Singapore Parliament discuss the Net Paedophile Threat

It was reported in the Singapore Straits Times on Tuesday 17th May (page 3) that the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Lee Boon Yang informed parliament that in 2004, there had been eight reported cases of internet related sex cases involving victims under 16 years of age. Such statistics are disturbing as one can only guess how many offences go unreported. Nevertheless, it is most heartening that even though this problem is a difficult issue to manage properly, members of parliament nevertheless were compelled to raise their concerns publicly about how such dangerous threats should be dealt with. Parliament was assured that the laws will be enforced strictly as well as training programmes for children to deal with such threats online. Newly minted teachers will be trained to become online mentors for teenagers. It was also reported that the Ministry will also consider monitoring chatlines and other media and work with the police in prosecuting these offenders.

While such efforts cannot deter a determined paedophile (and not a solution that will sit well with everyone – especially privacy advocates) it will – as I had submitted earlier here in previous posts – cause them to think twice before they commit any sexual crimes. They will never know if the table has been turned on them in a sting by the authorities.