Micac would locate and pinpoint in real time the users who are surfing porn websites and subsequently created a 'data library' of these individuals. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — The police have set up a new unit to monitor Malaysians who watch pornography online, especially child pornography, called the Malaysia Internet Crime Against Children Investigation Unit (Micac).

New Straits Times reported today that Micac would locate and pinpoint in real time the users who are surfing these websites and subsequently created a “data library” of these individuals.

The “data library” — which includes details on the portals they frequent, how long they spend on the sites, and the files they upload and download — would then be used to prosecute any offenders.

“We will pick up those who visit these sites regularly. We use a software that was specially developed to allow us to identify, locate and track visits to porn sites, especially those involving child porn,” Sexual, Women and Child Investigation division principal assistant director Assistant Commissioner Ong Chin Lan reportedly said.

The intelligence will then be passed to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to obtain the users’ details.

“We will then call them in for questioning or we may even arrest them at their homes or wherever,” Ong said, according to the report.

The monitoring software was developed in the United States and is called Internet Crime Against Children — Child Online Protective Services.

It would identify a user’s IP address, location, the name of the website where he uploaded or downloaded pornographic material, and the actual time the user visited the sites and the duration spent.

The system could also identify users who surf pornography from their mobile phones.