TRC on a mission to eliminate cybercrime
View(s):In the light of recent cybercrimes rising at an alarming rate and most recently the sexual trafficking case which left the country dumbfounded has led the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRC) to act swiftly to deal with cybercrimes and criminals.
As a first step, the telco regulator is amending the archaic law the authority is currently empowered with. “The TRC received the cabinet approval to amend the TRC Act nearly three weeks ago. We are fast-tracking the amendments especially in the light of the current cybercrime and cybercriminals while very diligently working with other law enforcement agencies to identify the perpetrators,” Oshada Senanayake, TRC Director General told the Business Times on Wednesday.
For starters, the TRC is working with these crimes unit of the CID. The telco regulator is also in close collaboration with the Women and Child Bureau and the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA). The key challenges faced by both the public and law enforcement to prevent and respond to child trafficking include data collection, public awareness, as well as identifying child victims and perpetrators.
On the same lines, the TRC Act of 1991 based on the 1982 British Act, does not cover an ambit to regulate web content which is a big flaw, Mr. Senanayake added. According to the law, the TRC directs the Internet service providers to act against the perpetrators and they report back to the TRC. But the TRC can only stop access to questionable websites. “We cannot take the websites down,” Mr. Senanayake added noting that the TRC needs to be empowered to go beyond this end to find the root cause – who is doing this, where the websites are hosted, who is paying for these websites etc.
Child prostitution and sexual exploitation is an offence under Section 360 A of the Penal Code and the recent arrests of over 25 persons involving a sex trafficking ring of a 15-year-old girl through a website were possible because the girl was underage. “We also cannot request for cross border information. For example, if the website is hosted in another country, we need to be able to request information on these sites from that country’s authorities which now we cannot do,” Mr. Senanayake said.
The TRC has established a separate unit to combat cybercrime, he said adding that the public is welcome to notify them of any irregularity in this regard.