PLDT, Smart block record 37k sites, bare Infocast, other efforts against online child abuse

To commemorate the World Day Against Trafficking in July, PLDT and Smart Communications, Inc. showcased efforts and digital solutions in curbing online sexual abuse and exploitation of children during the Department of Justice Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (DOJ-IACAT) online forum on “Prevention and Elimination of Human Trafficking Activities in the Cyberspace.” 

Speaking before members of officers and members of the IACAT National and Regional Anti-Trafficking Task Forces composed of the country’s prosecutors and law enforcers, PLDT and Smart shared their current initiatives and opportunities for collaboration, broadening their engagement with government agencies in protecting children in cyberspace. 

“From the broader agenda of human trafficking, PLDT and Smart are particularly focused on protecting Filipino children from being victims of online sexual abuse and exploitation,” said Catherine Yap-Yang, Group Head and First Vice President of Corporate Communications at PLDT and Smart. She added that the two telcos have invested in and adopted solutions to embed child protection into their technology and network security operations as they work to build a ‘Better Today’ for children. 

Yap-Yang emphasized that PLDT and Smart’s anti-OSAEC efforts have flourished through collaborations and securing various partnerships with both local and global resource experts on child protection and law enforcement. 

One collaboration that has boosted PLDT and Smart’s arsenal in the fight against online child abuse is the companies’ membership in the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). PLDT and Smart are the first companies in the Philippines to join the global coalition of more than 150 organizations that includes some of the world’s largest tech giants in the fight against OSAEC. The IWF counts Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Telefonica, and Vodafone among its members. 

Angel Redoble, First Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at PLDT and Smart, shared that the IWF membership has enabled the Cybersecurity Operations Group to block at the more difficult content level. With access to the IWF’s expansive database, PLDT and Smart have blocked almost 37,000 URLs by the first half of July. Prior to the partnership with the IWF, the two companies have managed to cut access to around 3,000 that host child abuse content through open-source threat intelligence gathering, purchasing available commercial threat intelligence and receiving information from the government through law enforcement agencies. 

Redoble stressed though that coming up with PLDT and Smart’s child protection platform was far from being a walk in the park, “There is no off-the-shelf solution that you can buy and automatically deploy in your network to block these nefarious sites. Working with our network team, we dissected where data traffic traverses to find a way to prevent users from accessing CSAMs without violating privacy laws.” 

PLDT and Smart also offered the Smart Infocast as a tool to combat human trafficking and online child abuse. The platform can be adopted to allow citizens to text and report OSAEC-related cases directly to law enforcers. Launched in 2015, Smart Infocast has enabled inter-agency task force groups and local government units to send out text updates to officials and employees, health workers, and barangay and police authorities. This feature helps boost information dissemination regarding key issues. The service also allows registered subscribers to send reports or feedback, helping officials or authorities engage with their community members. This capability has proven useful for local authorities in responding to criminal activities in their areas. So far, Smart Infocast has already reached 1.3 million Filipinos in almost 800 communities nationwide. 

PLDT and Smart have actively participated in efforts to amend Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009. Aileen Regio, First Vice President and Head of PLDT’s Regulatory and Strategic Affairs, shared that PLDT and Smart have always taken the initiative to ensuring that nefarious activities such as human trafficking and OSAEC are curbed, if not, totally prevented. 

“Apart from working with regulators since 2009 when the law was passed, PLDT and Smart together with the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators or PCTO have been engaging various government agencies to clarify portions of the law which we believe to be loopholes that have been preventing stakeholders from carrying out the essence of the law,” she said. 

Regio explained that the amended version of the bill has clarified conflicting provisions of RA 9775. It has also identified different internet intermediaries and specified their roles and responsibilities in the fight against OSAEC. Senators have approved on final reading the bill expanding government protection of children against OSAEC, while their counterpart in the House of Representatives have approved their version of the bill at the committee level. 

On top of employing technology solutions, PLDT and Smart have also been strengthening their own corporate policies and embedding child protection in their broader sustainability agenda. As a result of their partnership with UNICEF, the companies have since rolled out their own Child Safeguarding Policies and piloted the updated Mobile Operators Child Rights Impact Assessment (MO-CRIA) tool, further driving the thrust to manage business impact on children and aligning with the world’s best practices for child protection. 

PLDT and Smart are also collaborating with the International Justice Mission (IJM) in efforts to aid law enforcement in combating OSAEC in the Philippines. 

Smart, through its premium postpaid brand Smart Infinity, has also opened up a text-based donation platform that allows customers to help promote the safety of children online and support community-based anti-OSAEC initiatives, in partnership with Kids for Kids PH and through the PLDT-Smart Foundation. To donate, Smart Infinity customers just need to text INFINITE <space> AMT to 3456. Customers can donate in denominations of P350, P500, P800 and P1000. Amount will be correspondingly charged to their postpaid accounts.   

These initiatives underscore PLDT and Smart’s commitment to help the country attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), particularly UNSDG #16 which promotes just, peaceful and inclusive societies including the end to abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.