Child maltreatment and the Internet

The National Child Protection Clearinghouse is presently investigating issues associated with child maltreatment and the Internet. This paper will report on the current state of knowledge about this problem and present recommendations in relation to Australian primary and secondary preventive responses.

The Internet provides an additional medium through which some commonly recognised forms of child abuse may be pursued, as well as adding new concerns about the potential for abuse. Examples of areas of concern include the sexual exploitation of children, the use of children in the making of pornographic material to be distributed through the Internet, the use of the Internet to promote child sexual tourism and child slavery, and the exposure of children to material on the Internet which is inappropriate for their age and understanding, such as sexually explicit and pornographic content, 'adult' e-commerce, violent material and racial hate material.

This investigation suggests that the extent of material which is abusive, and can be accessed by children, is a significant problem which is largely overlooked by the community. The potential for harm can arise where offensive material is accessed by children who already have significant relationship problems. In addition, there is very little understanding about the impact of multiple exposure to sexual and offensive material on the large number of Australian children who regularly use the Internet. Other implications of this exposure are yet to be raised and discussed in Australia, such as the responsibility of schools who now promote, and sometimes require, the use of the Internet by children.

Review of the literature suggests that current prevention strategies are not protecting many children in Australia from maltreatment through the Internet. This paper will outline a range of feasible prevention measures which could be adopted in Australia. Such measures include moving the Internet industry from the current position of self-regulation to a system of accreditation and government regulation, an awareness and education campaign about the risks associated with the Internet and the establishment of a national child exploitation law enforcement agency.

Introduction

The 'Internet revolution' promises many beneficial changes to our way of life, some of which, particularly in the areas of education and research, are being fulfilled (Slattery 2001: 13). However, what has been largely unforseen, and is still little acknowledged, is the potential for harm to some children who use the Internet. This paper reviews the nature of the risks to children and current understanding of the potential adverse impacts on children exposed to these risks. Prevention initiatives are outlined and recommendations given about areas where future prevention initiatives could be developed. A review of this subject is to be published as the National Child Protection Clearinghouse Issues Paper No.15. An outline of the conference paper is given below.

The nature and use of the Internet in Australia

The last few years has seen a rapid uptake of the Internet in Australia, such that 47% of children aged between five and 14 years currently use the Internet (kiDs.ap 2001).

Child abusive and child exploitative aspects of the Internet and their impact

The paper will review the types of risks to which children may be exposed on the Internet, and the use of the Internet as a medium to support and facilitate communication between offenders. The paper will address:

There has been very little research undertaken on how children are impacted by attempted sexual solicitation and exposure to offensive sexual and violent material and explicit sexual information. Research in the US has found that approximately a quarter of the children studied (aged ten to 17 years), who had been solicited for sexual intent, reported being extremely upset or afraid, the younger children (ten to 13 years) showing a greater adverse impact (Finkelhor et al. 2000). It is not known how extensive exposure to offensive material, or indeed to adult sexual material, may disturb a child's understanding of human relationships.

Prevention initiatives, with particular reference to those currently in use in Australia

The paper will outline the range of prevention initiatives currently in place and give consideration to their effectiveness. The following topics will be covered:

Recommendations in relation to prevention initiatives in Australia

The authors suggest that many of the prevention opportunities in relation to child maltreatment and the Internet reflect prevention initiatives in other areas of child maltreatment. As the Internet is currently dominated by the needs of adults, it is important to create awareness about the child abusive aspects of the Internet and to establish a philosophy within the Internet media that gives primacy to the welfare of children.

Conclusions

The authors suggest that the technological developments in relation to the Internet and the speed of absorption of the Internet media into Australian homes, schools and workplaces, has left children vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Unlike the awareness of the need to protect children from inappropriate television programs and the danger of strangers on the street, there appears to be a gap in parental knowledge about the extent of infiltration of offensive and inappropriate material on the Internet. The apparent high levels of exposure of children to this material suggests that the present prevention options are not adequately addressing the problem. It would appear that there is a need for the development and adoption of a broad range of prevention programs, with initiatives being undertaken by the government, including law enforcement agencies, voluntary and pressure groups, the Internet Industry and web-based commercial industries, schools, and parents.

Selected references

Aftab, P. (2000), The parent's guide to protecting your children in cyberspace, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Arnaldo, C. A. (2001), Child abuse on the Internet: Ending the silence, UNESCO Publishing, Berghahn Books.

Carlsson, U. and von Feilitzen, C. (1998), (Eds.), Children and media violence, The UNESCO International Clearinghouse on Children and Violence on the Screen, Göteborg.

Finkelhor, D., Mitchell, K. J., Wolak, J. (2000), Online victimization: A report on the nation's youth, Crimes Against Children Research Centre, online, www.missingkids.com, June.

Forde, P. and Patterson, A. (1998), Paedophile Internet activity. Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, No. 97, Australian Institute of Criminology, ACT.

Dr Janet Stanley and Dr Adam Tomison National Child Protection Clearinghouse Australian Institute of Family Studies