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There are two type of arguments/answers to this question. One is morally, and one is practical, and since we are all very practical people, I will start with that. If the goal is to minimize the number of abused children, the methods used should follow a cost benefit analyze to use the finite resources of cash, work hours, and political focus. If a method A, lets call this a child porn blacklist and obligated recording and data mining of every person data traffic to enforce a data ban on child pornography gives say 5% deterrent of abuses for $100 billions, and method B), that educate teachers to see signs of abuse and have mandatory counsel at hand in schools and daycare for a cost of say $10 billions and that has a reduction of abuse cases of around 25%, the choice should be obvious where the money, work and political focus should go. While police and ISP still could do a token effort if they stumble onto something, that effort must not produce less result than if the time and money went to educating the teachers and counsels. In a practical sense, education is just one of the more obvious thing one can do. Statistics show that somewhere of 95-99% something of cases does not involve a camera, and the people most likely to abuse kids are someone in the kids family. Using that data, and data on how little effective chasing child porn has to reduce future abuses, we should do better in the methods being applied to reduce child abuse. But that's the practical argument. what about the moral one. Here I point slightly towards a suggested mandatory medical examination of children, a law that has got shot down every single time it has been suggested. but is that law more morally wrong than recoding every single word anyone ever say for indefinite time? its clearly a very much more effective approach to have regular medical examination, and if we are already throwing out moral objections to being recorded all the time, this should not be a big issue? that surveillance has a clear and scientific proven negative effect on society, democracy and science, should also be clearly weight in. As I see it, current politics are applying ineffective, expensive and morally outrightous methods to deter child abuse, while obvious and effective methods goes unused. At the same time, the ineffective methods are doing long term damage to societies base values. |