Tech Shout!

Software giant, Microsoft has teamed up with the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and the Interpol to fight online child abuse that is a sad but rampant activity in India. The International Police Force (Interpol) is also training officers in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on preventing and prosecuting online crimes against children in India.

According to Rakesh Bakshi, Director, Legal and Corporate affairs, Microsoft India, “Our effort is to implement Microsoft’s internet safety initiatives focused on protecting the public from the growing Internet threats, including malicious code, botnets, spam, online fraud, and other cyber attacks. The course topics range from malicious software, phishing, Botnet attacks, advanced Windows/XP Forensics, Windows Vista Security Enhancements, and log analysis to specific methods used by predators to facilitate crimes against children, like the use of technology to look for victims through newsgroups, chat rooms, and email and global sharing of abusive images of children through the Net.”

In fact around 50 CBI officers, besides law enforcement officials from Tanzania, Nepal, China, Italy and Cambodia are now attending the training course that is being conducted at the moment in Ghaziabad and Thiruvanathapuram.

For those who are unaware about the rampant online child abuse that takes place all over the world, here is what ICMEC senior program manager Guill-ermo Galarza Abizaid, had to say about this shocking cycle, “Till 2006, we have registered 3,50,000 reports of pornography cases through our Cyber Tip helpline.” Abizaid is in India to actually train the officers in Ghaziabad and Thiruvanathapuram.

What is more shocking to know is that at the moment the Indian legislation on cyber sex crimes against children is extremely fuzzy. Vidya Reddy, who works at the Chennai-based TULIR-Centre for Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse said, “There are three reasons why drastic measures are needed. Child sex tourism, which has increased in India, following crackdowns in Sri Lanka and Thailand; increasingly younger Internet users; and our social milieu where children are not taken seriously on such matters.”

Here is where the tracking of such unacceptable online trades comes in. Microsoft’s Rakesh Bakshi says that Microsoft will be monitoring IP hits and behavioral patterns of MSN, Hotmail and Messenger units. Bakshi says, “There are no statistics in India that measure the gravity of the crime, but cyber crimes have overall increased by 38.6 per cent in 2005. We hope to create awareness that will impel legislation.”

Rakesh Bakshi also pointed out that after a pilot training program for the CBI and the police in Kerela, Microsoft plans to extend the program to other states in India. Besides, Microsoft also has plans to work with non-governmental organizations and other agencies to educate parents and children alike, about the risks to children on the Internet.