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Prostitution finds home in Web logs

Members of the Child Welfare League Foundation perform a skit as the foundation published a report on Web sites with violent, pornographic or other content that may be harmful to children that can be accessed through Taiwanese Internet portals. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

As personal Web logs gain popularity among young people, the End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism-Taiwan (ECPAT) has warned that prostitution rings are increasingly using this medium to solicit buisness.

“A growing number of people are receiving prostitution-related information from messages posted on the message board found on Web logs,” ECPAT secretary-general Lee Li-fen (李麗芬) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

“Some pimps post pictures of sexy girls in online photo albums and leave their contact information,” she said.

ECPAT investigations have shown that 1.4 percent of known prostitution cases used personal Web logs or online forums in 2005. That figure grew to 1.5 percent in 2006 and 5.7 percent last year, Lee said.

“The number is 3.8 percent already from January to May this year,” she said.

Another survey conducted by the Children’s Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) found that inappropriate information related to sex and violence was common on the country’s major Internet portals.

The foundation monitored popular Internet portals and online forums including Yahoo, MSN, Wretch, PCHome, Yam, Hinet, Xuite, Wefong and Gamer between 4:30pm to 6pm every day between June 1 and June 30.

“We found on these Web sites words like ‘how to have exciting sex in the car,’ ‘late night live sex’ and images of women wearing only bras or ads for sex toys. There were no restrictions,” CWLF executive director Alicia Wang (王育敏) said.

“Aside from sex-related messages, we also discovered violent movie preview clips — which are restricted on TV but are broadcast freely over the Internet,” she said.

A comparison of Yahoo sites in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, the US and the UK showed that the Taiwanese site had the most inappropriate content.

“We logged onto Yahoo sites simultaneously at 4pm on June 23 and found two descriptions with words hinting at sex on Yahoo Taiwan, one on Yahoo China, but none on other countries’ Yahoo sites,” Wang said. “The Yahoo Taiwan site also had two images of women in their underwear, while none of the other Yahoo sites did.”

“Studies have shown that the more children and young adults view inappropriate material, the more likely they are to have twisted values,” Wang said.

“I call on all Internet content providers to be considerate and guard our children against such inappropriate Internet content,” she said.

As laws do not clearly stipulate which government agency is responsible for Internet content, “lawmakers should amend the laws, or create a cross-ministry body to take charge of Internet content,” Lee said.
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