SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES Monitoring Internet Child Pornography (ICP) in Malaysia
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Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (S2): 185 - 203 (2021) SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES Journal homepage: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/ Monitoring Internet Child Pornography (ICP) in Malaysia Nabilah Hani Ahmad Zubaidi Department of Law, Faculty of Law & International Relations, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), 21300, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia ABSTRACT Malaysian law enforcement authorities were previously at a disadvantage in monitoring and investigating ICP cases. They lacked online tools to detect ICP and other cases of child sexual exploitation and relied on information from their international counterparts. The discovery of Richard Huckle and Blake Johnston, two child sex offenders who abused Malaysian children, was only possible with information shared by Australia’s Argos Task Force and the US Homeland Security Investigations. While Malaysia currently practises information and intelligence exchange and collaboration in digital forensics, more action is needed to detect and monitor ICP activities. It is imperative for Malaysia to take all necessary steps to prevent, detect, investigate, punish, as well as address the root causes of ICP. This paper addresses this issue; it focuses on the dilemmas faced by Malaysian authorities in reducing the availability of ICP images and in deciding to prosecute offenders. It conducts an initial exploration of the ways in which authorities can protect children by proactively seeking out ICP images via a victim-identification database and blocking ICP images. The paper seeks to demonstrate that traditional policing methods, such as responding to citizen reports and image discovery through arrest and seizure, while still necessary, can be out-dated. Through semi-structured interviews with key-stakeholders from the Malaysian government and agencies, this study seeks to gain some insight into Malaysia’s implementation and enforcement experience in relation to ICP. The study suggests how the present-day policing response of ICP images can be realigned ARTICLE INFO to other key intermediaries on the internet. Article history: Received: 05 May 2020 Accepted: 12 March 2021 Keywords: Child pornography, detecting and Published: 17 May 2021 monitoring ICP material, enforcement of the law, DOI: https://doi.org/10.47836/pjssh.29.S2.13 Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 E-mail address: [email protected] ISSN: 0128-7702 e-ISSN 2231-8534 © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press Nabilah Hani Ahmad Zubaidi INTRODUCTION and control in the administrative structure The Sexual Offences Against Children of regulatory agencies, limited funding, Act 2017 (SOAC) represents a significant limited digital forensic investigation landmark in protecting children from experts, a lack of coordination between ICP offenders. It marks a departure from governmental law enforcement agencies criminalising child sexual abuse images and telecommunication companies, and through the more general obscenity- limitations in detecting and monitoring ICP based approach in the Penal Code, the crimes. These problems are highlighted Communications and Multimedia Act when, in 2018, Malaysia was revealed 1998 and the Child Act 2001. SOAC now to be one of the locations favoured by covers an unlimited representation of ICP pornographers to download, transmit, and 1 in various technologically-mediated forms. distribute ICP. This include pseudo pornographic imagery The paper focuses in examining issues in and virtual images of child sexual abuse, as the detection and monitoring of ICP crimes well as other forms of non-physical sexual in Malaysia. Law enforcers especially find crimes such as child sexual grooming. it difficult to detect ICP images in mobile Sections 5 - 10 under Part II of SOAC are applications with temporary recording the main provisions governing ICP. Another features such as media streaming and significance of SOAC is the provision of a private-browsing sessions. Furthermore, the specific working definition of ICP, which possession of ICP material in an individual’s was previously absent in other legislation. portable software is almost impossible for To ensure harmonisation between SOAC the authorities to detect, and identifying and other applicable provisions, cross- offenders is not clear-cut if ICP is found on referencing clauses are explicitly provided a computer used by multiple individuals. 2 in Schedule 1 to 5. The case of R v. Richard Huckle (2016) Although Malaysia is not short of good demonstrated how the dark web was used for legislation such as SOAC, the main problem illegal activities such as the transaction of is reported to lie in its implementation and child pornography imagery; an opportunity enforcement. Criminal sanctions alone are for offenders to evade police detection. 3 insufficient to deal with the problem and will According to a Sessions Court Judge: be ineffective if enforcement is weak. This 1 As reported in Malaysia’s mainstream media and is especially important because ICP crimes confirmed by the police, The Straits Times Asia. (2018, January 30). Malaysia Tops in South-east are clearly complex and time-consuming Asia for Online Child Pornography. Retrieved and often involve multiple jurisdictions. from https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/ RMP officers report some challenges faced malaysia-tops-in-south-east-asia-for-online-child- pornography. See also interview: Police Officer 1. and dilemmas encountered in detecting and 2 R. v. Richard Huckle London Central Criminal investigating ICP images on the internet. Court, Old Bailey (Unreported) 2016. These include a general lack of coordination 3 Interview: Judge 1. 186 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (S2): 185 - 203 (2021) Monitoring ICP Material in Malaysia The dark web needs specialised enforcement bodies, reducing the risks of and aggressive undercover agents getting captured.5 This would explain why who are equipped with thousands Huckle had managed to conduct his illegal of ICP images as a ‘ticket’ to enter activities for nine years without being the group. Our law enforcement detected. He only came to the attention can only scratch the surface. Our of the British authorities in 2014, after a expertise is not at the level to dig tip-off from Australian’s Argos Task Force into the deep web. This is why there investigators who had arrested another man has yet to be any charges against running a paedophile site. By using the dark web ICP activities. dark web to upload, distribute, advertise, and sell images of child abuse, the Crown From 2006-2014, Huckle worked as emphasised the intensity and extremity of an English teacher and church volunteer Huckle’s crime. in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Another case highlighted by RMP is It was later discovered that Huckle had R v. Blake Robert Johnston (2017). This systematically abused the children under involved an American child sex offender his care. Huckle would photograph and arrested by the US authorities in 2014 for film his sexual exploits of these children, ICP and child sexual grooming offences.6 In which he then edited, and posted on the 2017, US’ Homeland Security Investigations hidden ‘dark web’4 network. During his agency had identified 94 minor victims trial in London in June 2016, the Crown who were enticed online by the Johnston revealed that Huckle was an active member to engage in sexual activity, ranging in age of a heavily encrypted deep website, ‘The from as young as 12 years and coming from Love Zone’, which is now inoperative. 32 US states and six different countries. On The shift away from the public domain of his personal electronic devices the police the web to password-encrypted networks found explicit images of his own genitals has facilitated offenders to evade filtering and those of more than 300 child victims, and other detection software from law many of whom were Malaysian. His modus 4 The term ‘dark web’ refers to the ‘hard to access’ operandi was to befriend children through part of the internet, as opposed to the public domain of the internet accessible via search engines such the social media applications OoVoo, Kik, as Google, Internet Explorer, or Mozilla Firefox. and Omegle.7 He would “entice young Accessing the dark web requires the use of an anonymising browser called The Onion Router, or 5 Ibid. commonly knowns as TOR. The TOR browser routes 6 US v. Blake Robert Johnston, 2017, Northern a web page request through a series of proxy servers District of California (Unreported). operated by thousands of servers around the globe, and 7 each of these levels may be encrypted. This process OoVoo is described as being similar to Skype. Kik renders an internet protocol (IP) address unidentifiable is a secure messenger application that protects user’s and untraceable, and is often used by individuals anonymity. Omegle is a website designed to allow to hide their physical location. See Wall (2017). strangers to talk to other strangers anonymously. Crime and deviance in cyberspace. Abingdon, UK: See Ireland's Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTE) (2017, Routledge. September 3). US Sex Offender Groomed Children Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (S2): 185 - 203 (2021) 187 Nabilah Hani Ahmad Zubaidi girls” and exchange pornographic images or illegal dumping are preventive measures with them.8 Even though the images in to improve road safety and protect the Huckle and Johnston’s case were initially environment. Compliance increases in distributed in a closed network, the images proportion to the degree to which the general are ultimately subjected