Amanda Todd's sextortion case set a precedent, but more needs to be done, experts say

Aydin Coban guilty of "sextortion" in British Columbia Judgment teen Amanda Todd has prompted calls from lawyers and advocates for more regulation, resources and education in Canada to protect future victims.

Lianna McDonald, executive her director of the Canadian Center for Child Protection, said Todd's case served as a warning but Canada "did not take action." rice field.

“In retrospect, nothing has been done to actively address and actually address the issues that put children at risk every day. It is a platform that allows us to interact with children anytime, anywhere in a digital space that is not available,” she said in a statement.

Covan, a Dutch national, was convicted Saturday of charges of extortion, harassment, communicating with young people to commit sexual offenses, and possession and distribution of child pornography related to Todd. .

She was 15 when she committed suicide in 2012. After years of harassment from her social media accounts on 22, Crown's attorney said it was controlled by Cobain.

His sentencing hearing will be held in British Columbia. Supreme Court in September.

The jury's decision came days after Statistics Canada released data showing police-reported extortion cases had increased by nearly 300 percent over the past decade. Police across the country have also warned the public about a significant increase in sextortion scams targeting young people.

Monique St. Germain, general counsel for the Canadian Center for Child Protection, said the organization was "extremely satisfied" with Coban's ruling.

However, it is calling for greater regulation of social media companies such as Snapchat and Instagram.

"We need the government to step in and put some guardrails in the tech industry to ensure safer products hit the market," she said in an interview.

"I rely on the fact that when I take a child to the playground and play with the playground equipment, the manufacturer of the playground equipment had to comply with certain laws. We'll make it a safe structure for kids to play in. And that should be no different for the tech industry.”

Snapchat announced a new Canadian feature this week called Family Center in those conversations.

The Winnipeg-based Child Protection Center operates Cyber ​​tip, her Canadian tip line for reporting online child sexual abuse. It receives an "unprecedented volume of reports from young people and sometimes concerned parents about falling prey to aggressive sextortion tactics," accounting for about 300 online extortion cases a month. said to have reached

"Parents can't keep up. Police can't keep up," said St. Germain.

Todd's mother, Carol Todd, said her daughter's blackmail had become a global problem and needed to be better addressed by governments and law enforcement, she said. Told.

Her daughter's suicide drew international attention in 2012. Amanda her Todd had posted a video explaining that she was being harassed by an anonymous harasser using her flash card. It has been played about 15 million times.

Bill C-13, a law to protect Canadians from online crime, was first introduced in 2013 after Todd's death. It was intended to combat online harassment by making it illegal to distribute intimate images of individuals without their consent. At the time, Carol Todd criticized the bill's privacy-related provisions.

"It's been 10 years since Bill C-13 was introduced. It needs to be revised and the word sextortion needs to be put somewhere in the Penal Code." said Carol Todd in an interview Friday ahead of Coban's conviction. "That's what we're going to learn."

But David Fraser, an internet and privacy attorney at Halifax-based Canadian law firm McInnes Cooper, says that a new sextortion-focused He said there was no need to create a law.

He said the generalized law would give police more freedom to prosecute. This is because technological progress has far outpaced legislation. However, he identified two advantages for him in explicitly banning sextortion. It's clarity for law enforcement and awareness of the victims and the emotional pain they endured.

"Extortion done online is still criminal extortion," he said. "It's worth discussing, but shortly after Amanda Todd's death we said our law was good enough to handle it. It seems it was the legal system, not the law, that failed her."

Fraser said police often fail to translate existing laws into the online context and called for more resources and training for law enforcement agencies. said.

"Unfortunately, when Amanda Todd was alive, I don't think she had the will to investigate and prosecute her crimes," he said. "The fact that it worked here facilitates and facilitates perhaps a higher level of willingness to engage and pursue an investigation when the victim is in Canada and the perpetrator is likely outside the country.

Covan was extradited from the Netherlands to Canada in 2020. In the Netherlands, he had been convicted on allegations similar to the Todd case. He was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison in 2017 in Amsterdam for cyberbullying dozens of young girls and gay men.

Darren Laur, chief training officer at White Hatter, the Victorian-based internet safety and digital literacy education firm, said he wasn't surprised by the evidence-based ruling. He said he was pleased that a precedent had been established.

"It is gratifying that this conviction has led to the creation of sextortion-specific case law under existing extortion laws. The law was there. Case law upholding criminal law. We are waiting for the lawsuit to go to court to create ," said Laur.

"What many people do not understand is that criminal law statutes are drafted by governments and that it is the responsibility of the courts to interpret the statutes and that

A retired Victorian police sergeant, Mr Laur says he wants more police resources and more public education and virtual crime. I agreed with Mr. Fraser's request for understanding.

"Our police do not have the time, resources or training to investigate this type of crime," he said. “We also need to continue scaffolding and educating age-appropriate children about what this type of crime and other crimes are,”

the Canadian Heritage Agency said in a statement. , said the federal government is working to create approaches to combat harmful content online, including potential regulatory agencies.

"Canadians should be able to express themselves freely and openly without fear of being harmed online," the statement said. “The Government of Canada is committed to taking the time to resolve this issue and to continuing to engage Canadians, stakeholders and affected groups at all stages of the journey to bring legislation to the table as soon as possible.

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