Cayman joins fight against online child porn

(CNS): With the launch today of a dedicated web portal, residents of the Cayman Islands can now quickly and easily report, anonymously if they wish, websites or social media pages that carry pornographic pictures of children. The portal can be accessed though a number of local websites, including all of Cayman News Service’s sites. The initiative, which is now active in all British overseas territories, is spearheaded by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK-based charity, and managed locally through the RCIPS.

The web portal has a very specific function, which is to report child sexual abuse imagery, or child pornography, of a child or young person under the age of 17. It is not to report adult pornography, which is not illegal, or other forms of child abuse, including sexual abuse, which should be reported to the RCIPS (or CrimeStoppers to remain anonymous).

“Child pornography is a depiction of child sexual abuse, and every time these images are viewed, there is a re-victimisation of a child. This is an initiative where everyone can work together to remove such images from the internet,” said Detective Superintendent Mike Cranswick, who is heading the project in the Cayman Islands.

He said there was no indication that pornographic images of children had been produced here in Cayman or that any children in the Cayman Islands were victims, but, he said, “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

Once reported to the IWF, the images are viewed by experts who evaluate them for child sexual abuse content and then liaise with international law enforcement to remove that content from the internet. The RCIPS will also be working with the Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) and internet service providers to eventually be able to block access to illegal sites from within the Cayman Islands as part of the prevention and disruption strategy.

Cranswick said that people might come across such content while they were browsing. “We want them to know that there is something positive they can do when they see this online – they can report it and they can report it completely anonymously.”

He stressed that they will not be investigating those people who see it and report it, as it is accepted that people can stumble across such content while surfing the internet without intentionally looking for child porn.

Once reported to the IWF, the images are viewed by experts who evaluate them for child sexual abuse content and then liaise with international law enforcement to remove that content from the internet.

In the UK the portal has been highly successful, Cranswick noted at a press briefing Wednesday. When the IWF receives reports of child porn, those website have been removed from the internet within two hours, he said. They also work with agencies to identify the children depicted and report their findings to local law enforcement agencies.

Harriet Lester, the IWF’s Technical Projects Officer working with the RCIPS, said, “The launch of the Reporting Portal in the Cayman Islands and across the UK overseas territories is a huge step toward our mission to remove child abuse images and video (sometimes known as child pornography) from the internet completely. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re looking forward to helping the Cayman Islands make its corner of the internet a safer place.”

Child sexual abuse imagery is the current preferred term for this crime, however the term ‘child pornography’ is what is used in local Cayman Islands law — see Penal Code (2013 Revision), section 228B, C, D. “Child pornography is child abuse, quite simply,” Cranswick said.

In the Cayman Islands the penalty for possessing child porn is 15 years imprisonment, and for transmitting, distributing or selling child pornography is 25 years.

As of today, the IWF Portal is now available on the following websites of law enforcement, government agencies, media, service providers and not-for-profit organisations:

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service
Ministry of Education
Department of Education
Department of Family and Children’s Services
Youth Services Unit
Cayman Islands Immigration Department
Department of Community Rehabilitation
Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA)
Digicel
Flow
Cayman Islands Red Cross
Cayman Islands Crisis Centre
Cayman News Service
Cayman 27
Cayman Reporter
Cayman Weekly
iNews
Loop