XXX-rated kids
Published:Sunday | July 28, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Children accessing porn at Internet cafes, including JDF base and church
Tyrone Reid, Senior Staff Reporter
Scores of Jamaican children have discovered a new, easy way to access Internet pornography, even when parents and caregivers limit their access in the homes or through their cellular phones.
Now the children are heading to several Internet cafés, some state-sponsored, which have emerged across the island, where there is little or no supervision in place to prevent them from accessing pornographic content while online.
A covert operation conducted by The Sunday Gleaner unearthed that it is a breeze for minors to view X-rated adult material online, even at the government-funded Internet cafés across the Corporate Area.
As little as $40 can give your child 30 minutes to watch porn online.
Some operators of the Internet
cafés visited by our news team lamented that the situation keeps popping up and they are forced to deal with it.
They also bemoaned the fact they are experiencing some degree of difficulty in attempting to prevent children from viewing inappropriate material.
After obtaining prior parental approval, our news team, aided by three minors, visited six Corporate Area sites that offered Internet access to the public; three are privately operated and three were government-financed through the Universal Service Fund (USF).
The USF, formerly known as the Universal Access Fund, says its mandate is to facilitate "the accessibility of the information super highway throughout the island". On its website, the USF says that this access to the World Wide Web is granted in strategic locations such as schools, public libraries, post offices and other institutions.
According to USF, it wants to create an environment that is interactive and conducive to learning, hence improving the quality of education and life for residents in all 14 parishes.
However, our investigation proved that the community access points provided by the USF is not always used for wholesome educational purposes.
At the Military Library and Internet Café, a USF-funded project located on the sprawling grounds of Up Park Camp, home of Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), two of our underage teens were able to log on to websites such as playboy.com and hustler.com with no trouble at all.
The 16-year-old and 15-year-old minors were not being supervised, and after they paid cash they were allowed to access whatever websites they wanted to visit. There was no security system in place to block the X-rated content at the army's Internet café, and with all the computers fitted with headsets, the teens did not have to worry about inappropriate noises being heard by others.
When the matter was brought to the attention of the personnel at the front desk, she referred our news team to a soldier who only wished to identify himself as Sergeant Stewart.
"Now that you've brought it to our attention we will pass it up the chain of command to ensure that something is done," said the army sergeant who is in charge of stores. Sergeant Stewart then referred our news team to the military spokesperson for further comment. But before we exited the army base, he allowed us to speak with Private Flemmings, a museum staff member, who told us that the problem is not new. "That issue came up and it is being dealt with. During the servicing of machines we realised that persons were visiting these kinds of sites. The person in charge, Captain Michael Anglin, is working on a security policy," said Flemmings.
Over at Pentecostal Gospel Temple's Cyber Centre, another location listed on the USF's website, a 17-year-old minor was able to access online porn at the Internet café located on the church's property.
However, she was not able to do so for long, as the watchful administrator, Chase Minto, came across to tell her that she was breaking the house rules.
The church has a sign declaring that the viewing of pornographic content is prohibited.
Minto showed our news team that he was able to remotely view every screen and shut down every browser on every computer in the café from the two computers in his office.
The administrator also showed our news team that the other computers in the café cannot view X-rated material. Any attempts at doing so closes the browser.
Minto also revealed that he has had to ask a teen not to return to the café because he caught him as he was about to view inappropriate content.
"I said to him, 'no, don't you see the sign?' And I escorted him out immediately and asked him not to return. It's kind of hard to police but that's where I come in," said Minto.
Nothing like that happened at the Internet café operated by the Kingston Bookshop at the Boulevard Super Centre. All three teens were able to gain access to porn at the café neatly tucked away in an upstairs area. No supervision was provided until the breach was brought to the attention of the bookstore's staff.
"You might not come and see us but we do monitor and we talk to children to ensure that they are doing projects," said Annmarie Crichton, a supervisor on duty.
When asked about implementing a security block, Crichton accepted the point and said she would present it to the company's information technology unit.
She lamented that it is even harder to police when the store gets crowded and all hands are needed on deck to serve the customers buying books.
Just a stone's throw away at Wholesale Photo's Internet café, the 15-year-old was also able to access pornographic material. Suzette Watson, a photographer and graphic artist who was working the front desk during our news team's visit, said her company's employees try to watch the teens as best as they can.
"It might slip sometimes when in here is crowded but we have really been looking. They would have to be looking over their shoulders constantly though, but I know some of them are brazen enough," she said.
Editor's Note: The children used in our probe were not allowed to view the pornographic material. They were asked to just access the websites.