PA Consulting's Response to Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Ahead of Home Secretary's Speech

Nick Newman, security expert at PA Consulting, comments: "If the Home Secretary's plans are to succeed then collaboration between international governments, law enforcement organisations, the technology industry and children's charities is vital. We need a better co-ordinated approach to industry engagement from the government and law enforcement organisations. This is not a problem that any single country or institution can handle alone. The whole community needs to work together to find global solutions.

Nick Newman, security expert at PA Consulting, comments: "If the Home Secretary's plans are to succeed then collaboration between international governments, law enforcement organisations, the technology industry and children's charities is vital. We need a better co-ordinated approach to industry engagement from the government and law enforcement organisations. This is not a problem that any single country or institution can handle alone. The whole community needs to work together to find global solutions.

"There is much more that can be done to protect children from online sexual exploitation and to create a more hostile environment for offenders. The biggest challenge is to find the right balance between security and privacy, as citizens won't tolerate excessive intrusion, but neither will they forgive technology companies who fail to take adequate responsibility for preventing 'no go' areas on the internet, where criminals and paedophiles can operate with impunity.

"Traditional responses to the threat have focused on catching the offenders or supporting the victims after the harm is caused. The answer is to empower children, by giving them the information they need to protect themselves online. An online equivalent of the 'green cross code', encouraging children to recognise the risks and make better decisions, is needed to better protect our children. With smarter use of technology and improved collaboration, we can help young people better identify risks when they are online."

PA's guiding principles for mitigating the risk from Child Sexual Exploitation

In the same way that banks and credit card companies alert customers when they suspect fraudulent transactions, we believe the same Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications should be used to send children automated alerts when dangers are detected in their online chats. We've outlined five principles that would guide chat providers to offer real-time, relevant risk information:

 

 

Notes to editors

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