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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

EU - Commission supports 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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

EU - INHOPE appoints new Secretary General

(Press Release)
The INHOPE network is delighted to announce the appointment of Birgit Roth as the new Secretary General. Birgit Roth was Public Policy manager, Government Relations & Regulatory Affairs for Deutsche Telekom AG. Ms Roth was previously a Member of the German Parliament for the Speyer-Neustadt constituency. The INHOPE Association of Internet Hotlines was founded in 1999. The general public can report illegal internet content such as child pornography to hotlines. The hotline confidentially then reviews each report, referring illegal material onto the relevant law enforcement agencies or Internet Service Providers for further action. Today, there are thirty members of INHOPE worldwide, including members from Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. INHOPE is part funded by the EC Safer Internet Programme.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Hotlines, Who's who

UK - IWF Annual Report highlights persistent core of child sexual abuse websites

(IWF)
The Internet Watch Foundation Annual Report 2007 reveals new intelligence regarding the scale of publicly available child sexual abuse websites known to the IWF. Whilst it is very rare to trace these websites to the UK, the IWF has identified a core of 2755 websites hosted abroad during 2007; this total number has remained relatively static for three years and represents a concrete target which can be tackled through international partnerships. This target is characterised by websites, 80% of which are commercial operations, which frequently hop host company and region to avoid detection. These tactics, coupled with the complex multi-national nature of the crimes, mean that only a united global response involving law enforcement authorities, governments and the international online sector will enable effective investigation of these websites, their content and the organisations behind them.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Hotlines

Google tackles child pornography

(BBC)
Google engineers have adapted a software program to help track child sex predators and search for patterns in images of abuse on the web. Google has created the technology for the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). It was originally developed to block copyrighted videos on the company's YouTube division. The program uses pattern recognition to enable analysts to sort and identify files containing child sex abuse.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Technology

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

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).

Labels: Child_abuse_images

FI - Controversy over police block list

(IDG)
In Finland, programmer Matti Nikki is under investigation for publishing a secret list of domains that authorities had allegedly censored in an effort to stop the spread of child pornography. Nikki published his list to prove the system was being abused, and was himself censored as a result. The Finnish Chancellor of Justice has received a complaint about police handling of the matter. The authorities distribute their list to the country's 20 largest ISPs, which then block access to the sites. The rest of Finland's 200 ISPs haven't implemented the technology, so protection is far from complete. see also Finnish internet censorship critic blacklisted (Wikinews) and Lapsiporno.info "Finnish law allows the police to list sites that fulfill the two criteria of containing child pornographic material (defined as being images that depict children in sexual context) and that are hosted abroad. However, lapsiporno.info is hosted in Finland and does not contain any child pornographic material." (Wikipedia). See also ENDitorial: Finnish web censorship.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Rating_and_filtering

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Mobile_and_wireless

EU / Russia - pedopornography on the Internet

(Vice-President Franco Frattii)
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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

EU - European Parliament resolution: Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child

(EP Press Release)
An EU strategy on the rights of the child won Parliament's backing with 630 votes in favour, 26 against and 62 abstentions. MEPs call for the strategy to include tougher measures to combat paedophilia on the internet as well as steps to counter child sex tourism and enable suppliers of products manufactured with child labour to be prosecuted in Europe. The own-initiative report, drafted for the Civil Liberties Committee by Roberta Angelilli (UEN, IT), is Parliament's response to a Commission communication of 4 July 2006 titled "Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child". The report restates Parliament's opposition to all forms of violence against children and calls for a specific budget heading for their rights, with which to fund work required by the strategy. Among the European Parliament's many proposals, MEPs call for technical measures to combat the dissemination of paedophile content via the internet. They would also like to involve access suppliers, search engines and even banks, so as to block payment by would-be purchasers of illegal content. In addition, the House wishes to protect children by tightening up rules on the transmission of harmful content via the internet or multimedia messaging services and the sale of violent video games. It would like a uniform classification and labelling system to be created for such games, and for all audiovisual content. Children should be better informed of their rights via a dedicated internet site to be set up for this purpose, argues the European Parliament. The House recommends setting up a European early warning system on child abductions and supports the Commission's plan to introduce a telephone help-line for children. It also urges the creation of a European strategy, and a single EU-wide set of extraterritorial criminal laws, to counter child sex tourism.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Protection_of_minors

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Hotlines

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

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

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

EU - Member States implement EU legislation to combat the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography

(RAPID)
The European Commission has approved the report on the implementation by Member States of the Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA of 22 December 2003 on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. This report finds that most Member States have criminalised sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and child pornography on the Internet, But Member States can still do more. See also REPORT from the Commission on the implementation of the COUNCIL FRAMEWORK DECISION on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime, Protection_of_minors

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

TH - Thais arrest paedophile suspect

(BBC)
A Canadian paedophile suspect who was the subject of a global manhunt has been arrested in Thailand. Police tracked down 32-year-old teacher Christopher Paul Neil in north-east Thailand. They suspect him of appearing in 200 online images of child abuse. Interpol had appealed for help after experts unscrambled digitally-distorted photos of the suspect.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

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."

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

Thai police name suspected web paedophile

(Guardian)
A suspected paedophile pictured on websites sexually abusing young boys has been identified as a 32-year-old Canadian. Thai police named him as Christopher Paul Neil after a worldwide appeal by Interpol using reconstructed images of his face.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

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".

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

UK - Operation Ore flawed by fraud

(Guardian)
Operation Ore has become embedded in public consciousness as the landmark police operation that tracked down people - almost always men - who allegedly paid to access child pornography via computer - but hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the cases show that the police were misled and confused by criminals whose computer expertise was years ahead of theirs. See also BBC picks up on the failings of Operation Ore.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

'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.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime, Liability_jurisdiction_applicable_law

UK - Online child abuse complaints up

(BBC)
Reports of websites that contain images of child abuse have continued to climb in the last year, a report has shown. In 2006, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) investigated more than 31,000 reports of sites that contained alleged images, an increase of 34% since 2005. The IWF annual report also revealed the increasing severity of content held on the sites. More than 3,000 web pages contained images depicting the most severe abuse, such as penetrative and sadistic sexual activity, the report said. Most children involved were under the age of 12.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

UK - Plan to tighten child abuse law

(BBC)
Ministers are planning to tighten the law to make it an offence to possess computer-generated or cartoon images depicting child sex abuse. It is currently an offence to possess indecent photographs and pseudo-photographs of children. But there has been a growth in computer-generated images, cartoons, and drawings, which are not illegal.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

US - Sexual exploitation of children over the Internet

(US House of Representatives)
A staff report prepared for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Makes a number of suggestions for combating child pornography in the USA.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

US - Net porn ban faces another legal setback

(CNET News.com)
U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed in Philadelphia permanently barred prosecutors from enforcing the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA, saying it was overly broad and would undoubtedly 'chill a substantial amount of constitutionally protected speech for adults.' The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Even though politicians enacted COPA nearly a decade ago as part of an early wave of Internet censorship efforts, the courts have kept it on ice and it has never actually been enforced. The law makes it a crime for commercial Web sites to make "harmful to minors" material publicly available, with violators fined up to $50,000 and imprisoned for up to six months. See COPA Struck Down Again by Court, COPA Struck Down, Part 2 and The COPA Decision, Part 3: Implications for Age Verification and Social Networking (Progress & Freedom Foundation) by Adam Thierer

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Content_Regulation, Social_networking

UK - The elusive world of child porn dealers

(BBC)
The alleged international paedophile ring smashed in Austria highlights the ease with which criminal gangs have been able to exploit the internet to make money out of child abuse. According to investigators in Austria, some 2,360 suspects from 77 countries downloaded horrific images of young children being sexually abused and raped. They were believed to have been shot in Eastern Europe and uploaded to the web in Britain, posted on a Russian website hosted by an Austrian company.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

AT - Vienna busts huge child porn ring

(BBC)
Austria has uncovered an international child pornography network involving more than 2,360 suspects from 77 countries, the interior minister said. The videos were posted on a Russian website, hosted by an Austrian company.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

IT - Italy enacts law to block child porn Web sites

(Reuters)
Italy has introduced a new law requiring Internet service providers to block child pornography Web sites within six hours of being told to do so. The decree, which comes into force almost immediately, requires Internet providers to set up a system that blocks child pornography Web sites from being viewed soon after the providers are notified of their existence.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

CA - ISPs to block child porn sites in Canada

(iTWire)
Cybertip.ca, Canada's national tipline for reporting child sexual exploitation, with a richly resourced website of information, has launched Project Cleanfeed Canada, based on the successful UK launch of their own Project Cleanfeed in 2004. Working with major Canadian ISPs such as Rogers, Telus, Bell Canada, Shaw, SaskTel, MTS Allstream and Videotron, 500 and 800 offending sites will be blocked from access by their Canadian customers. see also Michael Geist's blog.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Web watchdog outlines porn battle

(BBC)
More than 30,000 websites containing child pornography have been removed in the last 10 years, new figures show. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said the key to addressing the problem was a partnership between the public, global authorities and web providers. The number of these sites from the UK and containing illegal material fell from 18% to 0.2% in the decade. The figures marked the IWF's first 10 years and its chief executive Peter Robbins said reporting porn was vital. See IWF Press Release.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

World's largest banks join forces to stamp out child internet porn

(Guardian)
Large banks in the UK are being asked to join a financial coalition against child pornography, and back its 'light a million candles' awareness campaign, by Standard Chartered, the London-based bank which does most of its business in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and which led the series of meetings at the IMF. Mike DeNoma, Standard Chartered's head of consumer finance, wrote to the British Bankers' Association urging it to join the international campaign.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Home Office ad to protect kids online banned for leading to porn

(out-law.com)
A Home Office radio advert aimed at protecting children from sexually explicit material online has been banned because it could direct listeners to pornographic sites. The Home Office has apologised for the advert. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the advertisement should not be played again after complaints that it could lead to listeners accessing pornography through the advertised child protection web address.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

EU - Private hotlines questioned at EC Safer Internet Forum

(EDRI-gram)
With its newly adopted Communication on a 'comprehensive EU strategy to promote and safeguard the rights of the child', the Commission intends to pursue its global action on children's rights. One may however wonder whether the strategy for fighting child porn on the Internet, which mostly relies on private hotlines, is really efficient and compliant with the rule of law. These were the main issues raised at the afternoon session of the These were the main issues raised at the afternoon session of the EC Safer Internet Forum 2006, held in Luxembourg on 21 June, on 'Illegal Content: Blocking access to child sexual abuse images'.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

RU - Internet child porn crime rate low

(Itar-Tass)
The incidence of crimes related to the dissemination of child pornography on the Internet in Russia is not high, the Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass. 'An analysis of the criminal situation shows that the crimes related to the dissemination on the Internet of pornographic materials involving minors are not of mass character. The Russian segment of the Internet is actively used by owners of foreign porn sites for redirection of users'.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - How net providers stop child porn

(BBC)
Tracking and blocking websites which feature child pornography brings together domestic users, police forces, internet security professionals and internet service providers (ISPs). In the UK, where BT has revealed that its servers block 35,000 attempts to view child pornography each day, domestic internet users are a key link in the chain. People who discover a site that harbours suspicious content are invited to report the site to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Child porn convictions will be reported to banks

(out-law.com)
Police will be able to pass details of child pornography offenders on to banks so that offenders' credit cards can be revoked. The Home Secretary has issued an order for the amendment of the Data Protection Act which will be read in both houses of Parliament. The order was requested by credit card issuers and is the result of three years of negotiation between the industry and the Home Office according to a spokeswoman for issuers' organisation APACS, the UK payments association. see also Home Office child porn control goes too far, says privacy chief.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

US - Net companies pledge child porn crackdown

(CNET News.com)
In an attempt to forestall potentially intrusive new federal laws, a coalition of Internet companies has launched a campaign against child pornography that they say will tip off police to illegal images. The Internet companies - AOL, EarthLink, Microsoft, United Online and Yahoo - are pledging $1 million in cash and technical assistance to develop technology that can 'detect and disrupt the distribution of known images of child exploitation' on the Internet. The coalition's effort will take place under the auspices of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

US - Attorny-General gives child porn 'wake-up call'

(CNN)
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales issued what he termed a 'wake-up call' to the growing problems of pedophiles prowling the Internet and online images of sexual abuse of children. Gonzales described the depravity and horror of criminal acts against children in unusually graphic detail. see Transcript of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales? Address to the Employees at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Online child porn ring 'smashed'

(BBC)
An international online child porn ring that used a chat room to transmit live shots of molestation has been cracked, the US federal authorities say. Twenty-seven people - from Australia, Britain, Canada and the US - have been charged with participating in two online chat rooms.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Sites selling child porn targeted

(BBC)
Net and finance firms are joining up to stamp out commercial child pornography. The newly formed Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography brings together 18 organisations including Bank of America, American Express, Mastercard, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Massive rise in child porn sites

(Observer)
The number of websites found to be offering child pornography to UK internet users increased by 75 per cent last year amid fears of an explosion in illegal images generated overseas. The sharp rise will alarm child protection campaigners and raise concerns that there has been a related increase in the number of people accessing child pornography sites.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - More try to access net child porn

(Press Association)
Some 35,000 attempts to access child pornography websites are blocked in Britain every day, figures showed. The figures were compiled by BT, which accounts for around a third of the internet market, and it is feared the overall number could be much higher. They show that attempts to access the websites have tripled since the company introduced its screening technology in June 2004.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Do Web filters protect your child?

(CNET News.com)
The recent DOJ subpoena for search records from Google and others - an attempt, the department says, to determine the effectiveness of Web porn filters - has raised the question of just how well such filters work. Experts say the technology is not flawless, but it has become more sophisticated. Still, filtering companies have to handle an exploding amount of content, and they're grappling with new kinds of Web-capable devices, such as the video iPod and cell phones.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Rating_and_filtering

Kids & Webcams: Terrible trend

(Net Family News)
The story resulting from the New York Times's six-month-long investigation starts with Justin Berry, who got his start at age 13 buying a Webcam to meet other teenage friends online. Within weeks he was getting paid $50 'to sit bare-chested in front of his computer for three minutes' for a man who helped him instantly set up a PayPal account. Over five years, Justin developed an audience of 1,500 that paid him 'hundreds of thousands of dollars.' Worse: Justin's activities were only part of the 'Webcam Matrix,' a term dubbed by another teenager cited by the Times, who, also for money, operates his own site of self-published child porn. The Times article is the first I've seen in 8+ years of following reportage on kids and tech pointing to a trend or a generalized pattern of actions and genre of Web sites. The pattern of behavior and sites/blogs, on the teenagers' part, are about money, naivete, the need to connect, or combinations of the above. The pattern of actions on the adults' part are well known to law enforcement. What was much less known is how wide-spread self-published child porn has become. "Easy money" for teens is aided by Internet companies large and small "wittingly and unwittingly" (the latter including PayPal and Amazon, but non-financial services and technologies are involved too, of course).

Labels: Child_abuse_images

More Swedes seek net child porn

(Australian IT)
THE number of Swedes seeking out sexual images involving children on the internet is on the rise, the Swedish chapter of the anti-child pornography group Ecpat said. Ecpat, which stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, has joined forces with Swedish police and 12 internet operators to block access across Sweden to sites containing child pornography.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

DK - ISP activates child porn filter

(DMeurope.com)
Danish telco TDC has activated a nationwide filter to help fight child pornography on the internet. The filter, which covers TDC customers, has been developed in cooperation with the national police and Save the Children. [Ed: the Save the Children Denmark hotline is co-funded by the EU Safer Internet programme].

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Rating_and_filtering

UK - Blocking of child porn sites

(CommsWatch)
Margaret Moran, the Labour MP for Luton South, introduces her 'Ten Minute Rule' Bill called the Control of Internet Access (Child Pornography) Bill. Under her proposals, companies providing Net access would be required to state, either on their websites or in their annual accounts, whether or not they allow access to sites hosting child abuse images. The Bill stands no chance of becoming law but is intended to put pressure on ISPs.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Internet child porn block calls

(BBC)
Internet service providers have been urged to publicly declare whether they block the use of websites containing child pornography. Labour MP Margaret Moran says she has support from MPs of all parties for a law compelling such companies to publish their policies. But the Home Office has said it would prefer the industry to regulate itself.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Child porn ring run from net cafe

(BBC)
A Glasgow student has admitted running an international child porn ring from the Easyeverything Internet Cafe. Nicholas Dockray, 31, sent images of children being abused to paedophiles in the US, UK and Europe. He had been caught when the police in Croatia found repeated references to a person nicknamed Kinderpix who ran the site. Kinderpix was eventually identified as Dockray. Dockray, a second-year student studying history and philosophy, admitted distributing or showing indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children and taking or permitting indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Interpol turns to technology to fight child porn

(Reuters)
Interpol will launch a big push to identify child sex victims and prosecute abusers with the help of special software that can minutely analyse pornographic images, many from the internet, and spot vital background clues. Hamish McCulloch, a British investigator at Interpol who specialises in child porn, said police around the world will get access to the technology via a 3.2 million euro (US$3.91 million) image database to be funded by the Group of Eight (G8) leading nations.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Child porn rising on Web

(Christian Science Monitor)
Despite highly publicized arrests, law-enforcement officials say that the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet is growing dramatically. Law-enforcement officials are particularly disturbed by the increased number of commercial sites that offer photos of exploited children in return for a credit-card number. Those fighting child porn say it has become a global multibillion-dollar industry. see Press Release (NCMEC).

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Crackdown due on violent web porn

(BBC)
The government is set to announce a crackdown on brutal internet porn to block access to sites depicting rape, strangulation, torture and necrophilia. Methods used to combat child porn are set to be drawn upon and police officers could be given greater powers. A Home Office spokesman confirmed an announcement would be made 'shortly', following international talks.British sites carrying illegal sexually violent porn can be closed but images on foreign websites can be accessed. Discussions on such websites have taken place between G8 countries and internet service providers.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Parliament to discuss child porn regulations

(ZDNet UK)
A Labour MP has proposed a bill to force ISPs to declare whether they have taken steps to prevent access to paedophilic Web sites. Margaret Moran, the Labour MP for Luton South, has introduced the bill under the 'Ten Minute Rule', which allows a brief discussion on the issue, but is unlikely to lead to an immediate change in the law.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

NZ internet industry tests porn filter

(Sydney Morning Herald)
Internet industry groups in New Zealand are teaming up with the Government to test a system to filter out online child pornography. The Internal Affairs Department will test the British CleanFeed system, which was developed by Britain's Internet Watch Foundation and blocks access to sites that have been blacklisted for hosting such material, an industry group that monitors child porn online. The CleanFeed list of banned sites is updated through Web monitoring and public complaints.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Rating_and_filtering

DK - Denmark to get child porn filter

(DR Nyheder)
Danish police and Internet suppliers are planning to introduce a national child porn filter. The filter will make it harder for Danish paedophiliacs to access child porn on the Internet. It will block access to most child porn sites while at the same time informing people who try to enter these sites that they are breaking the law.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Rating_and_filtering

Europe - Child porn raids in 13 countries

(AP)
European police have raided 150 addresses in 13 countries in a coordinated operation against a major child pornography ring, Europol said. The European joint police force said the operation, code-named Icebreaker, netted computers, videos and evidence of the sexual abuse of children. It was "the largest international police operation ever coordinated and supported by Europol within this area of crime," said a statement from the agency. The raids were carried out in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

ES - Spain arrests 186 in child porn crackdown

(Reuters)
Spanish police have arrested 186 people throughout the country in a crackdown on the distribution of child pornography. In two parallel operations, 650 officers searched 188 homes and found evidence of child pornography distribution across the Internet using peer-to-peer software and a system of passwords. The operations were part of a high-priority police crackdown on child pornography and were the most extensive ever undertaken in Spain.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

US - Yahoo sued over child porn site

(Reuters)
A minor and his parents have filed a $10 million lawsuit against Yahoo and a man who once operated a Yahoo Groups site where members traded child pornography. Pornographic photos of the plaintiff were taken and posted to the Candyman site by a neighbor. The plaintiffs allege that Yahoo was aware of the activity on the site and that it took no action to block or remove the pornographic images of Doe and other children. Attorneys familiar with cases involving online service providers said the Communications Decency Act generally shielded Web sites from responsibility for material posted by users.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

U.N. urges companies to crack down on child porn

(Reuters)
Credit card companies and technology firms should do more to combat child pornography on the Internet, a United Nations expert said. Credit card companies may unwittingly process illegal Web transactions. see Report submitted by Mr. Juan Miguel Petit, Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

US - Microsoft Hunts Child Pornography

(Wired)
Microsoft launched a software program designed to help police worldwide hunt down child porn traffickers by enabling authorities for the first time to link information such as credit card purchases, internet chat room messages and arrest records. The Child Exploitation Tracking System is the first software designed specifically to capture pornographers who prey on children over the internet. It will allow police departments worldwide to share and track previously unlinked information on investigations and suspects. The program was developed by Microsoft Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Toronto police, with the help of the Department of Homeland Security, Scotland Yard and Interpol. [Ed: The Wired report incorrectly calls the program "open source" - Microsoft will supply the program free to law enforcement authorities]

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Open_source_open_access

UK - Centre to tackle net paedophiles

(BBC)
A unit to protect children in the UK from internet paedophiles is being set up by the Home Office. About 100 staff, including police and child welfare experts will join the Centre for Child Protection on the Internet next April. The centre will take on work being done by the National Crime Squad and will target those who distribute child porn images or 'groom' children for abuse. It will be open 24 hours a day so people can report suspicious activity. see also Internet Watch Foundation press release;

Labels: Child_abuse_images

ES - Police smash child porn ring with raids across 12 countries

(Independent)
Hundreds of people across two continents have been arrested in a Spanish-led operation to break a child pornography ring operating via the internet. Police mounted raids in France, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as in seven Latin American countries, taking a total of 500 people into custody. In Spain, 19 people were arrested, accused of exchanging pornographic material. The Guardia Civil, in co-operation with Spain's state prosecution service, enlisted the help of their European and Latin American judicial co-operation organisations, Eurojust and IberRed.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Child porn site blocks supported

(BBC)
UK net users would strongly back service providers if they tracked visitors to child porn websites, according to a Mori survey commissioned by net security firm StreamShield. Eighty-nine percent in the survey of 1,000 said they would support the move. 90% said they would welcome service providers voluntarily blocking access to child abuse websites.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Police struggling to fight cybercrime

(ZDNet UK)
A Home Office report has found that police are struggling to cope with the weight of Internet child porn cases, due to under-resourcing and insufficient training; The report, Keeping Safe, Staying Safe: Thematic Inspection of the Investigation and Prevention of Child Abuse by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, found that police are spending so much time investigating Internet paedophilia they are failing to pursue other child abuse enquires.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime

UK - 'Unit needed' to tackle net porn

(BBC)
Police want a new body to be set up to investigate internet child pornography. It comes as new figures show arrests and convictions for downloading such images have quadrupled in two years. Home Office figures, revealed by children's charity NCH, showed 2,234 people were charged or cautioned in 2003, compared with 549 in 2001. The BBC has learned the proposed unit - dubbed the UK Internet Safety Centre - would be staffed by police, charity workers and computer experts.It would operate around the clock to investigate reports of suspicious images found on the internet.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Call for child porn users amnesty

(BBC)
Fewer users of internet child pornography should face court action, a child protection group has said. The Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) wants to encourage otherwise low-risk offenders to confess and hand over their computers. The threat of court action discourages this - instead they could just be cautioned and placed on the sex offenders' register, CCPAS suggests.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

AU - ISPs face new child porn reporting obligations

(ZDNet Australia)
Internet service providers and content hosts will be required to report online child porn to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) from 1 March under amendments to the Criminal Code Act 1995. The Minister for Justice and Customs has written to all major ISPs to advise them of their new obligations. An ISP or Internet Content Host (ICH) will face penalties if they are made aware that their service can be used to access material they have reasonable grounds to believe is child pornography or child abuse material and they do not refer details of that material to the AFP within a reasonable time of becoming aware of the material's existence. It will also be a federal offence under the new provisions - carrying a penalty of 10 years' imprisonment - for a person to use a carriage service such as the Internet to access, transmit or make available child porn or child abuse material. supplementing existing state and territory laws.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

AU - Porn complaints soar

(Australian IT)
Tne number of hotline complaints to regulators about internet pornography - especially child pornography - has soared more than 300 per cent since the scheme was set up in 2000. But while complaints about pornography on the internet have grown, the number of of pornographic sites hosted in Australia has fallen dramatically, The six-month report on the government's online content co-regulatory scheme recorded 616 complaints to the Australian Broadcasting Authority's Internet Complaints Hotline between January and July last year. Some 380 illegal sites were hosted offshore, with more than 75 per cent originating from the United States and about 10 per cent from Europe. All were referred to makers of internet software filters. The ABA forwarded 24 items of illegal content hosted offshore to the Federal Police to pass details of the sites to police overseas. It also forwarded details of 122 sites to "accredited"content complaints hotlines overseas for referral to relevant law enforcement agencies.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

US - P2P group launches site to combat child porn

(CNET News.com)
A peer-to-peer industry trade group is launching a Web site aimed at educating consumers about the dangers of child pornography online and helping them report it to law enforcement. The Distributed Computing Industry Association's P2P Patrol site is part of a larger approach to the issue. Previously, the group has worked with law enforcement to help find online child pornographers and has helped create a tool that pops up a warning to computer users if they are searching for a term frequently associated with the illicit material.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Paedophiles Pose Greatest Threat Facing Internet

(Scotsman)
Online paedophiles are the greatest threat facing the internet, government research said. A variety of internet child porn issues dominated a top 10 of criminal threats posed by new technology, a Home Office report The Future of Netcrime revealed. The survey of 53 internet and technology experts saw seven different child porn concerns ranked in the 10 most serious netcrime threats, with grooming and possible stalking of children ranked as the top fear. In second place was the growing use of the internet for espionage by corporate spies. see also vol 2 of Report.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

AU - Kazaa exec calls child porn unstoppable

(CNET News.com)
Sharman Networks' chief technology officer has refuted a claim on the Kazaa Web site that the company could 'permanently bar' users who are using its peer-to-peer software to distribute child pornography. Philip Morle told the Federal Court in Sydney that he did not believe Sharman could actually block user access to Kazaa as stated in the company's zero-tolerance policy on child pornography.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

ES- Spain child porn: Dozens arrested

(CNN)
Spanish police say they have arrested 90 people, including 21 juveniles, in the country's largest operation against child pornography distribution. The suspects did not financially profit from the pornography that showed children engaged in sexual acts, including with adults. Instead, they received the pornographic material from abroad, stored it and distributed it among themselves on the Internet, the police said. [Ed: According to El País, the police acted following a report received from PROTEGELES, the Spanish hotline funded by the EU Safer Internet programme].

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Asia warned on internet child porn

(BBC)
The rapid commercialisation of the internet has led to an explosion of child pornography, according to a UN conference being held in Bangkok. Delegates were warned that child pornography on the net also led to more traditional forms of child abuse like prostitution and child trafficking. John Carr, head of British Charity the National Children's Home, said 70% of convicted paedophiles were inspired to offend by viewing child porn on the internet. As a specialist on how to tackle the problem, he was in Bangkok to warn nations in South East Asia that the internet threatens to increase their traditional problems of sex tourism and child trafficking. Japan and South Korea have joined the US and Russia as the hosts of large numbers of child porn websites. With an increase in commercial opportunities from child abuse, criminal gangs have now become involved.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Child porn fight 'lacks funding'

(BBC)
More money and technology are needed to catch and prosecute net paedophiles and protect child victims of cybercrimes, say children's charities. They have joined forces with senior police officers to call for a review of net policing. See Digital manifesto - Internet safety for children: government should do (NCH).

Labels: Child_abuse_images

NL - Dutch police in massive crackdown on child porn

(Epatica)
Police raided 173 addresses and arrested two people in a large-scale operation against the spread of child pornography in the Netherlands. Police also seized 280 computers and thousands of CDs, videotapes, DVDs and discs during the nationwide raids. Officers had raided 33 addresses in recent weeks.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

CA - Centre now coordinating child porn cases

(CTV.ca)
In an effort to battle child porn in Canada, the National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre has been created by the RCMP to handle the tips, coordinate files, and try and identify some of the victims. See Factsheet.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

AU - Four suicides in child porn case

(BBC)
The Australian authorities say four men investigated during the country's biggest police operation against child pornography have committed suicide. One of them was a police officer who had been charged with possessing child abuse computer games. Operation Auxin has seen more than 200 arrests in raids on more than 400 premises. It follows an investigation in the US that uncovered international paedophile networks trading images online.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Video_games

UK - Australia makes child porn sweep

(BBC)
More than 150 people have been charged with child pornography offences in the biggest crackdown in Australia. Mike Phelan, head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre, said hundreds more will eventually face charges. Teachers, police officers, a child care centre owner and employees of former and present members of state parliament were among them.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - How do child porn laws affect UK businesses?

(out-law.com)
Eighty-seven percent of IT professionals are not aware of recent changes to the law that controls the viewing of child pornography on the internet, according to research published by the Internet Watch Foundation.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - New rules cut porn risks

(IT Week)
IT managers worried about the repercussions of discovering paedophile content on company systems have been advised by online watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) that they can report such material without fear of prosecution. Under current legislation, it is a criminal offence simply to possess an indecent image of a child, but malware is increasingly responsible for surreptitiously depositing offensive images on corporate systems. In a survey of 1,000 IT Week readers, the IWF found that 87 percent of IT professionals were unaware of the rules on inadvertent possession of child pornography. The IWF said the regulations have now been clarified and IT managers are allowed to identify and secure such images without suffering legal consequences. According to an imminent memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service relating to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, IT managers can preserve suspect images on company systems, but only if they do so in order to provide access to a law enforcement agency or other relevant body.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

ZA - Tough new measures to fight child porn

(IOL)
In South Africa, large corporate companies could be prosecuted if any of their staff were caught with child pornography in their emails or attachment folders thought to have been deleted. The Film and Publications Act, which will soon be amended, will see perpetrators face up to 30 years in prison. The amendments are: - That the maximum jail term for producing, distributing and possessing child pornography has been raised from five to 30 years; - That Internet service providers will face criminal prosecution if they fail to block access to child porn sites after members of the public or the police have informed them of their existence; and - That people who repair computers will be held criminally liable if they do not report clients whose computer hard drives contain child porn. The same applies to photography on films sent in for developing and printing.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

AU - $30m to fight child porn

(News.com.au)
Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced the Government would spend $30 million over five years to tackle child pornography and abuse. Under the plan, the Australian Federal Police would be beefed up with three specialist teams to probe and prosecute pedophile networks and online child sex abuse.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

IE - Interpol take on child porn database

(Ireland On-Line)
An Irish database of child pornography, which helped catch scores of paedophiles around the world, has found its perfect home at Interpol. The hefty database was transferred a few months ago from its base in University College Cork to the international police organisation Interpol?s offices in France, where European and international police forces can access the acclaimed library. Interpol has taken over funding the Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe (COPINE) project. COPINE, headed by Professor Max Taylor, has catalogued hundreds of thousands of important images since it was first set-up in 1998 at UCC as an EU funded project.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

CA - Snitch line nets predators

(Calgary Sun)
Creeps who prey on children will face yet another hurdle as a successful Manitoba-based snitch line is set to expand nationally. The Canadian federal government has pledged to fund cybertip.ca - a program of Child Find Manitoba - 700,000 a year for five years to combat Internet crimes against children throughout the country. And Bell Canada has contributed a lump sum of $700,000 to expand the website by the fall. Cybertip.ca receives tips regarding Internet incidents of child pornography, luring, child sex-tourism, or child prostitution and forwards that information to the appropriate law enforcement agency. see also Bell fighting on-line child porn (Globe and Mail).

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Ukraine - Police Shut Model Agency in Porn Crackdown

(Reuters)
Ukrainian police shut a modeling agency which photographed underage girls and sold images over the Internet in North America as part of their biggest crackdown on child pornography. Police are questioning about 15 people about the agency, which operated for three years across the country.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Talks Aim to Tackle Internet Child Porn

(PA News)
Tony Blair announced a Government-backed summit into ways to stop paedophiles accessing child porn on the internet. The Prime Minister invited internet firms to the talks in September in a new bid to block online viewing of youngsters being abused. He also welcomed a BT initiative which used new technology to block access to child porn ? but revealed the scale of the problem with 200,000 attempts to view hardcore websites in just three weeks. Mr Blair urged other firms to follow BT?s lead.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - AOL casts doubts on BT's child-porn protection

(ZDNet UK)
Around 230,000 attempts to reach paedophilic Web content have been blocked by BT's Cleanfeed, but AOL says this content blocker may not be the answer.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Fake websites entice paedophiles

(BBC)
Police have set up fake websites to catch people accessing child porn, the National Crime Squad (NCS) has said. A web sting has been set up by the NCS, who worked with the FBI, Interpol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Australian HI-Tech Crime Centre. The online operation, known as Operation Pin, targets offenders by setting up fake websites that collect details of people wanting to look at child porn. Law enforcement agencies have worked with search engine operators to ensure that the fake sites appear when a person looks for certain keywords. The aim is to prevent people joining the more clandestine community of experienced paedophiles. As yet it is unclear how many offenders have been caught as a result of this approach.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Extent of child net porn revealed

(BBC)
BT says it is blocking more than 10,000 attempts each day to access child porn. Its figures provide the first firm evidence of the extent of web paedophilia and BT is targeting the porn with its Clean Feed system. The Internet Watch Foundation called the figures 'staggering' and said children were being abused in order to supply the hardcore images. Police officials said the extent of the online porn problem was 'extremely disturbing'.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - Community sentence for former judge who downloaded child porn

(Guardian)
A former crown court judge, found to have 75 pornographic images of boys on his laptop computer, was yesterday sentenced to a 12-month community rehabilitation order.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

US - Supreme Court keeps Net porn law on ice

(CNET News.com)
A divided U.S. Supreme Court suggested that a federal law designed to restrict Internet pornography violated Americans' rights to freedom of speech, but the court stopped short of a definitive ruling striking down the law as unconstitutional. The 5-4 ruling upheld an injunction barring prosecutors from filing criminal cases under the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA, until a full trial takes place. COPA restricts the use of sexually explicit material deemed 'harmful to minors' on commercial Web sites. Violation of the law can result in civil fines and prison terms. In its decision Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, the high court said that a full trial in Philadelphia would permit the case to reflect the 'current technological reality' about the state of porn-filtering applications. Supreme Court Justices Uphold Block of Web Porn Law but Send Case Back and Internet Filters Are: [Good] [Bad] [Both] (New York Times), Washington Post transcripts COPA Supporter Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel, Concerned Women for America, COPA Opponent Ann Beeson Associate Litigation Director, American Civil Liberties Union.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

UK - BT puts block on child porn sites

(Observer)
British Telecom has taken the unprecedented step of blocking all illegal child pornography websites in a crackdown on abuse online. The decision by Britain's largest high-speed internet provider will lead to the first mass censorship of the web attempted in a Western democracy. The move, previously thought to be at the limits of technical possibilities of the internet and prohibitively expensive, was given the personal backing of BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland at a board meeting last month after intense pressure from children's charities. Known as Cleanfeed, the project has been developed in consultation with the Home Office and will go live by the end of the month. Other major players in the internet market, such as Energis and Thus, which owns rival Demon Internet, are said to be preparing to block banned sites.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

Nordic police stage child porn crackdown

(Reuters)
Nordic police have staged their biggest regional crackdown on suspected child pornography, rounding up scores of suspects in co-ordinated raids across four nations. Swedish police said they questioned more than 100 suspects while Danish police made 43 raids on Tuesday. The numbers of raids or suspects held in Norway and Finland were not immediately available.

Labels: Child_abuse_images

US - Dozens arrested over Internet child porn distribution

(CNN)
Dozens of people have been arrested in connection with an ongoing federal crackdown on the distribution of child pornography sent over the Internet using peer-to-peer file sharing applications. Attorney General John Ashcroft and officials from the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the results of the latest enforcement actions which have taken place throughout the United States in recent days. Cybercrime task forces have been targeting distributors of pornographic images on the file sharing networks which have been used by young, potentially vulnerable audiences, who primarily have used the peer to peer applications to share music. In some cases predators have used the technology to try to lure victims for sex. The attorney general will highlight the ongoing problem in part to help alert parents of the continuing danger of pornography targeted at minors on the Internet.

Labels: Child_abuse_images, Computer_crime