Child And Adult Pornography Appear To Be Growing In The Bahamas

BY VANESSA C. ROLLE

Some 15,000 Bahamians have paid membership in adult Internet sex groups, according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Paul Rolle, who added that child pornography in the country has also become an issue for police.

In a conference call with the media from throughout the country on Friday, ASP Rolle reported that child and adult pornography appear to be growing in The Bahamas.

ASP Rolle, who is heads the Cyber Crimes Unit of the Central Detective Unit, said that in 2006, there were 11,400 Bahamians registered on pornographic or sex group websites such as sexsearch.com and adultfriendfinder.com.

"It is growing by leaps and bounds so you can expect to have the problem of Internet porn in The Bahamas," he said.

"What we have seen now with the opening of the cellular world is that persons are now using their cell phones to generate and transmit these pornographic materials…most of them from the Internet. They download it to their machines and start passing them around," he said.

He said that the Internet has escalated the problem of pornography by increasing the amount of material available and the efficiency of its distribution in the age of accessibility.

ASP Rolle said the Internet delivers pornography inexpensively because people from all over the world can access a website simultaneously. Images are of good, high digital quality that do not deteriorate and can be conveniently stored, he said.

In The Bahamas, he said that pornography crimes have been reported more since the establishment of the Cyber Crimes Unit in 2006.

In 2006, there were five matters related to Internet pornography reported, according to ASP Rolle. This reportedly increased to about 17 in 2007, and already for 2008, there have been 18 matters reported.

Last year, some people withdrew criminal action and pursued civil cases, ASP Rolle said.

"This will give you an idea of how this problem in The Bahamas now is [escalating]. The bulk of the problems that we have had were [from] lovers. They took photographs of each other and the relationship goes sour and usually the male decides to get even and he publishes the images to myspace.com," he said, adding that YouTube.com would take such material down if posted.

"But there are other private sites and they publish them. We have had instances where they were not explicit photographs but [they] take the girl’s face and put it on a naked body and try to crop it, send it around to her friends and say that this is what she looks like."

While he said there is no evidence to suggest that there is a pornography industry brewing in The Bahamas, ASP Rolle said the evidence clearly shows some preoccupation with casual sexual activity by some Bahamians.

"We have put persons before the courts [for pornography] and we have a number of matters pending in the criminal court. For the year, we have had two cases but last year, we had about seven and for all of those matters that we had, the complainants came in and withdrew and so there was no need to go any further with it," he said.

"It is a growing trend. I think that persons need to be sensitized to what is involved. With the videos, we have not identified any of them as Bahamians but you have to bear in mind that the Internet is worldwide, so they can get information readily, the schools have them and everyone has Internet. So by virtue of you having and expanding computer and Internet availability in The Bahamas you can expect to have incidents."

Persons can spend up to three years in prison for possession of pornography.

"If you as an adult choose to take and show your photo to your lover you have to always bear in mind what the potential risks [are] at the end of the day. When it involves children, it is a different ballgame. Any photographic material of children is illegal," he said.

"It is illegal to possess and it is illegal to take photographs of these children."

Sergeant Mark Barrett, also of the Cyber Crimes Unit, said any pornographic image featuring what appears to be a minor is also a crime in The Bahamas.

ASP Rolle interjected that although the person in the picture may be an adult, if she is dressed like a schoolgirl or in school uniform it is still an offence.

With this in mind, he said there are videos circulating on the Internet purporting to be Bahamian school children engaged in sexual acts.

"I just need to be clear that we have not determined that any of those so far were Bahamians," ASP Rolle said.

"Where we had a few cases of still photos, I think we were able to identify those as Bahamians. Bear in mind that images on the Internet although they look fresh…these things can look like they were taken yesterday but they might be years old – 20 years old…but people now put them on their telephones and send them around or they can get these video clips from these adult websites."

There are several laws in The Bahamas that govern the use of the Internet, including the Computer Misuse Act (2004) and the Act to Protect the Privacy of an Individual, Electronic Communication and Transaction Act (2007).

"Ignorance is no excuse to the law but in fairness to [the public] much of [these laws are] relatively new as well," ASP Rolle said.

"We have been going around to various civic organizations and speaking to them as well as in the schools to educate people that when you do that you are committing an offence."

He said parents must also safeguard their children and know who their children’s friends are and monitor their children’s use of the Internet.

ASP Rolle advised that computers be put in a central location in the home, not locked away in bedrooms.

"We have had at least one sexual assault which originated through the (Internet) chat rooms. It was a minor," he said. "They actually met. With regard to that individual, we caught him and he is actually before the courts."

ASP Rolle said that parents also need to know some of the Internet jargon: POS means parent over shoulder; PIR means parent in room; 911 means parent alert; PAW means parents are watching and PAL means parents are listening.

He said "these are some of the things that they use so that they can begin to talk differently."

ASP Rolle said popular chat rooms are continually growing, including yahoo, sexsearch, adultfriendfinder.com, msnchat, hi5 and facebook.

"Facebook is new," he noted.

"That just came out a few months ago, but [it is] growing. About two weeks ago Apple launched a new browser and in that now, they have a new chat room that they are initiating and the thing is, as soon as they do it, they are giving persons free storage. So instead of persons storing images at home now, they can store it on their websites which are usually in foreign countries."

The police say that there are over 84,000 subscribers to the Internet in The Bahamas, and over 3.2 million subscribers in the Caribbean. Globally there are over half a billion subscribers.