Child porn crackdown: MPs want digital trace on devices

NEWDELHI: A committee of parliamentarians drawn up to suggest ways to combat spread of child pornographyhasrecommended digital messagingandsocialnetworking service providers be madetobypassend-to-endencryptiontotrackdownsuspectsand all devices sold in India must have new software that detects attempts to access such content.

Thesuggestionscoverlegislative, technical, social, institutionaland educational interventionssuchasmakingintermediaries — companies like Facebook that runs WhatsApp and Google that owns Gmail — adhere to a codeofconducttomaketheinternet safer for children and for changes to existing laws that make punishment harsher for convicts and gives the government more powers to block suspectonlinecontent.“It(the committee) also feels that the PM should take the lead in building up a global political alliance to combat child pornography on socialmediaalongthelinesofthe initiative he took to create the

InternationalSolarAlliance. 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.

Thecommitteehasalsourged PM Narendra Modi to flag the issue of child pornography and themeasuresrequiredtocombat itinhisradiobroadcastMannKi Baat and that there must be “mandatory apps on all devices sold in India that monitors children’s access to pornographic content”.