Passerelle numériques’ scholars win hackathon against online child sexual exploitation

Team CatchApp, made up of scholars from the Passerelle numériques,  wins the first Bidlisiw’s Hackathon combatting online sexual exploitation of children at the Dohera Hotel in Mandaue City on Sunday, July 14. | Raul Constantine Tabanao

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cooperation and camaraderie.

These were the key ingredients of the Team CatchApp to outwit other teams during the first Bidlisiw’s Hackathon at the Dohera Hotel in Mandaue City on Sunday, July 14.

The hackathon, which was organized by the Bidlisiw Foundation Inc., in cooperation with Sympn, CodeChum,  Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT-7) in Central Visayas, Inspire Team, New Logic, and ACX Outsourcing Hub, aims to combat online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) through innovative IT solutions.

Read more: Hackathon to fight online child sexual exploitation set in Cebu

Team CatchApp bagged the first place and bested 5 teams from different schools and IT companies in Cebu with their mobile/web reporting application entitled, “CatchApp.”

The team consisted of four Information Technology students of the University of San Carlos (USC), who are scholars of the Passerelle numériques, which is a French nonprofit organization.

Jakeniel Erim, a representative of the team, said that their app would allow users to send an OSEC incident, the reports of which would be received by the authorities, who then would take actions in solving the case.

“This mobile web application has the features which the reporter can send messages and photos, and the location of the reporter would be directly accessed by the authority. The partnered authority of this app is the police,” he said.

Erim also said that his experience with his team in the hackathon was fun and exciting.

“First and foremost, this is my very first time to join a hackathon and the experience was fun and amazing — lots of knowledge to be a part [of the event] — I gained a lot IT knowledge because I am now a scholar of Passerelles Numeriques, and I am not really inclined especially to IT, but I grabbed this opportunity,” he said.

“Wa mi na nafeel nga nagcontest diay mi. Instead, we are helping each other to solve the problem on online sexual exploitation of children,” he said.

(We didn’t feel that we were participating in a contest. Instead, we are helping each other to solve the problem on sexual exploitation of children)

Prosecutor Marco Daguinod from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Central Visayas (IACAT-7) said that he was happy to witness such initiative from the non-government agency (NGO) and IT companies in combatting online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC).

Daguinod, who was part of the board judges, also said that he was considering some projects that might be possible for prototype development.

“Actually daghan, kato sa reporting nindot to siya nga naay facial recognition. Kato naay mga interactive nga mga reporting and even katong pang behavioural nga modetect siya kung ang bata nag undergone og sexual exploitation,” he said.

(Actually there are many, like the reporting application with facial recognition feature. The interactive reporting app and even the behavioural game that can detect signs of a children who might be a victim of online sexual exploitation.)/dbs