Child Pornography and The Internet
Child pornography is illegal in most countries with coordinated enforcement by Interpol and policing institutions of various governments, including among others the United States Department of Justice. Even so, the UK based NSPCC said that worldwide an estimated 2% of websites still had not been removed a year after being identified. Recent investigations include Operation Cathedral that resulted in multi-national arrests and 7 convictions as well as uncovering 750,000 images with 1,200 unique identifiable faces being distributed over the web; Operation Amethyst which occurred in the Republic of Ireland; Operation Auxin; Operation Avalanche; Operation Ore based in the United Kingdom; Operation Pin; Operation Predator; the 2004 Ukrainian child pornography raids and the 2008 US child pornography raid. New technology that aids those who produce this material include inexpensive digital cameras and Internet distribution has made it easier than ever before to produce and distribute child pornography. The producers of child pornography try to avoid prosecution by distributing their material across national borders, though this issue is increasingly being addressed with regular arrests of suspects from a number of countries occurring over the last few years.
The legal status of simulated or "virtual" child pornography varies around the world. For example, it was legal in the United States until 2003, when the PROTECT Act was signed, it is illegal in the European Union, and in Australia its legal status is unclear and so far untested in the courts. Child pornography may be simulated by the use of computers or adults made to look like children.
In 2008, it was discovered that the United States will post fake hyperlinks claiming to be child pornography and then raiding, arresting, and prosecuting anyone who was found using the IP address that visited them, even someone whose computer was an open wifi. In 2008, a man in Middlesbrough, UK, was found guilty of downloading "child pornography" when he downloaded computer generated cartoons.
Read more about this topic: Legal Status Of Internet Pornography
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