TORONTO – The Canadian Coalition Against Internet Child Exploitation (CCAICE) today released its seven-point National Action Plan designed to help protect children from online sexual exploitation and to assist in bringing those who victimize children to justice.
"The Action Plan is the result of unprecedented collaboration by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and industry leaders, law enforcement, government and non-governmental agencies," said Inspector Jennifer Strachan, Officer-in- Charge of the RCMP National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre. "However, to succeed we require the help and support of all Canadians to protect children online."
The members of the coalition are:
Cybertip.ca
RCMP and The National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre
Department of Justice
Industry Canada
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP)
Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association (CCTA)
Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC)
AOL Canada
Bell Canada
Cogeco Cable
Microsoft Canada
Rogers Communications
Shaw Communications
TELUS
Yahoo! Canada
The National Action Plan is built on three main objectives: increasing public awareness of the impact and dangers of online child exploitation and the protection tools available; increasing cooperation between industry and law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of offenders; and, identifying ways that technology can assist in online child protection.
The Action Plan has seven key components:
* Launch a national public awareness campaign regarding the impact and dangers of online sexual exploitation of children in the Fall of 2005.
* Create and publish a list of proprietary and commercially available Parental Controls (end-user content filtering tools) and hardware-based filtering solutions by Summer 2005.
* Promote Cybertip.ca as Canada’s national tip line for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children.
* Establish best practices for ISPs regarding the disclosure of information to law enforcement conducting online sexual exploitation investigations.
* Establish a national database of ISP contacts to provide law enforcement with quick and easy access to resources for investigations.
* Build on existing measures to reduce the effectiveness of newsgroups as a vehicle for the distribution of child exploitation images.
* Develop resources for prosecutors to assist in prosecuting online sexual exploitation cases.
"The problem of online child exploitation is complex and requires a multi-faceted solution. Technology alone neither caused nor can cure this problem," said Inspector Strachan. "The Action Plan, developed collaboratively by all members of CCAICE, along with other important initiatives being undertaken across Canada to address child sexual exploitation, will help protect children and educate parents."
CCAICE is a multi-sectoral group of industry, government and non-governmental agencies and law enforcement dedicated to eradicating child exploitation from the Internet while preserving and promoting the use of the Internet for the free flow of legitimate information, entertainment and educational content.
CCAICE is an unofficial, voluntary, multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary forum which is broadly representative of the key public and private stakeholders involved.
It is important to note that as membership is voluntary and the issue is best addressed collectively, the Coalition welcomes representation from additional stakeholders.
Protecting children from sexual exploitation on the Internet and bringing those who victimize children to justice requires a collaborative approach between law enforcement, industry and non-government organizations. With this in mind, Cybertip.ca (Canada’s Internet child exploitation tip line), the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC) and the federal Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada and Justice Canada met with Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) last July to begin to explore ways to collectively accelerate their efforts to combat the online sexual exploitation of children.
That meeting resulted in formulation of the Canadian Coalition Against Internet Child Exploitation (CCAICE, pronounced "C-CASE"), a multi-sector group of industry, government, non-governmental and law enforcement stakeholders from across the country. CCAICE’s mandate is to devise and implement an effective national strategy to help remove the scourge of child exploitation from the Internet while continuing to preserve and promote use of the Internet for the free flow of legitimate and wide-ranging information, entertainment and educational content.
The current members of CCAICE are listed in Appendix A. New members from within the identified sectors are always welcome.
CCAICE met again for an intensive two-day planning session in the fall of 2004 and since then Coalition sub-groups have applied their expertise to exploring various strategic options and finalizing the National Action Plan summarized below.
The three pillars of the National Action Plan are:
* Consumer education;
* Increasing cooperation between industry and law enforcement; and
* Technical and network management.
The CCAICE National Action Plan
1. Consumer Education: Increasing Public Awareness of the Impact and Dangers of Online Child Exploitation and of the Protection Tools Available.
To succeed, the battle against online child exploitation will require the help and support of all Canadians. To this end, it is crucial that Canadians recognize and understand the real dangers and devastating societal impact of Internet child pornography and other forms of online sexual abuse, and are made aware of the tools available to protect themselves and their families and the steps they can take to support and contribute to the on-going multi-stakeholder efforts to eradicate this social evil.
Action: Through the use of a broad range of available resources and in partnership with the Government of Canada’s SchoolNet program and other stakeholders, CCAICE will develop and launch by fall 2005 a national public awareness campaign regarding the impact and dangers of the online sexual exploitation of children.
Action: Promote Cybertip.ca as the organization best equipped to receive, triage and pass on to law enforcement tips regarding possible instances of online child exploitation.
2. Increasing Cooperation Between Industry and Law Enforcement
Law enforcement representatives on CCAICE promoted as their first priority more timely access to ISP customer name and address ("CNA") information in order to quickly identify Internet users who are the subject of criminal investigations involving online child exploitation. Based on concerns respecting privacy, regulatory, contractual and other legal obligations, it has been common ISP industry practice in these circumstances to disclose this information to law enforcement only when served with a judicial warrant. Obtaining a warrant for this purpose, however, can be problematic, as well as an extremely time-consuming exercise and law enforcement believes the associated problems and delays could in some circumstances place a child at further risk.
CCAICE also learned that online child exploitation investigations could be hampered by the inability of law enforcement to quickly identify the appropriate contact person within an ISP company. As well, CCAICE law enforcement members described a need to develop educational and other resource materials for prosecutors to promote more effective investigations and prosecutions of online child exploitation cases by establishing a better understanding of the Internet, the methods used by those who exploit children online, and the societal impact of this type of crime.
Action: In parallel with the government’s current "lawful access" discussions through 2005, CCAICE will: identify when and how Canadian ISPs can disclose CNA information to law enforcement in the course of a criminal investigation involving online child exploitation; define best practices for both ISPs and law enforcement to undertake this activity efficiently within applicable legal and technical constraints; and promote implementation of these best practices by all members of the Canadian ISP industry.
Action: CCAICE will work with its ISP and law enforcement members to establish and maintain a national database of appropriate ISP contacts which, by end of 2005, will be easily and quickly accessible by law enforcement officers investigating online child exploitation cases.
Action: During 2005 and as needed thereafter, CCAICE will work with its law enforcement members to develop resources for prosecutors to promote more effective investigations and prosecutions of online child exploitation cases.
3. Technical and Network Management
While some may suggest that technology is to blame for the growth of online child exploitation and therefore technology will provide the solution, CCAICE is not alone in recognizing that both the root of the problem and its ultimate solution are much more complex and multi- faceted. Technology in itself is neither the cause of nor the answer to this issue; both are impacted to differing degrees by a variety of social, legal, policy, operational as well as technical elements.
CCAICE has examined the extent to which technology and network management can play an important role in the battle against online child exploitation while preserving the ability of Canadians to use the Internet for the free flow of legitimate and wide-ranging information, entertainment and educational content. Currently Canadian ISPs follow appropriate legal procedures to "take down" web sites they host, and over which they have control, which contain images of child sexual exploitation.
ISPs also co-operate in various ways with law enforcement conducting child sexual exploitation investigations. These practices will continue and will be supplemented by increased efforts to promote end-user protection tools and consideration of related network management initiatives.
Action: CCAICE will review and produce and publicize by summer 2005 an up-to-date list of proprietary and commercially available Parental Controls (end-user content filtering tools) and hardware-based filtering solutions.
Action: By early summer 2005, CCAICE will determine whether a third-party organization can be tasked with identifying child sexual exploitation Internet newsgroups for voluntary removal from the newsgroups that service providers redistribute or store.
