Thu, May 04, 2000 page2

• Chinese Web site helps to crack down on child porn

  CYBER CRIME An NGO is spearheading efforts to put an end to child pornography on the Internet, a move officials said would help them bring to justice those who profit from the sexual exploitation of youngsters

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  In an effort to help authorities crack down on Internet pornography, a non-governmental organization yesterday officially launched the world's first Chinese Web site devoted to monitoring online porn.

  The group also appealed to lawmakers for official support, and proposed the possibility of enacting a new law that would help them better protect users from pornography.

  "The recent advances in Internet technology have made the accessibility of information more convenient, but at the same time more threatening," said Ruth Kao (高李麗珍), a committee member from the End Child Prostitution Association of Taiwan (中華民國終止童妓協會), at a press conference yesterday.

  

  The End Child Prostitution Association of Taiwan yesterday promoted its Web site to monitor online porn. To date the site has had 110,000 hits and received over 7,500 tip-offs from Web surfers giving information about sites hosting illegal pornography.

  PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  "We hope to combine our efforts with those of the general public and the media, to put an end to such cyber crime," she said.

  Citing recent news coverage concerning online child porn vendors, Kao said she was stunned to learn how easy it is to purchase pornographic products. She also wondered how vendors dared to boast about featuring underage girls aged between nine and 15.

  On Tuesday, New Party City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) held a press conference to condemn the sexual exploitation of youngsters in Taiwan, and asked municipal police to thoroughly investigate cases of child porn being sold over the Internet -- and to jail those found responsible for conducting such business.

  KMT legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said yesterday that she was startled to learn the news that the offender's Web site address was identical to that which she disclosed at the legislature about six months ago.

  "It changed its look, but hasn't change much in terms of content -- except perhaps that it's even more disgusting," she said.

  Lu said that it would take determination to make a crackdown successful.

  "To eliminate child pornography, continuous joint efforts are important. We need to continue the task until they are so sick and tired of it that they eventually throw in the towel," Lu said.

  She added that online child pornography can only get worse if it is not regulated, because over 200 new Web sites are being created every day, and there are an estimated 80,000 Web sites containing obscenity worldwide.

  Zoe Cherng (程文燕), public relations manager at Microsoft Taiwan Corp (台灣微軟公司), proposed the enactment of a new law that would require Web server applicants to install a context-rating software system before they are granted an operating license.

  KMT lawmaker Chen Shei-saint (陳學聖) praised the association's endeavor, and proposed a copy of the document be sent to the municipal police for his personal reference so he could monitor the effectiveness of the police crackdown efforts at the legislature.

  The new anti-pornography Web site started operations on July 21, 1999. As of April 26, it had attracted 110,000 hits and received over 7,520 e-mail tip-offs informing the group of sites hosting potentially illegal content.

  Of the 7,520 tip-offs, 64 sites were finally proved to be hosting child pornography. Details of 25 were later sent to the municipal police for further investigation and the remaining 49 to related authorities overseas.

  According to the latest data released by the municipal police department, the number of Net crimes recorded as of April this year totaled 12, eight of which were pornography-related, and five of which were found in violation of the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act (兒童及少年性交易防治制條例).

  The group also found that the three search engines with the most links to porn-related materials are Hello, PcHome, and TacoCity. Since its establishment, the operation has also grown in size from one computer and one volunteer to a total of 10 computers and 490 volunteers.

  The group now offers free 22-hour training course programs.

  Those interested can call 02-2365-8515 or visit the Web site http://www.web547.org.tw
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