BENGALURU: Even though there are stringent regulations against child pornography under the Information Technology Act, it continues to be violated on a daily basis.
Experts believe that it would be hard to curb the same, unless either web sites are blocked or behavioural changes are brought about among the people. Considering the volume of search conducted online, it is almost impossible to flag all such searches and initiate action against such pedophiles, they said.
According to a study conducted two years ago, India ranked third in terms of search for child porn online, said Dr Nagarathna, In-charge of Cyber Law Centre at the National Law School of India University. “It is very easily accessible and authorities are having a hard time shutting preteen erotica web sites down, as the sites are hosted from different parts of the world,” she said.
Googling a Crime
Vijayashankar Naavi, cyber security expert said that even searching for child porn online would amount to an offence under Section 67B of the IT Act. Anything related to child pornography are punishable offences, he said.
Over 20 per cent of such pornography is largely sold online within closed groups and chat rooms. Sources in the Cyber Cell of the State Police said it was hard to prevent or track people who search or buy child porn online, because of the sheer volume of searches made every second.
Pirated porn
Pirated pornography has been accessible to people in the form of VCDs and DVDs for many years. With the inception of low cost technology, the consumption of porn has shifted from physically buying a pirated CD to just sharing it from a device to another and online transfer.
With inputs from Ajay Parihar