Sexual Crimes Committed Through the Internet

İnternet Aracılığıyla İşlenen Cinsel Suçlar

Murat Volkan DÜLGER

If sexual offenses to take into account are only the types of crimes that are prescribed in criminal codes, the concept of sexual offenses would be perceived no more than sexual harassment, molestation, simple sexual assault and qualified sexual assault. However, the concept of sexual offenses is broader than and beyond these in terms of the effects. Especially after the informatics revolution with the internet becoming an indispensable part of our lives and with the transfer of all kinds of personal data including our private lives to social media, the frequency and the impact area of these offenses are increased unforeseeably. In the pre-internet era, being close enough to a person to have physical contact with him in order to commit a sexual crime is at least a letter, etc. Today, it is extremely easy for the perpetrator to remain anonymous and sexually assault digitally. While it makes difficult to find the perpetrator on the other hand it is an environment that facilitates the commission of the crime. Lately “revenge porn” is the most common example of that ex-partner or spouse shares anonymously the other one’s naked images or videos during sexual affair. Another method of committing sexual crime that digital era brought out, is to force the victim to have sexual intercourse with perpetrator himself or with third parties by blackmailing with the victims’ private images or information obtained somehow from the digital environment. Another sexual offense is providing an easy access to the contents including child pornography, animal pornography or violence. Especially these are the methods of committing crime against which the whole world has been fighting. In this article, I will try to make a general assessment about the sexual crimes which is exactly a very old type of crime, transformation of sexual crime in today’s digital world, opportunities that created in a negative way by perpetrators and methods of dealing with them.

Internet, Sexual Offense, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Cybercrime, Revenge Pornography, Child Pornography.

Cinsel suç kavramından yalnızca ceza kanunlarında yer alan suç tipleri dikkate alınacak olursa cinsel taciz, sarkıntılık, basit cinsel saldırı ve nitelikli cinsel saldırıdan ibaret algılanır. Oysa cinsel suç kavramı bundan geniş ve etkileri açısından ise bunun ötesindedir. Özellikle bilişim devriminden sonra internetin hayatımızın vazgeçilmez bir parçası olması ve özel yaşamlarımız dahil her türlü kişisel verimizin sosyal medyaya taşınmasıyla bu suçların işlenme sıklığı ve etki alanı öngörülemeyecek bir şekilde artmıştır. İnternet öncesi devirde bir kişiye cinsel suç işlemek için onunla fiziksel temas kurabilecek yakınlıkta olunması en azından mektup vs. gönderilmesi gerekirken, günümüzde failin anonim kalarak dijital alanda cinsel saldırıda bulunması son derece kolaydır. Bu bir yandan failin bulunmasını zorlaştırırken, diğer yandan da suçun işlenmesini kolaylaştıran bir ortamdır. Son zamanlarda eski sevgili ya da eşlerin, diğer tarafın çıplak ya da sevişme anında çekilen görüntü ya da videolarını anonim olarak paylaştıkları “intikam pornosu” (revenge porn) olgusu bunun en yaygın örneğidir. Dijital çağın gündeme getirdiği bir başka cinsel suç işleme yöntemi ise, bir şekilde dijital ortamda elde edilen özel görüntülerin ya da bilgilerin kullanılmak suretiyle mağdurların şantaja maruz bırakılarak, failin kendisi ya da üçüncü kişilerle cinsel ilişki kurmaya zorlanmasıdır. Bir diğer cinsel suç ise çocuk pornografisi, hayvan pornografisi ya da şiddet içeren pornografik içeriklere erişimin kolaylıkla sağlanmasıdır. Özellikle bunlar tüm dünyanın mücadele ettiği suç işleme modelleridir. Makalemde, aslında çok eski bir suç türü olan cinsel suçların, günümüzün dijital dünyasında geçirdiği dönüşüm, olumsuz anlamda suç failleri için yarattığı fırsatlar ve bunlarla mücadele yöntemleri hakkında genel bir değerlendirmede bulunmaya çalışacağım.

İnternet, Cinsel Suçlar, Cinsel Saldırı, Cinsel Taciz, Bilişim Suçları, İntikam Pornosu, Çocuk Pornografisi.

INTRODUCTION

Sexual crimes are generally evaluated differently from other types of crimes, and these crimes have a wide place in the crime-fighting agenda due to the anger of the society towards the crime in question. These crimes targeting sexual inviolability is perceived as more offensive, more disturbing and as a result more serious crimes compared to other types of crimes.¹

However, both in our country and in the world, the rate of sexual crimes being committed, or at least reported, is increasing every year, and the concept of sexual crime is becoming a source of greater concern for the society. One of the most important phenomena affecting the number and types of sexual crimes is the internet. In this study, I will try to make an overall assessment about the transformation of sexual crimes in today’s digital world, which is actually a very old type of crime, the opportunities it creates for the perpetrators of crime in a negative way, the methods of combating them, and revenge porn, which has emerged as a sexual crime and a new phenomenon as a social problem.

I. ONLINE SEXUAL OFFENSE

The internet, which is often described as a chaotic, unlawful, and dangerous area. It is a very large network formed by the interconnection of the networks formed by the interconnection of millions of computers around the World.² The internet and the web (www-World Wide Web) are different from each other, although they are often used synonymously or assumed to be identical. While the internet is a top concept that expresses all kinds of networks consisting of networks connecting information systems; the web is only one type and sub-part of the internet. Web is the most common type of network on the internet and it provides us an unlimited access and interaction to stored computing devices thanks to websites and web browsers, text, image, sound, etc. Although a large part of internet usage takes place over the web today, it should be reminded that the internet is not just the web.

We all know that the internet, which has become the fastest and easiest way to access information today, has brought radical changes to our world and has affected every aspect of our lives like an epidemic. The aspect of this phenomenon that is of interest to my work is the opportunities it creates for perpetrators of sexual crimes and the sexual crimes committed via the internet as a new type of crime and area of crime.

In fact, sexuality is one of the most used purposes of the internet. In most of the research in this field, the word “sex” is the most searched word on the internet.³ In other studies, the most searched words are always those associated with sexuality and pornography.⁴ It would not be wrong to say that the primary purpose of people’s use of the internet is sexuality, considering that approximately 70% of internet content consists of pornographic content, nearly three million sexual e-mails are sent every day, and approximately one hundred million people access pornographic content daily. Sex on the internet is commonly referred to as “cyber- sexuality” or “cyber-sex”. I will also follow this terminology in my work.

A significant portion of the use of the internet for sexual purposes consists of activities that do not constitute illegality or at least do not constitute a crime.⁵ For example, although there are areas that can be abused for the purposes of people such as sex education, erotic product trade, legitimate sexual entertainment, sexual therapy, sex partner search platforms, virtual sex platforms, they are basically legitimate areas.⁶ However, the use of the internet for deviant sexual purposes is also not to be underestimated.

Of course, my criterion for deviance here shouldn’t be considered legitimate by the legal order. User movements that are seen as morally deviant are not within the scope of our study. However, the adventure of sexual satisfaction in the internet environment often results in addiction.⁷ As in gambling addiction, the addiction that always follows the “big hit” brings the person to an illegal line after a point. The person, who is initially provoked by “reasonable” content, needs “deviant” content after a while, then becomes insensitive to sexual perversion and can easily turn into crime as a result.⁸ This brings up the phenomenon of the use of the internet for sexual crime. The use of the internet for sexual crime is widely used mentioned as “cyber sexual crime” (cyber sexual criminality), also mentioned as (cyber sexual crimes/offenses) as well as sexual offenses committed on the internet.

Cyber sexual crimes are increasing day by day and cyber sexual crime is becoming more and more common.⁹ The use of the internet for deviant sexual purposes and the increase in cyber-sexual crimes are due to the nature of the internet. These reasons can be counted as accessibility, affordability and anonymity.¹⁰ The existence of the internet makes accessible from anywhere at any time and almost free of charge to the opportunities which are essential for engage in deviant sexual behavior. Moreover, it is possible for these actions to be carried out anonymously, by hiding their real identities.

While accessibility and availability facilitate the display of deviant sexual behavior, what attracts cybersex offenders the most is staying anonymous. Although the perception of staying anonymous and not being followed often does not reflect the truth, many people who stay away from crime in real life for fear of being exposed and being caught turn into crime with the assurance of staying anonymous on the internet.¹¹ According to a study conducted in the United States a major part of cybersex offenders are entry-level criminals with no previous criminal record.¹² In other words, these people do not turn into crime in this way in the physical world. This confirms the thesis that individuals who keep their deviant sexual impulses under control in social life are highly possible to commit crimes because of opportunities provided by the internet environment such as accessibility, availability, and anonymity.

Anonymity on the internet environment also paves the way for potential victims of cyber sexual crime to become more vulnerable. The liberty that pushes the perpetrator to act, paradoxically, lowers the victim’s resistance. Moreover, the potential victim, who thinks that his identity is hidden, reveals his emotional world much more easily and becomes open to manipulation.¹³ Confidentiality of the victim’s identity does not create any protection for crimes that do not target a specific victim.¹⁴

Another cause of widespread cybersex crime is the insensitivity caused by the internet environment. Conscientious sensitivities and feelings of empathy, which generally serve as a deterrent from crime, lose their effect in the internet environment. The perpetrator, who often does not make eye contact with the victim and does not target a particular victim, becomes detached from his conscientious sensitivities, and becomes desensitized due to the virtual nature of the internet environment.¹⁵ Moreover, with the ease of being in the virtual world, the victim can easily engage in sexual approaches that he would not engage in normal life with various sensitivities, and this feeds the phenomenon of cyber sexual delinquency.

The term sexual crimes mean crimes committed against sexual inviolability. According to traditional acceptance, these are sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual intercourse crimes oriented towards adults or minors, regardless of their gender identity patterns. While some of these crimes are not considered possible to be committed via the internet (e.g., qualified sexual assault, sexual intercourse with a minor), their forms committed via the internet (e.g., sexual harassment) should be considered within the scope of cyber sexual delinquency. These crimes, which are defined by criminal laws, mostly about physical contact between the perpetrator and the victim. However, the types of crimes that stand out in terms of cyber sexual delinquency are crimes that mostly target children, such as contactless abuse in the virtual environment, temptation for contact abuse planned in the real environment, or child pornography. In addition to the fact that these crimes are being committed more intensely than traditional sexual crimes on the internet, the attention of politics, public opinion and law enforcement forces also focuses on these crimes.¹⁶

When dealing with sexual crimes committed on the internet, I think to interpret the concept of “sexual crime” a little more broadly, and to deal with some acts of a sexual nature, even if they are based on consent, within this scope. In this context, I will evaluate the concept of revenge porn.

II. SEXUAL HARASSMENT THROUGH THE INTERNET

The crimes regulated under the title of “Crimes Against Sexual Inviolability” by the Turkish Penal Code (TPC) No. 5237 are; sexual assault, sexual abuse of children, sexual intercourse with a minor and sexual harassment. For sexual assault, sexual abuse of children and sexual intercourse with minors, physical intimacy and physical contact between the perpetrator and the victim is mandatory, that’s why it is not possible to commit these crimes online on the internet. Although “virtual sex” or “cybersex” the remote sex phenomenon based on stimulating and satisfying each other through written, verbal and visual communication on the internet, is becoming more and more widespread, these actions that doesn’t contain physical contact or intercourse and they cannot cause the occurrence of sexual assault or sexual intercourse with a minor due to the principle of legality of crimes and punishments and the prohibition of expansionary interpretation in criminal law.¹⁷ In this respect, it is possible to say that it is not possible to commit these three types of crimes over the internet and they are outside the concept of cybercrime.

In terms of these crimes, the internet can only be used as an intermediary within the scope of preparatory actions. Although the use of the internet as a preparatory tool in terms of combating crime and delinquency is also a subject worth examining.¹⁸ I will not go into this aspect of the subject since the framework of my work is constitute into the boundaries of criminal law. In this regard, I will only deal with the crime of sexual harassment.