Homeland Security and Child Pornography - Coursework Example

Homeland Security and Child Pornography Homeland Security is the security effort to protect a nation against internal or external threats. When it issuperimposed to the US context, the meaning gets broader. In the US, there is a special department for homeland security, i.e. the United States Department of Homeland Security. This department deals with all issues related to security. For instance, security issues like information warfare, child pornography etc. The term information warfare is used to denote the usage of information over an opponent. The Information becomes more offensive when used to spread misinformation to demoralize the opponent in the public. Child pornography, termed as the visual record of child sex abuse, is a serious crime which is connected to information warfare. Here, attempt is to investigate and analyze the relation among Homeland Security, Information Warfare and Child Pornography. Thesis statement: why Child Pornography is considered as important or relevant in Information Warfare and Homeland Security today? The Department of Homeland Security and child pornography The main responsibility of The Department of Homeland Security is to prevent terrorism and to respond to natural disasters. But it cooperates with other agencies like FBI and ICAC Task Forces to fights against child pornography and is vigilant at combating the growing volume of exploitation against children. Walker T. Holliday reflects that: “Child pornography is prohibited by federal statutes, which provide for civil and criminal penalties for its production, advertising, possession, receipt, distribution, and sale.” (Holliday, 2003, p. 82) The federal states prohibited child pornography and is termed as a serious crime. Besides, production and other activities related to child pornography will lead to civil and criminal penalties. In addition, customary search for suspects who indulge in production and sharing of child pornography through computers resulted in charging hundreds of cases. Moreover, the law enforcement effort conducted by the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices was able to arrest several individuals who were previous sex offenders. This fact makes clear that child pornography is a serious crime against children and it is more offensive because it abuse innocent children, i.e. future of the nation. P2P Networks, the PROTECT Act, ICAC Task Forces and child pornography Peer-to-Peer networks or simply P2P networks are used to connect computers directly without the help of a server. This helped the users to get easy access to other computers connected to the network. When one installs P2P software in his/her computer, direct access is possible to other computers under a network and it helps to search files which are selected for circulation. Most of the people know that this is a serious crime against children. But easy access to child pornography attracts thousands towards the network and helps to downloads files to their computers. Yaman Akdeniz points out that: “A study conducted by the United States General Accounting Office in 2003-2004 found that child pornography is easily found and downloaded from P2P networks.” (Akdeniz, 2008, p. 7) Studies on child pornography make clear that P2P networks play the key role in wide spread of child pornography. For instance, in 2003-04, United States General Accounting Office conducted a study on child pornography and it proves the same. But in this epoch of information warfare, P2P networks are misused to share files/images on child pornography. The investigators and agents from different agencies, who co-operate to control child pornography, make use of different techniques to trace the users. For instance, Division of Crime Investigation infiltrates into the P2P networks and traces the identity of the people who distribute and share files/images related to child pornography. Aiming to strengthen the fight against child pornography, the PROTECT act was implemented in US in April 30, 2003. In addition, this Act ensures that the criminals get minimum sentence of five years in prison. If the individual trapped is with a track record of prior sex abuse offense, sentence may be extended to fifteen years and maximum up to forty years. Besides, the Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) Task Forces funded by the Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) plays an important role in prevention of child pornography. They conduct under covering investigations to trap individuals who cooperate with P2P networks. So, it is quite clear that PROTECT Act and ICAC Task Forces play the vital role in the fight against child pornography. Analysis It is apparent that child pornography is a serious threat to homeland security and the Department of Homeland security deals it with due importance. Besides, it is a serious threat against humanity and a social evil which consider children as commodity for trade. So it is the duty of the Department of Homeland security to protect our future citizens from further sexual exploitation. As well, to consider children in a sexual way is brutal and to enjoy it is a mental disorder. When one connects child pornography with homeland security, it is evident that child pornography is internal and external threat to secure life of individuals. Global access to porn sites helps the criminals to collect and share files with offensive content and it devalue human dignity. Besides, child pornography misuse and exploit the children, diverts human sexual urge towards children, and results in large scale sex abuse of children. The Department of Homeland Security do not directly involve in prevention of child pornography. But agencies and institutions connected to it engage in prevention of child pornography. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security fully concentrates on terrorism and natural disasters. But FBI, which cooperates with the Department of Homeland Security on domestic intelligence activities, also cooperates with other agencies to prevent child pornography. When one connects child pornography to information warfare, it is clear that the global reach of information systems hider the progress of crime detection. But, joint effort by different agencies resulted in high security in the cyber space which limited the range of child pornography. So it is apparent that cooperation and coordination of different agencies and institutions under the Department of Homeland Security can control the range of child pornography. Preventive measures Following measures can be applied easily for effective prevention of child pornography. 1. Maximum punishment to the individuals who are trapped under the PROTECT Act. 2. Strict enforcement of laws which aim to prevent child pornography. 3. Timely updating/amending the laws according to the changes in the cyber space. 4. Limit the range of child pornography by conducting awareness programs in schools against child pornography. 5. Use different media to develop awareness on the seriousness of child pornography as a social crime. 6. Provide awareness to parents against the evilness of child pornography. 7. Seek help from the individuals who are trapped and trap new criminals. 8. Ban websites with offensive content. 9. Limit the scope of the software which helps individuals to share/download files with offensive content, by law. 10. Regular search and surprise raid on personal computers which share files with offensive content. 11. Grow awareness among the people who view, store and share files related to child pornography as a serious crime. 12. As viewing child pornography is a mental disorder, proper treatment and effective rehabilitation must be provided to the individuals who are arrested/ sentenced. 13. Restrict the use of P2P Networks which share files on child pornography. 14. Infiltration into P2P and other file sharing networks to trap individuals. 15. Provide timely awareness to children against child pornography. 16. Effective coordination of different agencies and institutions which fight against child pornography. 17. Co-operation with other nations to prevent global spread of child pornography. 18. Prevent child pornography by the help of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 19. Conduct under covering investigations to trap the mastermind behind the crime. 20. Help children to take self protective measures against child abuse. Before summing up, it is important to point out the main points and findings. The Department of Homeland Security considers child pornography as a serious crime against children and implements effective preventive measures against the same. But, the P2P Networks which operate without help of a central server helps the criminals to share files with ease. Nevertheless, the PROTECT Act and ICAC Task Forces plays the vital role in trapping criminal who indulge in the act of producing, collecting and sharing of files on child pornography. From the analysis, it is clear that effective coordination of different agencies under a single authority helps to prevent the range of child pornography. As the United States is a democratic nation/federation of states, it is the responsibility/duty of the security agencies to provide security to the citizens. Besides, it is the right of the citizens to enjoy their life without any external or internal threat to their peaceful life. But both the government and the citizens must be aware of their duties/rights/responsibilities and take effective steps to prevent child abuse and child pornography. The Parents must be vigilant to keep their children away from the criminals and the government must keep an eye on individuals with past record of sexual crime/child abuse and must restrict entry to new criminals. Then only, the problem of child abuse/child pornography will be totally wiped out from the nation. References Akdeniz, Y. (2008). Internet child pornography and the law: national and international responses. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Holliday, W. T. (2003). Governmental principles and statutes on child pornography. Nova Publishers. 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