Microsoft trains law enforcers on cybercrime

Microsoft is now working with the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and the International Police (Interpol) to train Philippine law enforcement officers on dealing with computer-assisted crimes against children and women.

Acknowledging that such crimes are increasingly becoming a global concern, representatives of the ICMEC and the Interpol stressed the need to link up with law enforcement agencies worldwide to help build a bigger network to eradicate such crimes.

"No single country can do this by itself. We need governments to work together," said Stephen Cutlter, legal attaché of the US Embassy.

"This is an opportunity to network to address the issue," added Cutler, as he addressed over a hundred participants representing the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, and the National Defense College of the Philippines.

The training hopes to help local investigators conduct high-tech investigations on crimes against children and women, such as pedophilia, that are now proliferating online.

"Technology is a great enabler that has allowed children to access knowledge. But with every great technology there are bad things happening," added Katharine Bostick, corporate attorney of Microsoft Asia Pacific.

Bostick said that pedophiles are using technologies, such as the Internet, to facilitate crimes against children.

"So it is important for Microsoft to help people understand technology," she added.

Ruben Rodriguez, senior program officer of the ICMEC, acknowledged that police generally have difficulty dealing with computer-assisted crimes against children and women.

In the Philippines, local enforcement agencies said the passage of a cybercrime law could bolster investigations, said Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza, deputy director of the Philippine National Police Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM).

Currently, the local police has been using the Anti-Trafficking Persons Act or Republic Act 9208 to go after online predators and other computer-assisted crimes against women and children, Mendoza said.

"There is now a growing interest among law enforcement agencies worldwide. But I think [law enforcement] also needs to become more pro-active and work with non-government organizations to help public realize that this is a problem," said Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of trafficking in human beings of the sub directorate Interpol General Secretariat.

Child pornography, for instance, is a global problem that has grown because it is easier to distribute images through the Internet, she said.

"The largest bulk of images are still coming from Western Europe and North America. But we will eventually see more images coming from Asia," Kvigne said.

Yolanda Tanigue, chief of the women and children concerns division of the DIDM, for her part, acknowledged that computer-assisted crimes against women and children have become worse because people can now easily distribute images via mobile phones.

ICMEC started working with Microsoft sometime in 2002, said Guillermo Galarza Abizaid, senior program manager of ICMEC.

"We need to increase awareness on this global issue. Since 1998, our website, www.missingkids.com, has received over a million reports," he added.

But at this time, ICMEC said it was hard to "quantify" the extent of computer-facilitated crimes against children and women.