If the criminals are multiplying fast courtesy the internet, the same technology is also helping the police to nab them. Australian law enforcement agencies have so far arrested 70 persons, in the 19 to 81 age group, for child pornography and abuse offences across the country. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a further 20 people have been issued with summons to appear in court where they will be charged with possessing child exploitation material. More arrests are expected in coming weeks and months.
Those arrested include community leaders, a police officer, a teacher and a youth worker following the nation’s biggest anti-pedophile investigation. ” ‘The possession of the images, the downloading of the images was the tip of the iceberg,’ said Andrew Colvin, the Australian Federal Police’s national manager of high-tech crime operations. ‘It’s the networks. It’s the children they might have access to. It’s the potential for grooming and procuring that these people are involved in as well’.
“During Operation Centurion, police became aware that offenders were using web-enabled devices such as Playstation 3, X-Box and new-generation mobile phones to access the images. ‘They don’t have to worry about a family member checking the history on the family computer, or ask why they are spending so much time on it,’ said one investigator. ‘Most people don’t know games consoles can be linked to the web’.
“Perhaps most disconcerting is the scale of the internet child exploitation. As many as 3.5 million child abuse images are on the internet and cannot readily be removed. Identifying and locating children in the photos can be difficult.
“The social networking revolution that has swept the internet has been adopted by purveyors of child exploitation. Child porn chat rooms pop up, then close almost as quickly. Here, pedophiles trade images, alert each other to new ones and share tips on how to groom potential victims and avoid detection by police, work colleagues and family members.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.