Supreme Court Justice Tologata Leilani Tuala-Warren has called on Members of Parliament to consider legislation which makes it mandatory for service providers to block harmful and inappropriate content such as pornography.

Her honour made the comments while handing down sentencing for an year old boy convicted of incest with his biological sister, who gave birth as a result.

She said pornographic material being accessed by the accused in this case, and no doubt accessed by many children and teenagers in this country.

The Judge quoted the Brainwave Trust, that adolescents who frequently access pornography are more likely to develop unrealistic sexual values and beliefs, engage in casual sexual behavior and engage in and experience sexual aggression.
“This is an extremely important issue which is of grave concern and one which the lawmakers in this country should address.
“Inappropriate pornographic content being accessed on his phone, led to this 18 year old sexually violating his 12 year old sister twice, causing her to fall pregnant.

“This is an issue which falls squarely within the domain and control of internet service providers in this country.

“Although they may not have a statutory obligation to block pornographic material on mobile devices, their sense of social responsibility should lead them to self regulate as this unregulated content leads to sexually deviant behavior as in this case.”

Justice Tologata said the Samoa Law Reform Commission should provide assistance to the government by reviewing existing laws which regulate content to better protect our children and young persons from this type of content through legislation which makes it mandatory for service providers to block harmful and inappropriate content.

“Those who make a profit from providing this service should not be given free reign.

The service providers must be held to a higher standard given that they influence the lives of many young people through the content which they allow.

The protection of our most vulnerable members of society, our children and young persons, is the responsibility of everyone in this country, and service providers being part of this country, should also uphold their responsibility in protecting our children, and if they do not, they should most definitely be held to account.”

The judge concluded by ordering that copies of her judgement and sentencing be sent to Managers of both Vodafone and Digicel along with the Minister of Communication and Information Technology; the Regulator and the Samoa Law Reform Commission.