‘Sweetie 2.0’ project aims to help fight child exploitation on the web

Multiple raids conducted by the Philippine National Police in the past months have uncovered a disheartening fact: in cases of child pornography, it’s usually the parents or older relatives themselves who push their children into performing sexual acts in front of a webcam.

Poverty has made people desperate, and syndicates prey on parents by promising them that nothing bad will happen since the customers won’t actually be able to touch their children. According to Dutch children’s rights organization Terre des Hommes, a lot of the “supply” of child pornography comes from the Philippines, where children have turned to using the Internet to connect with clients—usually men from wealthier countries.

In a move to combat the growing problem of online child pornography, Terre des Hommes announced its plans to develop advanced software that can be used to gather information about pedophiles online. The information can then be used by law enforcement to track down and apprehend the offenders.

“The Philippine authorities should be applauded for their efforts to tackle cybersex with children. Numerous raids have taken place, criminals arrested and children set free. However, if nothing is being done by the international community to deal with the enormous and ever growing demand side, this phenomenon will only get worse and the Philippine police will unfortunately be fighting an uphill battle,” said Alwin de Leon, Terre des Hommes country director.

Dubbed “Sweetie 2.0: Stop Webcam Sex With Children,” the project is a step up from Terre des Hommes’ previous Sweetie program. The software developed under the Sweetie 2.0 project will be used to “recognize and deter” online predators, and help legal organizations worldwide to investigate and prosecute offenders.

The earlier Sweetie project was undertaken in 2013. Terre des Hommes managed to collect information on 1,000 online predators and turned over the data to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).



Sweetie 2.0’s goal is to stop the crime before it actually takes place, to scare offenders and keep them from searching for child pornography in the first place.

“We have to deal with the demand. As long as there is demand, there is supply,” said Hans Guyt, project manager at Terre des Hommes. He emphasized that the predators shouldn’t feel that they’re immune or that nobody is watching. “We want people to know about Sweetie,” Guyt added.

Sweetie 2.0 was launched this month. During its first year, the project is looking at developing the software, the forensic profiling and impact assessment, and the assessment of possible legal hurdles. For the second year, the group plans to build operational teams, finish the product, and then provide it to law enforcement agencies free of charge and with training sessions if needed. — BM, GMA News