By Lexie Jeuniewic, Rachel Sherlock, Danni Roberts and Serena Seyfort
Australians are sharing their disgust following reports schoolgirls from more than 70 schools have been targeted by a pornographic photo-sharing website.
State and federal police have said they can’t take down the site despite a joint investigation and widespread outrage.
Queensland Police said it’s not within Australia’s powers to take it down as it is being hosted overseas.
“We believe the site is hosted overseas and does not appear to contain any child exploitation material,” Detective Superintendent Cheryl Scanlon of the Child Safety and Sexual Crimes Group says.
Queensland Police stressed the importance of not sharing photos of this nature online as they cannot assure that they can later be removed.
“You may post the image now and be happy with it, but unfortunately down the track when you change your mind, they cannot be retrieved. Anyone can access them and once they are gone, they are gone forever,” Detective Superintendent Scanlon said.
Danni Roberts on Twitter: “AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Marcus Borman urged any potential victims to contact police. https://t.co/kiHsXDL6xD via @ABCNews / Twitter”
AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Marcus Borman urged any potential victims to contact police. https://t.co/kiHsXDL6xD via @ABCNews
RMIT senior computing lecturer Dr Mark Gregory said there was little authorities can do.
“The issue is does it fall under the rules of legislation allowing, for example, for the website to be blocked from Australia?” he said
The focus now must be to support the girls targeted by the website and provide services to anyone who was exposed on the site.
Acting Children’s eSafety Commissioner Andree Wright said it was “deeply disturbing” that women were having to deal with this level of humiliation.
“The Office has been working closely with these teenagers, and where appropriate, their families, their schools and the police to have the complaints resolved,” she said.
Underage Victorians can no longer be found guilty of child pornography offences or put under the sex offender register for sending sexts after state parliament passed changes in 2014.
And Dr Gregory said that once photos are uploaded online, they cannot be removed from Internet databases.
“You can never take it down. They’re up there now; they’re on the web forever. They exist somewhere forever,” he said.
Melbourne psychiatrist Dr Nikolai Jeuniewic said the lack of closure for the victims could have devastating long-term effects, including post traumatic stress disorder.
“It would give them a feeling of insecurity that the authorities couldn’t do anything about it, leaving them feeling very vulnerable and unsafe,” he said.
Melissa Davey on Twitter: “Taking of explicit selfies is NOT the problem, the problem is entitled men who believe they have a right to share the images and cause harm. / Twitter”
Taking of explicit selfies is NOT the problem, the problem is entitled men who believe they have a right to share the images and cause harm.
Ms Wright suggest anyone exploited by the website can visit eSafetyWomen, an initiative started by the government to “empower all Australian women to take control of their online experiences”.
Please report any concerns to Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or the Child Protection Helpline on 132 111.
