Widening the net on online abuse

Widening the net on online abuse

PETALING JAYA: The proposed expansion of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act to deal with online sexual exploitation should address “intangible elements” of such abuses by predators from overseas, say legal experts.

Litigation lawyer Daljit Singh cited the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Bill which seeks to grant Ofcom (Office of Communications), the regulatory authority for telecommunications, more powers to ensure technology companies take action to identify, remove and prevent users from encountering content related to child sexual exploitation and abuse.

“This is needed because online sexual offences against children are very creative. As such, the United Kingdom is putting the burden on the social media network provider/controller to check and then ‘crack the whip’ against them,” he said.

Daljit also cited a Jan 1 report in the Daily Mail about British cops probing a virtual rape in the metaverse.

Apparently, the teenage girl’s digital character was gang raped by online strangers.

Daljit said there could be repercussions beyond the virtual realm, thus causing much harm to victims, especially children who may not fully understand the situation.

Such rape or sexual offences may not necessarily be physical but the emotional and psychological impact would stay with the victim, he said.

Thus, the law could cover such provisions, he added.

On Monday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the government was looking into expanding the Act to tackle the issue of online sexual exploitation of Malaysian children by people residing abroad.

This was aimed at providing better protection for Malaysian minors regardless of the geographical location of the perpetrators.

At present, Section 3 of the Act provides for action against Malaysian perpetrators for their offences against a child who is abroad as though “the offence was committed at any place within Malaysia.”

Lawyer Datuk Wan Azmir Wan Majid said that another country could reciprocate the law by agreement.

“They can allow cross-border enforcement and exchange of information; extradition laws work on this basis,” he said.

Assoc Prof Dr Selvakumar Manickam said the proposed expansion of the Act to deal with online sexual exploitation of children demands a critical look since it is about safeguarding youngsters.

The Universiti Sains Malaysia cybersecurity expert said it was imperative that there are stringent measures requiring Internet service providers to actively monitor and restrict access to harmful websites and content.

“This necessitates the implementation of robust filtering mechanisms at the network level to bolster overall online safety,” he said.

Selvakumar said the Act must also ensure that social media platforms were held accountable by mandating the strict enforcement of zero-tolerance policies against any form of child sexual exploitation.