Common use of Anonymity Clause in Contracts

Anonymity. For paedophiles, before the advent of the Internet, sourcing children was risky and required a well planned strategy. Paedophiles had to make physical visits to places frequented by children, such as children’s playground, swimming pools, arcades, and school grounds. Paedophiles would also need to seek employment in jobs which provides the necessary contact with and exposure to children. The Internet has done away with these cumbersome measures. In their desire to contact children, paedophiles have taken advantage of the anonymity of the Internet to meet, entice, and exploit children and young people. A number of investigations have shown a significant number of young people that have been contacted by strangers on-line. Research by ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ and ▇▇▇▇▇ (2005) suggests that 31% of 9-to-19-year-olds who go on-line at least weekly, reported having received unwanted sexual comments via e-mail, chat, instant messenger or text message,116 whilst researchers ▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, and ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ (2006) found age to be a discriminating factor, with 12-to-14-year- 115 Child sexual abuse, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, available at ▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇/cs/root/facts_for_families/child_sexual_abuse. See also ECPAT’s Child Pornography and Sexual Exploitation On-line, (2008) World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, November, available at ▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇/worldcongressIII/PDF/Press_Release/ECPAT_WCIII_ENG.pdf 116 ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, S and ▇▇▇▇▇, M., (2005) U.K. children go on-line: Final Report of Key Project Findings’, 2005 London: LSE Research On-line; available at ▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇/399/ olds tending to talk to strangers on-line more than older teenagers.117 In his research, ▇▇▇▇▇ (2007) revealed that 32% of on-line teens have been contacted by someone with no connection to them or any of their friends. Nearly 23% say that they feel scared or uncomfortable as a result. Overall, 7% of the on-line teens experienced disturbing stranger contact.118 Although evidence indicates the increasing potential dangers of meeting strangers off-line who they first met on-line, there is still a high proportion of young people who do so.119 This suggests that there may be some lack of clarity about who is a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.120 In addition to anonymity of the Internet, paedophiles benefit greatly from interactive communication technologies such as Internet Relay Chats, on-line chat rooms and instant messaging. Chat rooms appeal to children and young people because of the chat room allows communication with many people of similar interest in real time. For the paedophile, chatting on.line enables him121 to identify a naïve vulnerable child with the intention of developing a relationship with. Once the relationship develops to a point where the child is able to confide and trust the paedophile, the paedophile may then move to sexualise the contact. This is done by (1) persuading the child to perform sexual acts, or (2) having the child agree to be photographed participating in such activities.122 Paedophiles are also becoming adept at using software applications available and this is seen in the increasing use of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks by paedophiles.123