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To reduce cases of online child abuse in the country, the Department of Justice (DOJ) with the help of telecommunication companies will be blocking pornographic sites in most computers, tablets, and smartphones.
On Wednesday, October 29, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima said that the government is partnering with the private sector in order to come up with a system that will filter adult contents on home computers, phones, and public Wi-Fi networks.
During the Public-Private Roundtable Dialogue on Areas of Collaboration to Stop Online Child Abuse in Makati City, De Lima explained: “Mindful of our laws and our policy targets as a member of the Global Alliance, we can devise ways to combat online child sexual abuse effectively and in a manner consistent with our democratic principles.”
Filtering Software
Meanwhile, DOJ Cybercrime Office Head Geronimo Sy said that they will be producing a filtering software that would block sites with child sexual abuse content.
“We’re coming up with a filtering software… [but] because of the volume (of child sex abuse content), it is not humanly possible to do it. So it has to be something that’s automated, an available algorithm that if it shows certain banned sites worldwide, that site should not be accessed, ” he said.
Online Child Abuse: A Leading Cybercrime in PH
The DOJ secretary revealed that online child abuse is a top cybercrime in the country. De Lima said that there are about 200 cases of online child abuse since 2013 based on the records of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Philippine National Police (PNP).
De Lima stressed that the government needs the help of other stakeholders in order to combat this problem.
“It cannot be solved by government alone because of the multivalent nature of this crime, which is carried out through Internet service providers and transacted using financial institutions, and which needs to be combated with effective information campaigns in schools, churches and media.”
