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News
- The SC emphasised that law must find ways to deal with online abuse of children
Important facts
- Physical violence against children is not the only type of abuse, but psychological violence through online sources are also forms of abuse and violence against children.
- In past two years there has been 1,575 incidents involving children in online abuse (involved pornography, cyber bullying, or online games like Blue Whale )
- The direct and indirect economic costs are larger because such abuse undermines the long-term potential of victims and societies.
- India on online abuse
- In 2016 report by UNICEF India said, the issue has received very little attention and is not included in National Crime Records Bureau statistics as a separate category.
- No separate law to curb, it is being administered by POCSO Act, 2012 and Juvenile Justice (care and protection of children) Act, 2015
- There is not enough forensic capacity to investigate online offences and inadequate cooperation by India for investigating international offences.
- Steps being taken
- Google has announced that it is employing a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to combat online spreading of content involving child sexual abuse.
- AI technology
- It is a branch of computer science that aims to create intelligent machines. Research associated with AI is highly technical and specialized.
- It will help service providers, NGOs and other tech firms to improve child sexual abuse material detection and reduce human reviewers’ exposure to the content.
All the stakeholders need to make a collective effort, including service providers, content providers, civil society and regulatory authorities, family and schools to help redress the online abuse and protect young lives.
