Are PLDT and Globe enabling transmission of online sexual exploitation of children?
INTerNeT service providers (ISPs) such as PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines and thousands around the world must be challenged and held accountable for allegedly failing to block effectively, with the latest artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled software, the transmission of child pornography and the heinous crime of online sexual exploitation of children live streamed to paying pedophiles around the globe. Child abuse and pornography are international crimes and need a local and international response. Globe is planning to expand to europe, but we will campaign against it if there is no change.
The Philippines has been named as the world hot spot for child pornography and online sexual exploitation of children. Only a few weeks ago, 13 more children were rescued from cybercrime dens in Biliran, home for under-investigated clerical sexual abuse, where an American priest, Kenneth Pius hendricks and others, sexually abused children for decades.
The ISPs must be held accountable for failing to obey and fully respect republic Act (rA) 9775, the “Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009,” by installing up-to-date effective blocking software in their servers. This is the only effective answer to the rampant widespread child pornography “pandemic” sweeping the Philippines and the world.
Globe informed me that after 11 years of failing to comply with the law, they installed in 2017 DNS software to block websites that they know contain child porn and said they depend on the Department of Justice to inform them of such websites. This is most likely a category-based and very simple and cheap software. It is most likely to be very ineffective since there are daily streams of child porn passing through Globe servers and those of PLDT. The illegal and horrific images of little children being sexually abused live on the internet are capable of reaching the computers, tablets and smartphones of Filipinos and pedophiles abroad as detected by international law enforcers.
As Globe tells me, there are new child porn websites to quickly replace the old. That’s because they have outdated, ineffective cheap DNS software. What they should have, and they know it, is real time, AI-based software. This continues to crawl the worldwide internet for signals and sites promoting child porn and live streaming. It detects instantly and continues to update in real time by machine learning using AI. No human employees needed, it is strong, and lives forever once installed as a high-tech expert from Zyalin software company informed me since they design such effective software.
PLDT/Smart has responded, informing me that to meet their requirements under rA 9775, a 2009 law where they are required to install software to block child pornography, but have not done so for 11 years, they are proposing a solution to the government to act, not them. “We have been suggesting that the government consider the use of a technology solution developed by Microsoft for this purpose.” Also they said in a letter to me: “For example, at this point, it is not possible for ISPs to selectively block bad content being live-streamed via global internet platforms. If Philippine ISPs attempt to do this, the entire global internet platform will be blocked.” ( See
Lettertoeditoronpage6.-ed.) This is totally wrong as companies with powerful AI blocking software can do it.
PLDT/Smart and Globe can stop the horrible sex crimes against children and prevent them from happening. They must obey the law and install the latest effective blocking filters. Why do they not have the latest most effective child porn blocking software? Because it will slow down their network, that’s why. Because customers will have to wait a few seconds longer to connect and might switch to a rival ISP. really it is about greed and money, not about children being raped and abused over the ISPs servers. Perhaps, they have some sweetheart deal with the National Telecommunications Commission to ignore the law and pay a small fine for not complying.
If President rodrigo Duterte is the strong-minded, iron-fisted champion of law and order and child protection, to save the nation, he will act bravely and decisively order the ISPs like PLDT/Smart and Globe to obey rA 9775. I believe that he is already planning to do this.
rA 9557, under Section 9, says: “The duties of internet [service] providers (ISPs) are to monitor the content passing through their servers, notify the police of illegal content and provide the authorities the particulars of users who gained or attempted to gain access to an internet address which contains any form of child pornography. All ISPs shall install available technology, program or software to ensure access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography will be blocked or filtered.”
rA 10175, the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012,” also bans cybersex and child pornography, among other things. President Duterte can raise his huge popularity, now at 72 percent, if he will recommend a swift amendment to the law that will increase the penalty for the ISPs for non-compliance to P10 million a day until they fully comply with the law and install the most effective and efficient child porn AI based blocking software. The fines paid can be given to the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help child victims. The law can back-fine the ISPs for violating the law for 11 years, at a million pesos a day.
As you read this, thousands of young Filipinos are exposed to damaging, disturbing and psychologically harmful content passed through the ISP servers on the internet. These are illegal graphic images on home-made videos of young children — girls and boys — being sexually raped and abused. Your child could be viewing these terrible videos and pictures without your knowledge. You can be sure they won’t tell you and you will never know but might notice disturbing changes in their personality and character.
You might think it is caused by drugs but think now, it’s child pornography. Their teenage peers download them and share them through the internet, enabled by the ISPs. Some teenagers also make child pornography videos of their own sexual abuse of young girls and boys and share these with classmates or gang-mates or upload them on YouTube. They extort sexual favors and money from underage victims by threatening to post the videos. A young uncle of two small children abused them and uploaded the child sexual abuse on YouTube possibly through Globe or PLDT or their subsidiary. he is now charged with child abuse and cybersex abuse of children.
hundreds of children are sexually abused daily and ISPs go free — for now.
This online sexual exploitation of children through the ISPs must change. Globe and PLDT/Smart must obey rA 9775. every day, more children are sexually abused and damaged and it could be your child. It is time to act and hold the ISPs accountable for 11 years of disobeying the law and allowing thousands of acts of abuse over their servers.