Issue no. 413 - 20 February 2011

• EU - Council general approach on fight against sexual exploitation of children, (Conisliuml)
  At its meeting on 2 December 2010, the Council reached a general approach, thus opening the way for negotiations with the European Parliament, on two directives regarding: - the fight against sexual exploitation of children. During the Council meeting, ministers focused their debate on the following issues: disqualifications arising from convictions which aims to ensure that a person convicted may be temporarily or permanently prevented from exercising at least professional activities involving regular contacts with children; and measures against websites containing or disseminating child pornography, including the removal or, where not possible, blocking of webpages containing or disseminating child pornography.

• EU - Delete child pornography web pages across the EU, says EP Committee (EP)
  Child pornography or child abuse material on the web must be removed at source in all EU countries, said the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, in amendments to proposed new EU rules to prevent abuse, stiffen penalties, and protect victims. Where removal is impossible, e.g. because pages are hosted outside the EU, Member States may still "prevent access" to this material, in line with their national laws, MEPs added, so no Member State will be prevented from blocking sites. MEPs made a series of amendments to a proposed EU directive to combat sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. Complete removal at source must be the main aim.

• EU - Network and information security (RAPID)
  eelie Kroes Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda TechAmerica event on joint EU/US cybersecurity Washington, 16 December 2010. I am particularly horrified by the ease with which children abuse images can be exploited online. Last weekend, yet another case was discovered, thanks to cooperation between the US and the Dutch authorities. It is essential that we do more to prevent such exploitation and crimes. There is no excuse for taking a month to remove a paedophile website, when phishing websites are generally removed within hours of their detection. We are taking steps to improve this. My department in the Commission runs a Safer Internet Programme that supports hotlines for the public to report illegal content. We also fund an international network of hotlines, called INHOPE, with members in Europe but also in Asia, Canada and the United States (Cybertipline, which is run by the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children). From January 2011, we intend to promote systematic and fast notification of ISPs by the European hotlines, in an agreed procedure with law enforcement agencies.

• Slow removal of child sexual abuse image websites (Light Blue Touchpaper)
  Our paper The Impact of Incentives on Notice and Take-Down by Tyler Moore and Richard Clayton examines a number of different types of wicked Internet content and discusses how effective people are at getting the material removed by serving notices upon the website owners who host it. We have a number of interesting results, but perhaps the most striking is that although phishing websites impersonating banks are generally removed in a couple of hours, the mean lifetime for a website hosting child abuse images is almost a month and even the median (the time by which half of the sites are removed) is 12 days.

Issue no. 411 - 3 October 2010

• UK - Facebook child abuse images ringleader jailed (BBC)
  The ringleader of an international network who shared up to 100,000 indecent images of children on Facebook has been jailed for four years. Convicted sex offender Ian Green, 45, from West Sussex, admitted 24 charges of making, possessing and distributing indecent images of children. The court heard how Green would allow certain contacts to access private groups and share their own images. Chichester Crown Court heard Green, of Littlehampton Road, Worthing, used 11 different Facebook accounts to distribute the images, along with indecent videos of children. He also shared the photographs, 724 of which were rated at the most extreme level of "five", using email and MSN. An international investigation into the network began when police in Australia linked a number of Facebook accounts containing indecent images of children to a user in the UK. see also press release (Australian Federal Police). Australian warning over Facebook paedophile ring (AFP) Australian police warned social networking sites to be alert to illegal child sex activity, after cracking an alleged paedophile porn ring operating on Facebook. Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Facebook had been integral in helping international law enforcement agencies dismantle an alleged child pornography syndicate, resulted in 11 arrests in Australia, Britain and Canada. In a joint statement with the AFP, Facebook's chief security officer Joe Sullivan said the popular networking site immediately took action once alerted to the offensive activity and was working with police.

Issue no. 410 - 6 August 2010

• EU - Fighting sexual abuse of children on the internet (RAPID)
  Cecilia Malmström, Member of the European Commission responsible for Home Affairs, EPP hearing on "audiovisual, legal, technical and ethical implications of sexual abuse of children on the internet through child pornography" Brussels, 1 July 2010 .

Issue no. 409 - 6 June 2010

• EU - Speech at the eNACSO Conference Protecting Children Online (Europa)
  Speech by Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Home Affairs, at the conference Protecting Children Online, organised in Brussels by the European NGO Alliance for Child Safety Online, eNACSO, Brussels, 6 May 2010. eNACSO launches Agenda for Action

• JP - 4 Internet site operators asked to delete child porn ranking sites (Japan Today)
  Tokyo police have asked four Internet site operators to delete so-called ranking websites that could guide web surfers to child pornography sites. The four operators, based in Tokyo and Kanagawa and Hyogo prefectures, manage 14 websites giving rankings of child pornography sites based on the number of hits.

Issue no. 408 - 25 April 2010

• EU - European Commission wants stronger sanctions against child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and child pornography (RAPID)
  The European Commission has proposed new rules obliging EU countries to impose more severe punishment on those who sexually abuse children. The proposal also calls for criminal prosecution of activities like 'grooming' (befriending children with the intention of sexually abusing them) and "sex tourism", even if the child abuse has taken place outside the EU. The Commission also wants more to be done to prevent these offences and to protect the victims. It particularly wants to make sure that offenders can get tailor-made treatment so that they don't abuse again. Member States will be obliged to ensure that access to websites containing child pornography can be blocked, as they are very difficult to take down at the source, especially if the site is outside the EU. The proposal will leave it to Member States to decide exactly how the blocking should be implemented but legal safeguards will always apply. See MEMO. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, repealing Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA COM(2010)94 final.

Issue no. 404 - 21 December 2009

• Microsoft Tackles the Child Pornography Problem (New York imes)
  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children assists law-enforcement authorities by culling through 250,000 images a week, looking for illegal material, and sends daily alerts to 68 Internet service providers worldwide. It is difficult, labor-intensive work for all. But Microsoft is contributing new image-matching software, PhotoDNA, that promises to automate and streamline online child-pornography monitoring. The new software is the result of two years of collaboration by a team at Microsoft Research, led by Larry Zitnick, and a group at Dartmouth College. In test runs, PhotoDNA has processed images in less than five milliseconds each and accurately detected target images 98 percent of the time.

• World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children & Adolescents (ECPAT)
  The ECPAT International Report of the World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children & Adolescents is available online. The report includes: Keynote Speeches made at the opening of the WCIII, Summaries/abstracts of Panels, Workshops and Dialogues for each of the five WCIII themes, PowerPoint presentations presented at the WCIII Panels and Workshops, Participants List and a historical overview of past World Congresses and an overview of the Preparatory Meetings leading up to WCIII. See also the ECPAT website on the World Congress III and in particular, the report of the Regional Preparatory Meeting for Europe and Central Asia and the outcomes of the Children and Young People Preparatory Forum for Europe and Central Asia with specific recommendations from children and young people who participated in the World Congress III. See also the Rio de Janeiro Declaration and Call for Action to Prevent and Stop Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents.

Issue no. 402 - 18 October 2009

• JP - Japan hit over child porn (Japan Times)
  The head of UNICEF has condemned Japan's laws on child pornography, saying the country is falling behind global standards and is guilty of spreading illegal material abroad. "Japan and Russia are the only two G8 countries that do not ban civil possession of child pornography," Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF, the U.N. body that campaigns for children's rights, said at a news conference at the group's Tokyo branch.

• UK - Internet providers face child porn crackdown (Independent)
  Internet service providers that fail to curb child pornography on the web would be criminalised in a crackdown to be introduced in the Queen's Speech this autumn. The leaked Home Office letter says a clause in the Police, Crime and Private Security Bill in the Queen's Speech would "compel domestic ISPs to implement the blocking of illegal images of child sexual abuse". There will be a four-week consultation with ISPs on the proposals, but insiders said the firms had not been informed about the proposed crackdown.

• UK - New web filter laws questioned by top child abuse cop (The Register)
  New laws reportedly planned for the Queen's Speech to force all internet providers to block access to child pornography websites have been questioned by Britain's top abuse investigator. Jim Gamble, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), said the blacklist currently used to filter the vast majority of UK internet connections had been a "fabulous success". However, he added he is unconvinced of the need for legislation to impose it on the remaining small and boutique ISPs who argue it is unaffordable and easily circumvented by determined paedophiles.

Issue no. 398 - 13 April 2009

• EU - Child abuse image trade targeted (BBC)
  Profits made by peddlers of child sex abuse images are being targeted by a pan-European alliance. The European Financial Coalition brings together payment firms, law enforcement agencies and child protection groups to disrupt commerce in the images. By tracking cash made by sites selling abuse images, investigators hope to stop the trade and find abusers. Backers include Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Funded by the European Commission, the coalition is intended to serve as a "stark warning" to those involved in the sale and distribution of child sex images. See also Commission Press Release and Keynote speech by Mr Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission "An indecent profit, a horrific crime", Preparing a European response to combat the commercial distribution of child abuse images. 3 March 2009, London.

• EU - Commission proposes to revise legislation on child pornography (Europa)
  The European Commission has adopted a proposal for new rules to step up the fight against child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and child pornography, to replace existing legislation which has been in place since 2004. The proposal makes it easier to punish those who abuse children by providing criminal sanctions for new forms of abuse like "grooming" - luring children through internet and abusing them, viewing child pornography without downloading files or making children pose sexually in front of webcams. Systems to block access to websites containing child pornography will be developed. see Proposal for a COUNCIL FRAMEWORK DECISION on combating the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, repealing Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA.

Issue no. 397 - 8 March 2009

• EU - Child abuse image trade targeted (BBC)
  Profits made by peddlers of child sex abuse images are being targeted by a pan-European alliance. The European Financial Coalition brings together payment firms, law enforcement agencies and child protection groups to disrupt commerce in the images. By tracking cash made by sites selling abuse images, investigators hope to stop the trade and find abusers. Backers include Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Funded by the European Commission, the coalition is intended to serve as a "stark warning" to those involved in the sale and distribution of child sex images. See also Commission Press Release and Keynote speech by Mr Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission "An indecent profit, a horrific crime", Preparing a European response to combat the commercial distribution of child abuse images. 3 March 2009, London.

• US - Child porn damages precedent set (BBC)
  A British man living in the US has been told by a judge to pay $200,000 to a woman for possessing an indecent image of her as a child. The judge said it was the first such criminal case in which someone found possessing illegal images had to pay restitution, despite not creating them. Briton Alan Hesketh was sentenced to 78 months in prison in October.

Issue no. 396 - 8 February 2009

• UK - Child abuse unit paying for data (BBC)
  The unit set up to tackle child sex abuse in the UK has had to pay tens of thousand of pounds to internet firms for information. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has spent more than £170,000 since 2006. The money has gone to internet service providers (ISPs) which charge for their data. CEOP chief executive Jim Gamble said the situation was "ridiculous". The figure comes after a BBC request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Issue no. 394 - 7 December 2008

• EU - Banks urged to expose child porn money trails (Observer Observer)
  European banks are under pressure to crack down on the owners of child pornography websites, following a legal breakthrough that has enabled international enforcement agencies to identify those who profit from them. A meeting in Brussels next month will see child protection agencies and lawyers attempt to persuade the European Banking Federation and law enforcement agencies to form a financial coalition to combat what is a $2bn industry.

Issue no. 393 - 9 November 2008

• IE / AU - Network of child sexual abuse websites brought down (Press Release)
  The Irish Internet Hotline has collaborated with the Australian Communications and Media Authority to disable a network of websites that provided access to child sexual abuse material. The action was initiated by an anonymous report from a member of the Irish public to the Hotline.ie website. Hotline.ie analysts confirmed the images were illegal under Irish law and found that the site was part of a network of related sites. All contained illegal images of children being sexually abused. The Irish Internet Hotline ascertained the sites were registered in Australia and referred the details to ACMA, which in consultation with the Australian Federal Police, made contact with the Australian domain name registrar Melbourne IT. Melbourne IT determined that the sites breached its terms and conditions of domain name registration and quickly took action to prevent the domain names in question from directing to the offending sites.

Issue no. 390 - 20 July 2008

• US - Building software tools to find child victims (Google blog)
  by Shumeet Baluja, Research Scientist. A team of Google engineers dedicated their 20 percent time over the last year and a half to build cutting-edge software for NCMEC that uses image and video recognition technology to help NCMEC analysts more effectively sort and review incoming reports of child exploitation. NCMEC analysts sort through tens of millions of images in child sexual abuse investigations, and Google leverage its expertise in organizing huge amounts of data to help make their important work more automated and efficient.

Issue no. 389 - 22 June 2008

• US - ISPs to block access to child porn newsgroups (NY State AG)
  New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has agreed with Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint to shut down major sources of online child pornography. See also California pols ask ISPs to block child porn (CNET). Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint have said they have no plans to actually block access to any Web sites. Instead, they plan to purge or erase any child pornography that has been cached in their servers. They also plan to limit or block access to some of their own Usenet or news groups, which can be used to disseminate this material.

Issue no. 388 - 1 June 2008

• UK - Computer generated abuse 'banned' (BBC)
  Drawings and computer-generated images of child sex abuse would be made illegal under proposals announced by UK Justice Minister Maria Eagle. Owners of such images would face up to three years in prison under the plans. Under the Obscene Publications Act it is illegal to possess photos of child abuse but it is legal to own drawings and computer-generated images. Ms Eagle said the proposed move would "help close a loophole that we believe paedophiles are using".

Issue no. 387 - 12 May 2008

• EU - Coalition of Stakeholders against commercial sexual exploitation of children on the Internet (RAPID)
  Vice-President Barrot, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, has expressed his strong support for the advanced plans to set up an EU Coalition of Stakeholders against commercial sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, presented by Missing Children Europe and other stakeholders at a press conference. See Allen & Overy report.

• Interpol - Images of 'paedophile' released (BBC)
  Interpol has released images from the internet of a man it suspects of sexually abusing young boys. The international police agency is launching the worldwide appeal because two years of investigations have failed to identify the man. Pictures showing the man sexually abusing at least three boys were found on the internet, police say. See also Global manhunt nets abuse suspect (BBC).

Issue no. 386 - 20 April 2008

• UK - Action urged on child abuse sites (BBC)
  A concerted international effort could see the end of websites that profit by selling images of child sex abuse, a leading action group has said. The UK's Internet Watch Foundation conducted research to identify how many sites trade such images and concluded there are 2,755 such sites worldwide. Of these, 80% are judged to be fully commercial operations. The IWF said this "manageable" number could be eliminated if net firms, governments and police worked together.

• US - FBI posts fake hyperlinks to snare child porn suspects (CNET.com)
  by Declan McCullagh. The FBI has recently adopted a novel investigative technique: posting hyperlinks that purport to be illegal videos of minors having sex, and then raiding the homes of anyone willing to click on them. Undercover FBI agents used this hyperlink-enticement technique, which directed Internet users to a clandestine government server, to stage armed raids of homes in Pennsylvania, New York, and Nevada last year. The supposed video files actually were gibberish and contained no illegal images.

Issue no. 385 - 21 March 2008

• JP - Japan to outlaw possession of child porn (Guardian)
  Japan is to bow to international pressure and ban the possession of child pornography, although the new law is expected to anger child welfare groups by exempting manga comics and animated films. Currently, Japan and Russia are the only G8 countries in which it is still legal to own pornographic images of children provided they do not intend to sell them or post them on the internet. Japan is one of the world's biggest suppliers of child pornography and the second biggest consumer after the US, despite a 1999 law that banned the production, sale and distribution of images of children under 18.

• UK children rescued from worldwide sex abuse ring (Guardian)
  Detectives in three continents believe they have broken one of the most sophisticated paedophile rings ever. Eight British children between six and 14 years old have been rescued and arrests made in the UK, Australia and the US. The ring used advanced techniques to avoid detection and one member boasted of belonging to the "greatest group of paedos ever to gather in one place". see also International Child Porn Ring Uncovered (AP).

• US - Crackdown on Child Pornography (Washington Post)
  An increase of Internet-fueled child pornography has triggered a new federal crackdown. Cybercrime, the majority of which involves child pornography, is now the FBI's third-highest priority, behind counterterrorism and counterintelligence.

Issue no. 384 - 24 February 2008

• EU / Russia - pedopornography on the Internet (Vice-President Franco Frattini)
  Many people have brought to my attention the existence of a provider, Russian Business Network (RBN), which, it would seem, is based in Russia. The provider hosts hundreds of paedo-pornographic sites. Many citizens have written to me asking for action to be taken to put a stop to this plague. I will personally write to the Russian authorities citing the sincere friendship and understanding that has been established between us in the past. see Shadowy Russian Firm Seen as Conduit for Cybercrime (Washington Post) by Brian Krebs.

• Mobile firms to block child porn (BBC)
  Mobile firms from across the world have launched a new alliance which aims to block paedophiles using phones to send or receive child sexual abuse images. The GSMA, the global association for mobile firms, has launched the Mobile Alliance, and says it is vital to act as web access via phones improves. Among planned measures will be a block on mobile phone access to websites which host abusive content. There will also be hotlines to report services carrying inappropriate images. The Alliance has been founded by the GSMA, Hutchison 3G Europe, mobilkom austria, Orange FT Group, Telecom Italia, Telefonica/02, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile Group, Vodafone Group and dotMobi.

Issue no. 383 - 27 January 2008

• DE - Vereinbarung zur Zusammenarbeit bei der Bekämpfung kinderpornografischer Inhalte im Internet (eco)
  Inhalte im Internet in Deutschland einzudämmen, haben die Betreiber der Internetbeschwerdestellen FSM, eco und jugendschutz.net mit dem Bundeskriminalamt und der Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien eine Kooperationsvereinbarung getroffen.

Issue no. 382 - 6 January 2008

• DE - Ermittler kritisieren Kinderporno-Operation als Flop (Spiegel)
  Für zahlreiche Verdächtige im angeblich bisher größten Kinderpornografie-Fall in Deutschland werden die Ermittlungen folgenlos bleiben. Viele der 12.000 verdächtigten Internet-Nutzer seien nur zufällig auf eine Kinderporno-Website geraten. Mehrere Ermittler kritisieren die Aktion.

• ES - Arrests in Spain child porn raids (BBC)
  Sixty-three people have been arrested in Spain on suspicion of involvement with child pornography, following raids across the country, officials say. Police said large amounts of computer-based "paedophile material" had been seized as the raids were executed over more than 10 days. They were the culmination of a two-year investigation focused on internet users in Spain using foreign websites.

Issue no. 381 - 8 December 2007

• CZ - Czech president endorses bill punishing child porno possession (ceskenoviny.cz)
  Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed a bill stipulating punishment for the possession of child pornography into law. Under the bill that was passed by the Chamber of Deputies in September people will face up to two years in prison for "keeping photographic, film, computer, electronic or other pornographic material made with children as models or for abusing children in any other way."

• Europe child porn probe nets 92 (BBC)
  An investigation into a Europe-wide child pornography network has led to 92 arrests across eight countries, prosecutors say. The network made videos of children being abused and sold them to 2,500 customers in 19 countries, says the European police force, Europol. The films were mainly produced in Ukraine, Belgium and the Netherlands, and most of the victims were Ukrainian.

Issue no. 377 - 5 July 2007

• UK - Paedophile ring smashed by police (BBC)
  Police have smashed a global child abuse network which was co-ordinated through a UK-based internet site. Global agencies, led by UK investigators, examined more than 700 suspects, including 200 in the UK.

Issue no. 376 - 10 June 2007

• Does Virtual Reality Need a Sheriff? (Washington Post)
  Second Life is intended only for adults, and about 15 percent of the properties on the site have been voluntarily flagged by their residents as having mature material. Though some is relatively innocent, in some locations avatars act out drug use, child abuse, rape and various forms of sadomasochism. The question of what is criminal in virtual reality is complicated by disagreements among countries over what is legal even in real life. For example, virtual renderings of child abuse are not a crime in the United States but are considered illegal pornography in some European countries, including Germany.

• G8-Minister wollen Kampf gegen Kinderpornographie verschärfen (Heise)
  Während ihrer ersten Plenarsitzung haben die Justiz- und Innenminister der G8-Staaten heute in München größere Anstrengungen beim Kampf gegen Kinderpornographie und sexuellen Missbrauch an Kindern verabredet. Kinder bräuchten einen besonderen Schutz gegen den Missbrauch "in Form der Herstellung und Verbreitung von kinderpornographischem Material in großer Zahl in Sekundenschnelle".

• 'Second Life' publisher removes child porn after German TV probe (News.com blog)
  by Daniel Terdiman. Second Life publisher Linden Lab was contacted by a German TV station that said it had discovered images in the virtual world showing a child avatar engaged in "depicted sexual conduct" with an adult avatar. Linden lab quickly began an investigation and banned the two people behind the avatars, as well as removed the images. Linden Lab said it has a zero tolerance policy regarding such behavior and acts quickly to remove residents who engage in it or the content itself when it is informed of its existence.

• UK - Government proposes expanded child porn definitions (OUT-LAW News)
  The Government will create a new child pornography offence for computer-generated or drawn images of child abuse. The creation or possession of such images is currently not an offence at all. The possession of actual photographs or images that appear to be photographs of sexual child abuse is punishable by up to 10 years in jail. The Government wants to create a new offence for generated images which would be punishable by three years in jail and an unlimited fine. The new law will relate to cartoon, computer-generated pictures, animations, drawings or actual photos altered so that they do not appear enough like photos to fall under existing law's reference to pseudo photographs.

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