MPs suggest app to monitor access to child porn online

NEWDELHI: A committee of parliamentarians drawn up to suggest ways to combat spread of child pornography has recommended digital messaging and social networking service providers be made to bypass end-to-end encryption to track down suspects and all devices sold in India must have new software that detects attempts to access such content.

The suggestions cover legislative, technical, social, institutional and educational interventions such as making intermediaries – companies like Facebook that runs WhatsApp and Google that owns Gmail – adhere to a code of conduct to make the internet safer for children and for changes to existing laws that make punishment harsher for convicts and gives the government more powers to block suspect online content.

“It (the committee) also feels that the Prime Minister should take the lead in building up a global political alliance to combat child pornography on social media along the lines of the initiative he took to create the International Solar Alliance. He could do this either at the G-20 or at the United Nations,” said the report that was submitted to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah

Naidu on Saturday. The committee has also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to flag the issue of child pornography and the measures required to combat it in his radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat and that there must be “mandatory apps on all devices sold in India that monitors children’s access to pornographic content”.

The 14-member committee, led by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, was set up in December by Naidu after some members voiced concern over widespread misuse of social media for accessing pornographic content and child abuse. The committee met with stakeholders such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and ShareChat. Among the other recommendations is introducing new provisions in POCSO act to punish anyone who reaches out to a child with the intent of – whether personally or on behalf of someone else – sexual assault.

A third key recommendation was to amend the information technology law to punish people letting children access or pornography or those that play a part in sharing pornographic content involving children. Campaigns in schools to dissuade risky sexual behaviour such as sexting, a new tip line and cooperation with foreign countries to track down illegal sexual content on platforms on dark web were among other significant suggestions.