THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKS AS UNLIMITED SPACE FOR CONCENTRATION AND MULTIPLIED PRESENCE OF PEDOPHILES

Abstract

The transformative influence of the Internet on every aspect of human life and activity is so all-reaching that only by deep abstraction we can recall how life went on before its broad distribution. In its essence a communications technology, the Internet brought the most drastic change to the way we receive and send messages of every kind. And while in most cases it was an exceptional benefit, human nature remained unchanged, so a part of the vast global network became a ground for the expression of various negative tendencies, from asocial and antisocial to outright criminal ones. Due to its decentralized nature and a practical impossibility for the regulation of the largest part of the Internet, it began to host and make available content and possibilities that are on the other side of both the law and the public morals. Pornography is generally the most searched term on the Internet, and pornographic websites and platforms host vast collections of pornographic content. And while the mainstream part of the Internet is regulated in a certain measure, the remaining part is not, and in that virtual and practically unlimited space sexual predators, including pedophiles, can satisfy their urges and tendencies in ways that are not possible in the purely physical world. Internet pedophiles can contact potential victims far easier, as well to access and distribute child pornography content. Almost every communications platform on the Internet brings the danger of involvement of pedophiles, and they can communicate with potential victims without fear of being noticed and caught. Security services fight pedophilia on the global network as well, but due to the nature of the problems results are marginal. The key role in the prevention of the Internet pedophilia is in raising of awareness level of importance of security culture on the Internet in parents and children – as the parents have prepared children for dangers in the physical world, they have to prepare them for potential dangers in the virtual world of the global network as well.