Thursday, June 14, 2012

War on child porn may see restricted Internet

Internet restrictions may be necessary to stop the dissemination of child pornography. Social networks are of particular concern to organisations such as The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) which has urged has urged Twitter and others to address the issue.

Ceop say that paedophiles use the site to discuss abuse and link to pornographic images. And while users can report accounts in breach of its child protection policy, Twitter has been criticised for being too slow in acting upon such complaints.

Exploitation of social media 

Twitter says safety was a high priority and it acted immediately on complaints of inappropriate behaviour. But former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who works as a child protection expert, claims some users have still been active on the site days or even weeks after they have been reported to the firm [BBC].

But Twitter is just one of many ways through which child pornography is distributed. Photo sharing websites are being increasingly exploited to disseminate such images. And despite such sites having clear policies prohibiting the uploading of certain content, few are proactive enough in removing the offending material.

Many sites facilitate users uploading pictures anonymously, with only a valid email address required. However, it is all too easy to set up an email address without supplying legitimate information. And with the use of proxy servers, criminals can hide their location and identity completely.

Tumblr, a photo-blogging website, has gained a reputation for being a hub of pornographic images. While Tumblr does not explicitly ban pornography in its community guidlines but does ban "anything relating to minors that is sexually suggestive or violent" and those showing content related to abuse and self-harm. However, reporting such imagery, if stumbled upon, is fraught with problems, especially for those without a Tumblr account. Tumblr say they tag blogs with NSFW [Not Suitable For Work] if they contain adult content, but many blogs pass such scrutiny.

Private sharing

Similar issues arise with other photo or content sharing websites. Picasa Web, while incorporated into Google+, allows users to upload explicit content which can be made 'private' and shared through a link with other individuals. Flickr, Yahoo's picture storage website, also facilitate private sharing, thus avoiding public scrutiny. And with the rise of file-sharing websites, an even bigger problem faces authorities attempting to stamp out child pornography.

Google states that it has a zero-tolerance policy against child pornography and will terminate and report to the appropriate authorities any user who publishes or distributes such material. Nonetheless, Google are also slow at deleting images and accounts showing inappropriate content.

Google also facilitates a framework to report content found through its image search. However due to the nature of the Internet, uploaders of content are often one step ahead of Google's own censorship machine.

Censorship proposals

In recent weeks there has been a concerted campaign by some papers to block pornography at ISP level and force Internet users in Britain to opt-in should they wish to view adult material.

It is not clear, should the plan be adopted by the British government, whether this would work from a 'white-list' or 'black-list' of websites. Neither system would be infallible. Black-listing Flickr, Picasa or Tumblr would no doubt anger legitimate users, yet a white-listing of the site would let dubious content flow freely. Even with image and word scanning technology there may be difficulty in differentiating clean, legal content from illegal or adult content.

This week controversial plans will be unveiled by the British government which would give police more surveillance powers. Home Secretary insisted the new plans will only provide police with information of a small amount of detail such as "who, when and where", rather than the actual content, for which authorities would need to seek a warrant.

However, there is a growing case for surveillance powers to be extended in order to stop the flow of child pornography and catch paedophiles. Today it was reported that police had raided a number of properties in the UK and arrested at least 3 individuals in a coordinated nationwide crackdown to trap child sex offenders. The operation was particularly focused on individuals who have access to children. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre says is a priority given that Internet images are becoming more extreme and sadistic, as well as becoming more easily available [Sky / BBC].

Reporting content

While the government debates the pros and cons of restricting Internet access and monitoring its use in an attempt to stop the dissemination of child pornography, there are organisations who are proactive in stamping out such content.

The IWF in Britain provides a facility for web users to report child sexual abuse content hosted anywhere in the world as well as criminally obscene adult content and non-photographic child sexual abuse images hosted in the UK. ASACP also provides a similar service in the US.

While most people are perhaps responsible in what they search for, and look at, on the Internet, there is a significant minority who use the web to disseminate obscene material. At home a parent may employ software such as CyberSentinal and PixAlert to restrict the access to certain websites or even locally stored images. But beyond this there are few controls.

War on porn

Many western nations are reluctant to follow the course of countries like China which put a blanket ban on sites such as Flickr, Picasa Web, Tumblr, Vimeo, DailyMotion and YouTube. While certainly aimed at preventing access to political content, China stated aim is to stop the flow of pornography. The censors also block many domestic sites. In 2009 alone more than 15,000 pornographic websites were shut down or blocked in China's war on porn [Xinhua]. The following year China shut down some 60,000 porn sites and arrested almost 5,000 suspects in the process. Possession of adult pornography is punishable by up to 3 years in prison and a fine of 20,000 yuan [£2,000 / $3,100].

With the increase in online crime, both related to pornography and other activities, it may only be a matter of time before western governments employ similar methods.

tvnewswatch, London, UK

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