Convention, also known as the Cybercrime convention, or the Council of
Europe Convention on Cybercrime, or cybercrimes extraditable was the first international treaty
to focus on increasing cybercrime. It came into effect on July 1, 2004, after being introduced in
2001. The convention is the first multilateral international treaty on cybercrime that has legal
force. It makes certain cybercrime activity unlawful and organizes nation-state cybercrime
investigations. It provides a framework for international collaboration between the state parties
to this treaty and acts as a model for any country creating comprehensive national legislation
against cybercrime. The improvement of investigative methods, the expansion of international
cooperation, and, finally, the harmonization of national laws were the three primary goals of the
treaty. In addition, the participating nations were required to adopt specific laws prohibiting
specific cybercrimes and specific rules for gathering evidence.

Budapest convention was signed in Strasbourg, France, by the Council of Europe and 64 nations
that endorsed the Budapest Convention on cybercrime. These nations include Canada, Japan, the
Philippines, South Africa, the US, and others. India didn't sign this Convention because it wasn't
participated in its negotiation and is therefore concerned about it. The convention violates state
sovereignty by allowing for transborder access to data through its Article 32b. There are reasons
to refuse to collaborate, the convention's regime is ineffective, and the collaboration guarantee is
not firm enough.

But India voted in Russian- led UN resolution in august 2020 to set up a separate international
convention on cybercrime. Hope, India would benefit from signing this treaty, given Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a digital India.

9. A new provision took its place after Section 66 A of the IT Act was struck down due to its
widespread abuse. Section 67 is actively being used to file complaints of cyber defamation
despite the fact that it was clearly not intended for or applicable to the aforementioned cause.
This section has been utilized a number of times to quell political disagreement.

The fact that Section 67 of the Information Technology Act of 2000 only punishes the
transmission and publication of obscene content is a major concern. Unless the victims are
children, viewing, downloading, and possessing such content is not punishable. While it is
impossible to prosecute every person in possession of the materials, releasing those who were
participating in the crime even if they are not actively involved, from responsibility serves no
purpose in preventing the obscene content.

In addition, the Section is overused and exhausted in every online crime against women. Many
crimes actually do not fall under the purview of the Act As offences like email spoofing,
morphing, cyber stalking, and defamation are not covered by the law and do not carry a criminal
penalty.

REFERENCES
  Vakul Sharma and Sheema Sharma “Information Technology practice” 6th Edition, 2018
Universal Law Publishing Co.(lexis negis)

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
364283596_crime_against_children_in_cyber_space_in_india_a_snapshot

 https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/cyber-crimes-against-children/

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
348191254_crime_against_children_in_cyber_world

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
349718092_Cyber_Crime_and_Children_in_Digital_Era

 https://www.ijlmh.com/child-pornography-on-social-media-and-related-crime/

 http://www.penacclaims.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Bhawna-Sharma.pdf

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY
DR. DEBABRATA BARAL RAHUL JAIN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PH.D SCHOLAR

BENNETT UNIVERSITY L22SOLP0013 – JAN 2023 INTAKE