Parents with barely a rudimentary knowledge of computers and information technology fail to monitor and guide their children on responsible use of the Internet, a police official said yesterday.

"With parents’ limited knowledge of information technology, they fail to check the activities of their children," said Superintendent Gilbert Sosa of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Sosa, chief of Anti-Transnational Crime Division of the CIDG, has appealed to parents to monitor every website their minor children visit and surf on the Internet.

The appeal was made following reports that the website adultfriendfinder.com, which claimed to have the world’s largest *** and swinger personals site, has 212,257 potential online ***ual partners from the Philippines.

But Sosa pointed out that before ATCD is able to pursue a criminal case against any person or group, there must be a complaint made.

"Without any complaint, we have no case. So we need the help and cooperation of parents to complain against groups taking advantage of minors," he said.

Sosa suggested that children should be given lessons on ethics, particularly with regards to surfing the Internet.

He also called "inaccurate" the reports that 200,000 Filipinos have been lured by cyber*** operators as shown by adultfriendfinder’s website peddling ***ual activities via the Internet.

"That was not accurate. The website based its statistics on the number of pictures and entries on the site but it does not mean that everyone on it was aware that their picture (was) placed on the website," he said.

Sosa admitted however that at present, there is no specific law prohibiting cyber*** syndicates from operating in the country.

"In the absence of a specific law, our lawmen would just charge an individual with other cases like ****ography or child ****ography, if it involves children. But in some other countries, ****ography is not against the law," Sosa noted.

He said Republic Act 8792, or the E-commerce Law, does not address the specific problem of cyber***. "What we usually use in e-commerce law is section 33, which is hacking and cracking... (referring) to unauthorized access onto a computer."

The e-commerce law was enacted only after the ILOVEYOU virus destroyed billions of pesos worth of property some years ago.

Aside from the absence of a law, another police official claimed the lack of knowledge by some judges and prosecutors about information technology was also a hindrance to the government’s campaign against cyber***.