CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘sexual exploitation’ Category

Latest online offender ‘grooming’ tactics revealed - 2008 - Press releases - Media centre - CEOP: “Friday 11 September 2008
Latest online offender ‘grooming’ tactics revealed
UK centre for tackling the sexual abuse of children advises parents to increase vigilance as latest intelligence report is published

Online child sex offenders are using more intimidating tactics to engage with, exploit and abuse children in an increasingly converged technological environment according to the UK’s police agency dedicated to tackling child sex abuse – the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.

In its latest strategic intelligence dossier, the organisation reports an increase in online offenders using threats such as hacking online profiles and email accounts and using blackmail techniques as a response to an increasingly empowered internet generation who are recognising and reporting online ‘grooming’ behaviour to the police agency.

To date 2.2 million children and young people have seen the Centre’s Thinkuknow education programme and together with public awareness around international law enforcement activity in tracing and arresting internet offenders, this is resulting in offenders changing their tactics to approach and groom children.
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Feds push child-porn cases; penalty can be years in prison - San Jose Mercury News: “Feds push child-porn cases; penalty can be years in prison

By Howard Mintz, Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/24/2008 01:34:28 AM PDT

Just a few mouse clicks into the forbidden world of Internet child porn can transform an apparently upstanding individual into a federal prison inmate - doing a long sentence.

That’s the harsh reality former KGO radio host Bernie Ward will encounter this week. The popular and prominent liberal voice on Bay Area radio for decades is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in San Francisco federal court for distributing sexual images of young children. The best the 57-year-old Ward can hope for is five years in prison.

Setting aside his celebrity status, Ward’s case is no aberration.

Ward is ensnared in what is becoming one of the U.S. Justice Department’s fastest-growing areas of prosecution. Child-porn crimes have gone from a rarity on federal court dockets to a phenomenon, with prosecutions jumping nationally from a scant 30 in 1995 to more than 2,100 last year, according to a Mercury News analysis of Justice Department data maintained by Syracuse University.”

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Police warn of online chat danger: “Police warn teenagers about the dangers of chatting to strangers online after a 15-year-old girl went missing.”

(Via BBC News.)

UK - ‘Teen date’ website faces criticism: “(BBC)
A Newsbeat investigation has uncovered a dating website specifically for teenagers which campaigners fear will become a ‘playground for paedophiles’. Children’s Charity, NSPCC, says MyLOL.net, which is marketed for teenagers but has hundreds of adult profiles, should clean up its act or be shut down. The site’s owner claims there are security measures in place and they’ll be toughened up soon.”

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

ISPs Nationwide Unite in Attack against Exploitation: “ISP-based newsgroups have taken a beating in the last month, as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s initiative against child pornography has forced many of the more popular newsgroup hierarchies offline. Verizon, Sprint, RoadRunner, and late last week, AT&T, have all acted on the Attorney General’s recommendation. Today, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) announced a ‘historic’ agreement where all member companies have entered into a MOU (Memoradum of Understanding) with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) to attack child pornography on their servers and networks.”

(Via Slyck.com File-Sharing News And Information.)

UK - Survey says 11% of kids have online sex chats: “(PC Advisor)
11 percent of children have had a sexually explicit conversation online, according to a survey by The Carphone Warehouse. The Mobile Life survey, which polled 6,000 adults and children about their web and mobile habits also revealed that a quarter of 11 to 18 years olds had visited adult websites and 10 percent had met people they first interacted with online. Almost half the children surveyed admitted they lie to their parents about their online activities, with most using homework as a cover for surfing the net or social networking. Thirty-three percent revealed they would be in trouble if their parents knew what they were really looking at.”

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

UK - Minister backs code to tackle online sex and violence: “(Guardian)
The government has signalled its support for a common set of standards for internet content in response to worries about the impact of violent and sexual output online. The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, said he wanted to see online content meet the same standards required for television as the boundaries between the two media continue to blur. Television in the UK is governed by the broadcasting code of Ofcom, the media regulator. There is no overall regulation for the internet. See Secretary of State speech to the Convergence Think Tank 11 June 2008.”

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

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.”

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

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2nd year results from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – the UK’s dedicated organisation for tackling the sexual abuse of children – show the battle against child sex offenders continues to gather pace.

131 children have been safeguarded from sexual abuse either directly or indirectly as the result of CEOP activity – of which 18 have been identified through the examination of child abuse images.
297 arrests have been made as a result of CEOP activity.
6 organised paedophile rings have been dismantled or disrupted as a result of CEOP activity.
Since its launch, the Thinkuknow education programme has reached 1.7 million children and young people between the ages of 8 and 16 years across all parts of the UK.

A full copy of the CEOP Centre’s Annual Review 2007/08 and 2nd year figures is available at http://www.ceop.gov.uk/downloads/documents/ceopannualreview2008.pdf

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