Sweetie 2.0, software to intercept, identify and deter individuals using the internet to sexually abuse children

In 2013 the phenomenon of Webcam Child Sex Tourism, whereby men in wealthier countries pay children in developing countries to perform live sex shows online, made headlines around the globe. This was due to the work of child rights organisation Terre des Hommes who developed the innovative Sweetie Project using a computer generated avatar of a 10 year old Filipino girl. Over a period of 10 weeks, four operators monitored some 20 so-called "chatrooms" and managed to identify 1,000 individuals from 71 countries requesting sex shows from - what they thought to be - underage Filipino girls. As far as known, arrests and convictions have taken place in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland and the UK. However, the demand for sex with children on the internet is growing by the day with some 750,000 individuals online at any moment in time seeking to engage children in sexual activities. Terre des Hommes advocates for a more pro-active approach in tackling this phenomenon. Even according to law enforcement this problem is simply too big to "arrest our way out of it". In collaboration with several specialised Dutch companies Terre des Hommes has developed specific software, avatars and chatbots to monitor larger parts of the internet to be able to locate and identify (potential) predators and send them warning messages. According to research by forensic psychologists at Tilburg University, some 25% of men (one in four) starting to watch child pornography will then move on to hands-on child sexual abuse. Early intervention, the objective of Sweetie 2.0, could stop this and make the internet a safer place for children.

Sweetie 2.0 has been developed for child rights organisation Terre des Hommes, by Dutch companies Tracks Inspector, MOTEK and eCreation with the assistance of the Universities of Tilburg and Leiden and financial support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery.

Link: "More information can be found on the dedicated website www.savesweetienow.org and www.tdh.nl.