F

ollowing the recent kidnapping of a teenager by her Facebook friend in Depok, the misuse of the Internet will persist if both the authorities and the public fail to take online security and privacy issues seriously, experts have warned.

Donny Budhi Utoyo, a researcher from ICT Watch, said that since the arrival of the Internet in the country more than a decade ago, there had been so many kidnapping and rape cases triggered by the use of the Internet, but there was no sign of these cases decreasing.

“One of the reasons why instances of these cases persist is because security and privacy issues have not yet become a main concern,” he said.

Donny explained that currently, the government was too busy dealing with Internet pornography, so that other important issues were forgotten.

“Once forgotten, security and privacy issues can be more dangerous than pornography,” he said.

He said that at first the public was very willing to promote safe Internet usage after issued had emerged. “But when things cooled down, we forgot about it,” Donny said.

There is no regulation that specifically stipulates on Internet usage in Indonesia. Some regulations still related to the Internet are the 1999 Telecommunications Law and the 2008 Information and Electronic Transactions Law.

Recently, a 14-year-old girl identified as SAS was kidnapped by a man she met through Facebook. After going missing for around a week, she returned home having been allegedly raped and beaten.

The teenager was asked to meet the man, identified as DG aka Y, outside a department store in Depok, on Sept. 23, where a public minivan with several of the man’s friends on board was waiting.

According to the girl’s testimony, they headed to a house in Parung, Bogor, where several other teenage girls were also being held.

She said that the man, who had proclaimed himself as her boyfriend to his friends, raped the girl and told her to have sexual intercourse with two other men.

SAS was finally released after being allegedly beaten for asking to be returned home.

DG last logged into his Facebook account on Sept. 25 and “befriended” 10 girls that day. Most of his 126 “friends” were minors.

The victim’s lawyer, Dwi Handy Pardede, said the girl said she would be sold to someone in Batam, Riau Islands.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that the police had named DG a suspect for kidnapping, beating and raping SAS.

Psychologist Ike R. Sugianto said that the trick luring victims through social media had not only happened to teenagers, but also to adults. “Teenagers are more vulnerable because they are in the phase of finding their identity. And when they find comfort in the virtual world, they tend to ignore the security and privacy matters,” she said.

In addition, Ike said that some teenagers heard of some success stories on relationships in the virtual world. “Not all meetings that start through using social media turn bad, so they probably just want to experience that too, without considering the dangers that lurk,” she said.

Donny said that parents could play a great role in raising their children’s awareness of Internet’s security.

Participation from the community in helping raising awareness on Internet security was also needed, together with teachers and government, Donny added.