STOPPING ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING

STOPPING ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING By definition, sex trafficking is merely a subset of human trafficking. Although human trafficking is now the popularly used terminology, it is actually the same as slavery or the slave trade, long banned in many countries but is still being practiced everywhere, despite many strict laws against it. For some reason, a lighter version called white slavery has come into play, but nonetheless it is still slavery. In the same way that slavery has existed since time immemorial, sex trafficking has also existed since time immemorial. With the emergence of the internet however, all these old terminologies have taken on new meanings. Anything done online is now termed as “cyber”, such that sexual actions online are now called “cybersex”. In other words, what used to be the old crime called “sex trafficking” is now called “online sex trafficking” and this new version is now considered as a “cybercrime” because it uses the internet to perpetuate the crimes. While it appears that the national offices of both the NBI and the PNP have already upgraded their computer systems to fight cybercrime in general and online sex trafficking in particular, more budgets are apparently needed to empower their regional, provincial and municipal offices. The Congress should therefore increase their budget allocations, because otherwise, we could be losing the war against this very powerful threat to national security and public safety. IKE SENERES/04-10-2024