Article Author:
Canadian Press
Brieanna Charlebois
VANCOUVER — Brought by the COVID-19 pandemic The massive shifts made online coincided with the so-called "sexual fraud" boom, new data from Statistics Canada suggests.
Experts are calling for more regulation, education and law enforcement as authorities aim to educate young people and parents about online sex crimes.
Sexual assault, or sexual assault, threatens to distribute private, often sexually explicit material online if the victim does not normally comply with financial demands. It occurs when you do.
Almost 10 years ago, a video explaining 15-year-old Amanda Todd in Port Coquitram, British Columbia, was suffering from anonymous cyberbullying using flashcards. After posting, it caught the public's attention when she committed suicide. It has been viewed over 14 million times.
Her alleged harassment by Dutch citizen Aidin Coban began in British Columbia. June Supreme Court.
He pleaded not guilty to blackmail, harassment, communication with young people to commit sexual crimes, and possession and distribution of child pornography. He had not been charged with Todd's death.
Closing arguments for the case wrapped earlier this week, and the jury is currently discussing it.
Signy Arnasson, Deputy Managing Director of the Center for Child Protection in Canada, said the problem had grown exponentially after Todd died in October 2012.
"I'm out of control," she said. In an interview.
Police across the country have warned the general public about sexual assault scams targeting young people.
"Unfortunately, police around the world have tragically seen some of these incidents end with the deaths of their victims," said Nova Scotia RCMP Internet Child Exploitation Unit. Cpl. Mark Sovieraji said in a news release last week. "We encourage parents and guardians to discuss potential dangers with their children and emphasize that they can come to you for help."
According to Statistics Canada data released Tuesday, police-reported extortion cases in Canada have increased by nearly 300% over the past decade, but crime has increased significantly during the pandemic.
Incidents of non-consensual distribution of intimate images involving adult or child victims increased by 194 cases in 2021, up 9% from the previous year and 52% compared to the previous five. Increased-annual average.
"The increase in these concerns is being driven by social media platforms and other electronic service providers," Lianna McDonald, Managing Director of the Center for Child Protection in Canada, said in a news release. "It must be a wake-up call."
Cybertip, a national tipline for reporting child sexual abuse online. "We received an unprecedented amount of reports from young people and sometimes worried parents about being a prey to aggressive extortion tactics," said ca. 300 online blackmail cases a month.
Wayne McKay, Professor Emeritus of Law at Dalhousie University, said the increase could be partially explained by awareness of cybercrime and better crackdowns, but a notable study. According to the report, sexual abuse of children online is often not reported.
Cyber tip in July. A review of 322 sex cases received by ca found that if gender was known, 92% of them were related to boys or young men.
"This review also showed a new tactic in which victims were sent nude images of their children from the person behind the fake account. After that, the criminal was the victim. Threatens to report victims to police, claiming they have child sexual abuse material. Demand for money will continue soon, "the Child Protection Center said in a news release this week.
David Fraser, an internet and privacy lawyer at McInnes Cooper, a Canadian law firm in Halifax, said that the main reason some young people may not come forward is He said it was because he believed he could be charged with child pornography. Of their own image. He said this was a widespread misunderstanding, sometimes even among law enforcement agencies.
"You need to be very careful with the messages you send to youth, making sure there is a place where youth can go safely and get support before things get worse. To do that, "says Fraser.
He quoted a 2001 Canadian Supreme Court ruling that established an exception to "personal use" of child pornography provisions. Young people do not portray illegal sexual activity, are for private use only, and have the right to create their own intimate images as long as they are created with the consent of the people in the images. Stated.
Fraser wants to increase police resources and education on this issue.
"I generally see the police adopting existing laws and lacking the skills and ability to translate them into an online context," he said.
"Extortion is the extortion of someone by threatening to disclose the nude photos they were forced to provide, or the extortion of someone through other forms of conventional extortion.
Molly Reynolds, a lawyer at Torys LLP in Toronto, said the number of her civil lawsuits over sexual abuse has increased significantly.
"Demand is huge. It was a crisis at least 10 years ago and we are just beginning to understand it more broadly across Canada," she said. "Many people still can't get the police attention when they report this criminal activity."
She is an adult victim who knows the criminal. He said civil courts tended to be a better option for him.
"If there is a possibility of a child pornography crime as well as a non-consensual distribution crime or a voyeur crime, it is more likely that a law enforcement agency will respond," she said. Said.
"(Children) can get better service through criminal proceedings in a sense, while adults often have to resort to civil proceedings."
Darren Laua, chief training officer at White Hatter, an education company for Internet security and digital literacy, said the law has not kept pace with technological advances.
He uses existing images and videos to create fake but reliable video footage, the so-called deepfake, which eliminates the need for coercors to force people to act explicitly. Therefore, he said that it would create new challenges.
"In reality, people are taking advantage of technology and sometimes trying to use it as a weapon. That's the problem of deepfake. Deepfake is especially technology. I think it will be a weapon when it comes to sexual abuse using ”, said Laur, a former Victorian military sergeant.
Reynolds agreed, but said he didn't think the law could "keep up with technology and the harm it could cause."
"I think the courts have a really big role to play in interpreting what we already have and evolving it in the same way that technical risks evolve. We need to make it easier for people, whether civil or civil, to bring these proceedings to court and test their boundaries, "she said.
McDonald's, along with the Canadian Child Protection Center, has begun calling for more regulation on social media companies such as Snapchat and Instagram. It turns out that most of the harm to children is occurring in this organization.
"This is an ever-growing problem, and the question is what these companies are doing to keep their children safe. It happens. It's unbelievable that adult strangers can reach and target children directly without any impact, "she said in a news release Thursday. rice field.
Laur said he has been asking for years to establish an online regulatory body like Australia's eSafety Commissioner.
"They basically have a blueprint for how to do this," he said. "In our country, we need something similar here."
The Department of Canadian Heritage said in a statement that the federal government "currently includes the possibility of establishing a regulatory body." We are developing an approach to address harmful content online. "
As part of this process, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said, "We are currently holding roundtables across Canada to hear from victims of online damage, including children and adolescents." Stated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 6, 2022.
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