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.

QuickLinks consists of

• a free newsletter appearing approximately every two to three weeks. The newsletter is distributed by electronic mail through an "announcement only" mailing list.
• a Web site with frequent updates, an events page, news items organised by category as well as chronologically by issue and full text search.