Pellau Magazine

Adults are posting a ridiculous amount of detail about their private lives on Facebook, says PNM senator Terrence Deyalsingh. He said so during yesterday's Senate debate on the Children Bill. Deyalsingh, who said he would support the bill, noted some aspects of "administrative unworkability" in it which he suggested should be improved. He said the abuse of children via Internet pornography was difficult to deal with since the Net was used in privacy.

He called on the Public Utilities Ministry to revisit the local Telecommunications Act to see if Internet providers such as Flow and TSTT should give the State information on pornography users, as is done in other countries, including the US. Deyalsingh said guardians and children must also be aware of the dangers of Facebook. Deyalsingh, who said he was on Facebook, added:

"What is I find absolutely ridiculous, even for adults is the amount of details people put on Facebook about your own lives. Adults! Adults are posting pictures of themselves in bikinis, drinking, drunk—and if adults can do that type of rubbish..." He continued, "Sitting down on a turtle, taking a picture of your buss-up shot and channa. It's speaking to a part of the human condition I don't understand where adults feel it is necessary and important enough to put your private life on show on Facebook. What do you leave for children, who have a lower threshold of understanding?"

He said the Education Ministry, PTAs, schools, children and guardians have to grapple with "the access to technology that we allow young kids to have." Noting comments by the police about their Cyber Crimes Unit being overworked and needing resources and other things, he called on authorities to ensure the unit was capable of handling Facebook abuse, including the abuse of children.

He questioned how Government would deal with the "SODDI Defence" used by some people for Internet or computer crimes. Deyalsingh said the SODDI defence, which was used in the OJ Simpson case, meant "Some Other Dude Did It," and that it was also known as the Trojan Horse defence.  

He said it has also been successfully used in UK computer crime cases where people claimed remotely controlled viruses and programs were planted on their computers. Questioning if T&T could handle this, he said the SODDI  defence reverses where the burden of proof lies, but the law was always behind technology.

 He said he hoped the Children Bill involved liaising with international bodies trying to curb paedophile activity. He said research showed paedophiles were culturally and geographically similar and usually linked with similar people in the same region. Deyalsingh also questioned where copyright and intellectual property laws in T&T were since he said he'd noted that PP Senator David Abdulah's image was used on a PP advertisement without his permission.