Problem-Solution Essay Draft 2

Sex crime such as compensation dating, pornography and rapes, these are the most disturbing tragedies that every parent in Japan wish to prevent on their children. 71.2 percent of teenagers (Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communication, 2011) at their tens actively engage in activities on social media platforms. Prominent social media in Japan such as GRee, mixi, Mobage and DeNA, become major platforms for these teenagers to be actively engaged in, as such the risks of crime as result of high degree of usage have come into the spotlight for social concern. In addition to social media, Deai-kei site, or dating web services in English, have not been regulated against teenage users. At the process of chatting with online strangers, teenagers are convinced to meet strangers and thus making them susceptible to threats. There are more than 1000 teenage victims each year in Japan (Nikkei, 2010), which government regulations have to come into effect to reduce this tragic number. However, even though strict institutional enforcement on usage and SNS users monitoring, the root of problems lie at the insufficiency of education on risks of social media as well as attitude towards sex.

Law and regulation enforcement against social media usage should be implemented especially against teenagers. To do so, one way is to implement registration by real-names and particulars in social media sites where they free-chat functions are allowed. For users to be registered with real particulars, law enforcement bodies such as police and Ministry of Home Affairs & Communication can track down any inappropriate conversations involving teenagers and potential sexual activities seekers. In addition it can ensure that an internet environment has been monitored in protecting against teenagers. Social media sites are being used for dating purposes in many cases, and victims usually are unaware of the risks they might face. By implementing such a hard measure can at least bring any offenders into justice, and can at least rescue the victim before anything worse could happen. However, the setback of this system is that individuals can use fake particulars to register online SNS services, particularly in Japan where there isn’t a system of national identity registration. Tracking might also be difficult when users register with fake addresses or other people’s addresses. It might seem impossible to urge Japan to introduce a nationals identity registration system like other countries such as Korea, China and Singapore, yet a higher level of security can be done by requiring information such as driver’s license number or credit card numbers. There will always be loopholes in monitoring online activities, and there will be criticisms on privacy intrusions. Yet for a safer internet environment for teenagers, such measures are necessary to a large extent. 

The Chinese government monitored its internet contents extensively at each words in fear of political unrest, and Japan could use the same method in warning teenage users against potential dangers. In China, websites, instant-messaging services such as QQ and WeChat, and online forums have been closely monitored by the government. When there are sensitive keywords such as money, remittance, political words appear in the content, the system automatically detects the keyword and warn users against potential threats. If social networks could introduce this system in Japan, teenagers could be warned against potential sex crimes. There was a case of a victim aged 16 years old, being asked to send nude photos of herself to a stranger in exchange of in-game coins for popular application GRee, in Okayama Prefecture (Nikkei, 2010), violating the law of child pornography prohibition. Such conversation exchange should have been brought down, before the dignity of the girl being ruined by such pervert. Therefore, although it will be heavily criticized by the west that such strict control on internet is violating the spirit of freedom, yet the act of exploitation of freedom by suspicious ones must be curbed. 

Even though hard measures could have been implemented, the root of SNS susceptibility of teenagers lies in education. School and parental education can focus on risks of using social media sites, with emphasis on how to identify hints or invitations on these activities. There is a need to alert teenage users that social media sites contain more risks behind communicating only, and education on prevention on leakage of personal information is needed as well. Information-technology and Promotion Agency (IPA) has warned teenage users on how to prevent risks, such as not revealing personal information and set higher security level. The agencies also provided support in case of tragedy happens. Yet, there might have been education on the national level, but parental and school level is insufficient. In Japan, third-party organizations which promote SNS safety are active outside campus, but the penetration rate in students may be a big question mark. Furthermore, there is insufficient education on correct attitude towards sex. Many teenagers consider that it is normal and acceptable in engaged in sexual activities at their age, with persons they know or do not know. If teenagers do not treasure their bodies and safety, sex seekers will have greater chance in preying them. Teenagers need to know casualness of sex will lead to greater problems such as law breaking, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies. All in all, there should be a greater level on education at a closer life proximity with teenagers. 

In conclusion, hard and soft measures should work together in order to compensate the shortcoming of each other. While hard measures such as government regulation and monitoring can reduce new cases of teenage sex crimes, education from young can instill a sense or alertness at a massive scale that future or existing SNS users will know how to protect themselves against dangers. 

947 words

Reference

Inoue, O. (2010, December 8). ＳＮＳを悩ます「出会い系」問題の深淵　非出会い系の被害児童数は最悪水準へ. Retrieved from http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZZO19323130T01C10A2000000/

ソーシャルメディアの利用状況 ： 平成23年版 情報通信白書 [Usage on social media, white paper 2013 version] (2011), Ministry of Home Affairs & Communications (Japan)

被害に遭ったら [In case there is a crime] (2014), Information-technology and Promotion Agency (IPA) (Japan)