Internet Child Pornography and the Law: National and International Responses, Ashgate, published in May 2008 (ISBN-13 978-0-7546-2297-0).

Introduction is available as a PDF file.

This book sets out to provide a critical assessment of the problem of Internet child pornography and its governance through legal and non-legal means, including a comparative assessment of laws in England & Wales, the Unites States of America and Canada in recognition that governments have a compelling interest to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. The Internet raises novel and complex challenges to existing regulatory regimes. Efforts towards legal harmonization at the European Union, Council of Europe, and United Nations level are examined in this context and the utility of additional and alternative methods of regulation explored. This book argues that effective implementation, enforcement, and harmonization of laws could help to reduce the availability and dissemination of child pornography on the Internet substantially, this book argues. At the same time, panic-led policies must be avoided if the wider problems of child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation are to be meaningfully addressed.

Contents: Introduction; Part 1 National Approaches: Legal approaches in England and Wales; Legal approaches in the United States of America; Legal approaches in Canada. Part 2 Supranational and International Approaches: European Union policy; Council of Europe policy; United Nations policy. Part 3 Internet Service Providers Liability and Self-Regulatory Approaches: Internet service providers’ liability; Self-regulatory and co-regulatory initiatives; Conclusion; Index; Bibliography; Index. Full table of contents list is now available as a PDF file.

Reviews
‘In Internet Child Pornography and The Law, Yaman Akdeniz does an excellent job of applying responsible, thoughtful scholarship to a subject often surrounded by misinformation. This is an important book for anyone interested in understanding how law and legal thinking must be reshaped to respond to globalization and new technologies.’ Philip Jenkins, Pennsylvania State University, USA

‘Yaman Akdeniz’s book is an important and timely contribution to this area of research. It brings a coherent perspective to an otherwise fragmented, and at times contradictory, arena and provides a balanced perspective on what has become an increasingly emotive topic. This will be an invaluable source of information to all whose work relates to child pornography and will help inform both practitioners and policy makers.’ Ethel Quayle, University College Cork, Ireland.

‘…an immensely readable and fascinating book, very well researched and footnoted and backed up by solid facts and numerous statistics, and it will undoubtedly be of interest to academics and students… persuade your local law library to buy several copies.’ Justice of the Peace (Criminal Justice Weekly) (2008), 172(44), 722

‘Internet Child Pornography and the Law provides a thorough and well-rounded overview of the legal mechanisms and policy initiatives in place to deal with the problem of internet child pornography…The book avoids becoming bogged down in the emotional and moral aspects of the child pornography debate, and provides a critical assessment of the laws – a benefit for anyone (whether layperson or lawyer) interested in understanding the current state of the law and underlying policy rationales…at the forefront of the debate.’ Journal of High Technology Law (2009)