交流サイト被害 便利な機能には危険も潜む

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Parents should be alert to predators who lurk in their children’s phones
交流サイト被害　便利な機能には危険も潜む

Measures are urgently needed to protect children who use social networking sites, where they can exchange information with people they do not know, from falling victim to such despicable crimes as sexual assault.
　見知らぬ人と情報交換する交流サイトをきっかけに、性暴力などの被害に遭う。子供を卑劣な犯罪から守る対策を急ぐ必要がある。

Social networking sites may appear to be alike, but they come in various types.
　一口に交流サイトと言っても、種類は様々だ。

There are social networking services such as Facebook, and free phone call and messaging applications such as Line and Kakao Talk, and online message boards for users to seek like-minded friends.
　フェイスブックなどのソーシャル・ネットワーキング・サービス（ＳＮＳ）や、ＬＩＮＥ、カカオトークといった無料通話アプリ、友人を募る掲示板などがある。

According to the National Police Agency, 698 children under 18 were victimized in the first half of this year by criminals they encountered via social networking sites. The figure is the highest seen in the first half since the NPA began collecting such data in 2008. More than 90 percent of the victims were young girls. This is indeed a serious situation.
　警察庁によると、交流サイトで知り合った相手から被害に遭った１８歳未満の子供が、今年上半期に６９８人を数え、２００８年に調査が始まって以来、最多となった。被害者の９割以上が少女だ。深刻な事態である。

There have been many cases in which girls ended up getting involved in sexual misconduct, commercial sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. In Kumamoto Prefecture, a female high school student was killed by a man she got in contact with via an online site.
　淫行や児童買春、児童ポルノなどの犯罪に巻き込まれるケースが多い。熊本県では女子高生が殺害される事件も起きた。

The advent of message boards, where people can exchange user IDs for popular, free-call and free-message apps with the general public, has helped such crimes spread.
　人気の無料通話アプリの利用者ＩＤを不特定多数の人と交換できる掲示板が登場したことが、被害を広げている。

With free calls and messaging apps, people can make free calls and exchange messages as long as they know the recipient’s user ID, without having to know the other person’s phone number or e-mail address.
　無料通話アプリは、ＩＤさえ分かれば、電話番号やメールアドレスを知らなくてもメッセージの交換や通話ができる。

There have been notable cases in which people too casually shared their user IDs in public on message boards, started exchanging calls or messages with a stranger and then were tricked into meeting that person, who victimized them.
ＩＤを安易に掲示板に公開したことがきっかけで、やりとりが始まり、誘い出されて被害に遭う例が目立つ。

Evil in disguise

Some perpetrators have lured young girls into meeting them by falsely representing themselves through photos of a completely different and much younger person. There have been other cases in which young girls sent messages apparently offering “compensated dating.”
　面識がないことに乗じ、若い別人の写真を送信して、少女をおびき出す手口もある。少女の方から援助交際を持ちかけるような書き込みも見られる。

The Line service operator, by the end of last year, took measures so that users under 18 could no longer make calls and exchange messages with parties the users know only by IDs.
　ＬＩＮＥは昨年末までに、１８歳未満の利用者について、ＩＤしか知らない相手との通話やメッセージ交換をできないようにした。

As a result, the number of victims is said to be declining. We hope other app operators will take similar measures.
その結果、被害は減少傾向にあるという。他のアプリ事業者にも対策を講じてもらいたい。

Regarding dating service websites, a law has been enacted to prevent children from falling victim to sexual crimes through them. There are also regulations that require site operators to notify relevant authorities and prohibit those under 18 from posting any content or information on the site.
　出会い系サイトに関しては、子供の性被害を防ぐ規制法が設けられている。サイト運営業者の届け出や１８歳未満の書き込み禁止の規制がある。

Yet social networking sites where people search for hobby companions and friends are not subject to regulations.
しかし、趣味仲間や友達の募集などをうたう交流サイトは、規制の対象外だ。

A social networking site is convenient when it functions as a tool of communication. But it is essential that children be made to understand, at home and at school, the potential risks involved.
　交流サイトの機能は、連絡手段などとしては便利だが、危険も潜んでいることを、家庭や学校できちんと教える必要がある。

Also effective is the use of content filtering programs for children’s mobile phones to block objectionable apps and sites.
　子供の携帯端末から特定のアプリやサイトに接続できないようにする「フィルタリング」も有効だろう。

According to a Cabinet Office survey, the utilization rate of content filtering programs remains at about half of all mobile phones used by children. Approximately 20 percent of parents with young children were “unaware of” whether the program was installed in their children’s mobile phones.
内閣府の調査では利用率は半数程度にとどまっている。設定しているかどうか「わからない」という保護者も約２割に上る。

Parents should make themselves aware of how their children are using their cell phones or smartphones.
　子供が携帯電話やスマートフォンをどう使っているのか。親はしっかりと把握しておきたい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 30, 2014)Speech