"…any representation, by whatever means, of a
child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities
or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for
primarily sexual purposes." (Source: Optional Protocol
to the Convention on the Rights of the Child)
This can include photographs, negatives, slides, magazines,
books, drawings, movies, videotapes and computer disks or
files. Generally speaking there are two categories of pornography:
soft core which is not sexually explicit but involves naked
and seductive images of children and hard core which relates
to images of children engaged in sexual activity. The use
of children in the production of pornography is sexual exploitation.
New technologies have changed the nature of pornography.
Digital cameras and video recorders have made production easier
and cheaper, and there is less risk of detection as a third
party is not required to develop the images as with conventional
photography. Reproduction is improved: digitalised images
do not age or lose their quality through copying. The distribution
of pornographic images has become easier, cheaper and faster
through the Internet. As the Internet bypasses national boundaries
and laws, detection and prosecution becomes increasingly difficult.
Using digital graphics software, it is now possible to combine
two images into one, or distort pictures to create a totally
new image: a process called morphing. Non pornographic images
of real children can be made to appear as pornography, and
pornographic images of 'virtual children' can be generated.
This 'pseudo-pornography' raises a whole new set of questions
and issues. How old is a virtual child; can there be a crime
without a real victim; where does the criminal act takes place-
where the image is produced, where the image is hosted, or
where the image is viewed?
Many pornography laws deal only with real children and depictions
of events which actually occurred. Defendants, therefore,
can claim that a morphed image is not real and thus is not
illegal.
Child pornography, however, is not just about pictures of
naked children. There is a clear linkage between the pornography
of children - virtual or real - and sexual abuse in the real
world.
The most obvious use of child pornography is to aid
in sexual arousal and gratification. However, it is also used
to:
- Validate one's behaviour as 'normal';
- Seduce children and lower their inhibitions;
- Blackmail a child;
- Preserve a child's youth in an image at the age of preference;
- Establish trust among other paedophiles;
- Gain entrance to private "clubs";
- Produce for commercial gain.
The Wonderland Club was a paedophile network
that operated in at least 12 countries. Membership was restricted;
to belong, new members had to be vetted and possess at least
10,000 images of child pornography - different from images already
held by members. For less than $100 US a month members were
allowed access to the pornographic files and the club's electronic
meeting grounds.
It had collected more than 1 million
pornographic images of children as young as two before police
arrested 100 members on September 1, 1998. Only 17 of the
1260 victims in the Wonderland archives have been identified.
As of April 2001, there have been 50 convictions worldwide.
While not all paedophiles have a child pornography collection,
those that do consider their collection one of the most important
things in their lives and spend considerable time and money
on it.
According to Interpol, paedophiles usually maintain detailed
and orderly records, and very rarely is any part of the collection
discarded. Paedophiles frequently have a need or a desire
to show and tell others about their collection as they are
seeking validation for all their efforts.
Governments have moved to fight the child pornography problem
by passing legislation. The Japanese Diet, facing criticism
for the absence of legislation despite the proliferance of
child pornography originating in the country, recently enacted
a law that defined child pornography and prohibited its distribution,
sale and display.
The United Kingdom passed legislation to reflect changes
in the new technologies - morphed images of child pornography
are illegal and treated by the law exactly as if they were
real.
ECPAT groups in New Zealand, Sweden, Spain, Mauritius and
Taiwan are involved in Internet Safety Projects aimed
at protecting children online.
Other responses from the non governmental sector include
monitoring operations and reporting hotlines, often
in cooperation with local and international law enforcement
organisations. A Chinese language hotline, set up by ECPAT
Taiwan, received more than 4200 reports in their first year.
The private sector has also played an active role in combating
child pornography on the Internet. In several countries, Internet
Service Providers have drafted Codes of Conduct in
order to clarify their roles and responsibilities relating
to illegal content on the Internet.
According to the British code, members of the Internet Service
Provider Association must comply with requests from the Internet
Watch Foundation for prompt removal of objectionable material
within a reasonable time.
In the United States of America, several large communications
companies have joined together to provide safety tips for
Internet surfers of all ages, a Neighbourhood Watch system
and law enforcement information.
The technology industry response involves the development
of rating and filtering software. Such software is
designed to identify content on the Internet which might be
harmful to children. It lets parents and guardians stop children
from viewing certain sites, but it is not meant to interfere
with freedom of expression.
Filtering software can be installed by parents or by the
Internet Service Providers. If the service providers control
filtering, they may become liable for any illegal content
which gets through.
Filtering software follows three main models: black listing,
whitelisting and neutral labelling.
- Blacklisting blocks access to listed sites;
- Whitelisting allows access only to listed sites.
- Neutral labelling labels or rates the sites, but it is
up to the user to decide how to use the rating system.
Chat Rooms on the Internet have become
places where paedophiles, masquerading as children themselves,
make contact with children. In 1997, the FBI and other US governmental
agencies secured criminal convictions in approximately 200 cases
of "sexual solicitation of minors" in which the Internet
played a major part in the commission of the offence. Child
molesters enter chat rooms and begin a process known as grooming.
Over a period of time, they gain the child's confidence and
develop a relationship. The next step in the process is for
the offender to arrange a face to face meeting or persuade the
child to send or receive pornographic material.
Specialised police units have been
set up in a number of countries where police surf the Internet,
posing as children, in order to detect potential child sex
offenders.
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