SEX VIDEOS, however, are not the only new "toys" being enjoyed and passed around by cyberpeeps. In adult mailing lists hosted by Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups, modern-day voyeurs are having a field day posting and exchanging compromising photos of women of all races captured from webcams, secretly taken using mobile phones or digicams, or scanned from girly magazines.

How to Avoid Getting Victimized by Voyeurs 1. Be aware of anyone using a cell phone in public places like a locker room, public showers, children's play area, swimming pool, or changing rooms. 2. Be suspicious of anyone using a cell phone in an awkward manner — not holding it up to the ear or facing the mouth. 3. Don't be afraid to confront someone using a cell phone in a way that appears suspicious. Ask outright what he or she is doing. 4. If you suspect you have become a victim of video voyeurs: Alert someone in authority about your concerns. Immediately report the incident to the local police or the following law enforcement agencies: Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Phone: 7261575 Email: cidg@pnp.gov.ph Police Community Relations Group/ Women's Crisis and Child Protection Office Phone: 7230401 local 5444/3697 Email: pcrg@pnp.gov.ph Anti-Fraud and Computer Crime Division, National Bureau of Investigation Phone: 5246395 Email: pumallari@nbi.gov.ph Or use the online NBI complaint form Seek out the source of the file or the person whom you suspect is behind the distribution of the video or pictures. Law enforcement agents say that in many cases, the primary suspect is often one of the persons involved in the production of the video — your own sex partner or boyfriend/girlfriend. If the video or photos were stolen from your cell phone or PC by a technician, or somebody with access to these devices, you can prosecute these people and use the files posted on the Internet as evidence.

The shared images range from the innocent-looking I.D. or full-body poses to up-skirt and down-blouse shots, to women donning sexy swimsuits or lingerie. There are women either stripped to the waist or butt naked. Some are shown performing lascivious and even fetishistic acts. There are also images of women undressing in fitting rooms and peeing in public toilets, which should be fair warning to everyone that hidden cameras in these places are not just the stuff of urban legends.

But there are some voyeurs who are bolder and quite cheeky. Just recently, a female commuter at the MRT caught a man taking a sneak peek of her breasts using his cell phone. He merely smirked when the woman gave him a stern look. He also nonchalantly showed the down-blouse picture to his male companion.

But the woman loudly recounted the incident to her boyfriend on — surprise, surprise — her cell phone, embarrassing the voyeurs and alerting the other MRT riders. She then filed a complaint with the station manager, who endorsed it, along with the photos she took of the two men, to the central station. The MRT management promised to post a notice with the photos of the two men to serve as a warning to female passengers.

Mallari could only wish there were more like-minded women. He says his team has so far handled only less than 10 cases involving sex videos that were either recorded with full knowledge by both parties (but later ceased to be a "private tape") or with one party unaware that a camera was on. Only three of the cases are now pending in court; the rest, says Mallari, had the women-complainants eventually "losing interest."

"When the victims are persistent, we've even gone to the extent of confiscating the voyeurs' computers," says the visibly frustrated NBI officer.

But he admits that law enforcers face a blank wall when the uploading is done through a cybercafé. They might be able to trace the specific Internet café where offensive video was uploaded, but then identifying the culprit is difficult since the establishments have no record of their users. "That is why we're pushing for regulation that would require cybercafés to log their users so we can identify them," says Mallari.

Among those he also eyes to be obliged to keep proper users' logs are Internet service providers (ISPs), phone companies, and phone dealers to facilitate the identification of suspects and for evidentiary purposes. In the meantime, the NBI has managed to acquire software that Mallari says will be useful in the examination of SIM cards and mobile phones.