Publications

Child pornography in the digital age

Anna Grant, Fiona David and Peter Grabosky

in: Transnational organised crime, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 171-188.
ISSN 1357-7387
London: Frank Cass & Co., 1997

Reproduced with the kind permission of the publishers.

Abstract

This article explores the issue of child pornography as it has been transformed by new technologies. Following a discussion of definitional issues, it provides an overview of contemporary manfestations of child pornography, particularly the transnational dimension. The article then reviews some of the countermeasures which are being mobilized, and indicate what the most appropriate configuration of these countermeasures might entail, in both domestic and transnational contexts.

Contents

• Introduction
• Definitional Issues
• Child Pornography in Digital Form
• Responses to Child Pornography
• Conclusion
• References

Related links

• Frank Cass Publishers
• Transnational organised crime
• Topic: Cybercrime

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Introduction

The rapid development of sophisticated and affordable computers and the increased accessibility of global telecommunications networks has revolutionised the manner in which information is transferred around the world. While the benefits of the global information exchange are enormous, attention has been drawn to the dangers of the free flow of certain material that has traditionally been the subject of control by law enforcement and customs authorities.

As the twentieth century draws to a close, few public issues rival child pornography in their capacity to arouse public indignation. Although child pornography has been around for some time, only recently has it risen to prominence on the policy agenda in western industrial societies. Explanations for the recent emergence of child pornography as a subject of public and official concern are diverse. Followers of Durkheim might suggest that the end of the Cold War, and the personal insecurities which accompany life in an era of rapid globalisation, has necessitated a search for new demons. The specification of negative referents, of which child pornography constitutes an archetype, helps bolster social solidarity amongst those members of society would like to regard themselves as relatively virtuous. Opponents of sexual explicitness in general may select child pornography as the most objectionable form of sexually explicit content, and thus the softest target in a campaign to increase censorship of public expressions of sexuality. Others may see the success of feminism in making the personal political, finally giving a voice to child victims of sexual abuse.

More concretely, the growing recognition that certain forms of premature sexual activity can have lasting harmful effects on a child has made depictions of such activity increasingly objectionable, since these depictions may themselves constitute prima facie evidence of abusive behaviour, or may indicate risk of such behaviour at some time in the future. This increasing attribution of harm is reflected in the position advanced by a number of policy entrepreneurs, both at the grass roots and in government, who have tenaciously carried the issue forward. Horrific instances of child sexual abuse, such as the notorious Dutroux case in Belgium, have provided further momentum. The convening of the World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in 1996 focused world attention on child pornography among other forms of child sexual abuse, elevating the issue even higher on the policy agenda of many jurisdictions.

Among the most significant developments impacting on the issue of child pornography are those in telecommunications and computing technology. These have markedly facilitated the production and reproduction of child pornography, and greatly assist in concealing this activity from the attention of law enforcement or other adversary interests. Even more dramatic is the manner in which these technologies permit the dissemination of the content in question almost instantaneously to many recipients, over vast distances.

This article explores the issue of child pornography as it has been transformed by new technologies. Following a discussion of definitional issues, we turn to an overview of contemporary manfestations of child pornography, particularly its transnational dimension. We then review some of the countermeasures which are being mobilized against child pornography in the digital age, and indicate what the most appropriate configuration of these countermeasures might entail, in both domestic and transnational contexts.

Definitional issues

Public discourse on child pornography is afflicted by extreme definitional ambiguity. Precisely what child pornography is, and what it is not, may not be explicitly defined in a given jurisdiction. Moreover, definitional boundaries may expand or contract over time, depending upon evolving social and political values. And they can vary significantly across jurisdictions. Without embarking upon an exhaustive inventory of legislation relating to child pornography, it might be useful to explore some of its definitional properties.

Among the parameters of a definition of child pornography are the following:

• What type of behaviour is being depicted? The narrowest definition would embrace only depictions of children engaged in explicit sexual activity. One could, however, imagine suggestive depictions of children entailing other than sexually explicit behaviour. To some observers, there is a significant difference between pornography and erotica; to others, not.
• Who is a child? In some cultures, the attainment of adulthood is marked by a ritual, such as marriage, or death of the head of the family, rather than the attainment of a certain chronological age. In other cultures, adulthood is a legal concept, defined by the legislature of the particular jurisdiction. The legal age of consent for consensual sexual activity varies significantly around the world, as does the age of consent for participation in depictions of sexual conduct, whether i mplicit or explicit. Children's physical characteristics also differ significantly. Definitions of prohibited material may be based on the actual age of the person in the depiction, or on the person's apparent age.
• Do the depictions record actual, or imaginary behaviour? In addition to considerations of apparent age, child pornography may be produced without the involvement of children, or indeed, of any other person. Photographic images may be enhanced or altered in a manner which give the appearance of child subjects. In reality, the image may be created ex nihilo (as is the case with cartoons) or transformed by technical means (the colloquial term for this is "morphing"). Verbal depictions may be based on fact, or on fantasy; as is the case with pictorial images, it is not always possible to determine whether the product is fictional or real.
• What is the intended effect of the material on its consumer(s)? In some jurisdictions, the definition of child pornography may be based in part on the intended use of the material. Erotic (but not sexually explicit) depictions of children may appear in art or in commercial advertising. Indeed, what is regarded as erotic will vary over time and space, and from one individual to another.

In some jurisdictions mere advocacy of sex with children may be defined as child pornography. The point at which public advocacy of, for example, the lowering of the age of consent, moves from political speech to criminal conduct may not always be clear (Forde and Petterson 1998).

Some jurisdictions seek to get around these difficulties by defining child pornography rather broadly, including a subjective element, and trusting in the discretionary processes of the criminal justice system to do the right thing. For example, the Australian National Classification Code refers to publications, films and computer games that:

1. describe, depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified; or
2. describe or depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a minor who is, or who appears to be, under 16 (whether the minor is engaged in sexual activity or not); or
3. promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence.

According to the law of the Australian State of Victoria, child pornography

means a film, photograph, publication or computer game that describes or depicts a person who is, or who looks like, a minor under 16 engaging in sexual activity or depicted in an indecent manner or context. (Crimes Act, 67A)

The Criminal Code of Canada (163.1 (1)) specifies

1. a photographic, film, video or other visual representation, whether or not it was made by electronic or mechanical means,
   1. that shows a person who is or is depicted as being under the age of eighteen years and is engaged in or is depicted as engaged in explicit sexual activity, or
   2. the dominant characteristic of which is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ or the anal region of a person under the age of eighteen years; or
2. any written material or visual representation that advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years that would be an offence under this Act.

By contrast, U.S. federal law is more narrowly drawn, to include visual depictions if

1. the producing of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
2. such visual depiction is of such conduct

(18 U.S.C. Sec. 2252(a)(1))

Child pornography was defined by World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (1996) as

"...any visual or audio material which uses children in a sexual context. It consists of the visual depiction of a child engaged in explicit sexual conduct, real or simulated, or the lewd exhibition of the genitals intended for the sexual gratification of the user, and involves the production, distribution and/or use of such material."

Despite the efforts to arrive at a modicum of international agreement about the definition of child pornography and how best to respond to the issue, it is clear that child pornography raises difficult questions which will not be resolved quickly. Policy makers will continue to address the issue but should do so with consideration for its many complexities. These include cross-national variations in matters relating to consent, complications of perception and reality, the relevance of context, and the importance of differing moral, religious, social economic and cultural factors.

The absence of a bright line which differentiates child pornography from other material may be less of a problem within a jurisdiction, than would be the case when interjurisdictional co-operation is required to interdict trans-border offending. Before we discuss the transnational dimensions of child pornography, however, it is important to explore its modern manifestations.

Child pornography in digital form

Technologies

In years past, child pornography, however defined, took the form of still photographs, films and printed matter. The production and distribution of these materials often involved many hands. Although producers of pornography with the requisite knowledge and equipment to do their own developing and printing were less reliant on the cooperation of third parties, marketing of the material usually involved use of postal services in the case of mail-order transactions, or over-the-counter sales through "adult" bookstores. The visibility of production and sale of child pornography, whether to law enforcement directly or to third parties with the potential to cooperate with law enforcement, always remained a risk. The importation of child pornography across international frontiers risked attracting the attention of vigilant postal inspectors and customs authorities.

The advent of personal videocameras and digital photography reduced the visibility of production, and the risk that illegal material might be called to the attention by commercial photo developers. Moreover, new digital technologies allow child pornography to be copied, stored, and transmitted quickly and unobtrusively, and with perfect accuracy. When posted in cyberspace, it is potentially available to anyone, anywhere in the world, who has access to a personal computer and a modem. These developments, and the abundance of child pornography available in cyberspace, mean that in the fullness of time, traditional printing and photography are likely to be eclipsed by digital technology as the dominant media for the production and distribution of this material.

The introduction of digital technology has dramatically enhanced the amount of material available to those who would access child pornography, as well as the speed and privacy with which it may be accessed.

Online child pornography takes two basic and very different forms. The first is the more overt, unabashed activity occurring in Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and newsgroup facilities; the second, the covert, sophisticated activity which takes place in relative privacy.

Internet chat rooms are provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These are accessible to anyone with an internet connection and the requisite software, which is freely available, if not a standard part of the service. IRC facilities exist for almost every conceivable interest, from Australian Rules Football, to Star Trek, to pre-teen sex.

These IRC facilities permit group discussion, as well as the exchange of files between participants. These files may contain text, still photographs, sound, moving pictures, or multimedia content, all in digital form. A visitor to a typical IRC room devoted to sex with children will see offers to barter or exchange explicit images, such as 3 for 1 or 2 for 1. When an agreement is made, digital content can be sent and received at the speed of light.

In addition to the group discussion facilities of IRC, a further degree of organization can be achieved with software called ICQ (Yeomans and Hole 1998). ICQ can inform a user of other specific individuals currently connected to the Internet, and can facilitate communications between them. Each user can create his or her own contact list, and as soon as one of the other specified contacts logs on to the Internet, ICQ detects the logon and automatically announces the presence of the specified contact to others who have named him or her on their contact list. Such a facility can be used to create networks of like-minded individuals.

In addition to the above facilities, the World Wide Web contains many websites devoted to child sex. Content may include political advocacy, vocabularies of extenuation, images of varying degrees of explicitness, and links to sites providing information relating to technologies of anonymity and encryption.

In contrast to the overt and unabashed use of IRC facilities for the exchange of materials, further exchange occurs on a more discreet basis using the more private Internet technologies. Private bulletin boards involving access control and requiring authentication limit participation to those in possession of a valid password, thereby excluding uninvited visitors. Technologies of pseudonymity and anonymity permit one to create a false identity, or to otherwise conceal one's identity altogether.

Technologies of encryption permit one to conceal the content of communications, including digital images, by converting it to unintelligible form using a mathematical algorithm or "key". Only persons in possession of the key are able to decrypt the content to an intelligible form. Anonymous remailers are services which take incoming messages and remove the source address, assign an anonymous identification code number with the remailer's address, and forward the message to the final destination. Responses can be similarly modified and the respondent likewise remains anonymous. These methods provide perpetrators with a substantial degree of security. The use of sophisticated technology is by no means limited to traffickers in child pornography, and may be applied to communications in furtherance of criminal conspiracies generally, both domestic and trans-national (Denning and Baugh 1997; Grabosky and Smith 1998 Chapter 10).

Commercial aspects

Traditionally, commercially produced child pornography filled a niche market. A small industry existed in Northern Europe during the 1960's which exported products around the world. As governments around the world began to introduce restrictions on child pornography, the democratization of technology described above facilitated widespread amateur production and dissemination of the material. A considerable proportion of the material that is presently circulating is either home-made or recycled. Needless to say, producers of illegal material would be disinclined to assert copyright. The majority of material currently available appears to be distributed in the main through an exchange system which is considerably decentralized, and without any commercial motive. Although contemporary trade in child pornography appears to be driven largely by personal rather than profit motives, the development of electronic payments systems via the Internet may one day see an increase in the proportion of these exchanges which involve some form of cash transaction.

Volume

As we have observed, traditional forms of child pornography were obtainable by mail order, or from "adult" book stores, by trusted clients. Even then, transactions were of such low visibility that they tended to defy quantification. Statistics on sales volume and turnover were scarce or nonexistent, and statistics on seizures tended to reflect official vigilance and law enforcement priorities rather than the actual extent of targeted behavior. Today, given that a significant amount of material is exchanged or bartered, rather than distributed in the course of a formal cash transaction, the volume of child pornography circulating around the world is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. One could seek to analyse the volume and activity of IRC or WWW sites ostensibly dedicated to child pornography, but such analyses would ignore the presumably significant volume of traffic which occurs through private channels.

The challenge of quantification is also compounded by definitional problems noted earlier. Of that content which is publicly accessible on the Internet or World Wide Web, what is deemed to be criminal in one jurisdiction may be quite legal in another.

The "market" for Internet child pornography today appears considerably decentralized. While most content appears to originate in the United States and Western Europe, production appears to be amateur and small scale. The "home made" nature of much content was noted above. Given the availability of abundant material for free or for barter, there does not appear to be much in the way of conventional commerce. The more overt manifestations of internet child pornography entail a modicum of organisation, as required by the infrastructure of IRC and WWW, but the activity appears largely confined to individuals.

By contrast, some of the less publicly visible traffic in child pornography activity appears to entail a greater degree of organisation. Although knowledge is confined to that conduct which has been the target of successful police investigation, there appear to have been a number of networks which extend cross-nationally, use sophisticated technologies of concealment, and entail a significant degree of coordination.

Illustrative of such activity was the Wonderland Club, an international network with members in at least 14 nations ranging from Europe, to North America, to Australia. Access to the group was password protected, and content was encrypted. Police investigation of the activity, codenamed "Operation Cathedral" resulted in approximately 100 arrests, and the seizure of over 100,000 images in September, 1998.

Two years prior, an investigation revealed The Orchid Club, a network with members in the United States, Australia, Canada and Finland. Participants were alleged to have engaged in real time photography of children in sexually explicit poses, and transmission online in an interactive session with other network members. Access to this network was also private, subject to authentication by special password (The Washington Post 1996).

Responses to child pornography

As we have noted, the suppression of child pornography has become more difficult due to technological changes. The production, storage, transmission and retrieval of objectionable material can now occur with unprecedented speed and low visibility. The challenge these new developments pose for law enforcement agencies around the world are formidable. These developments in technology mean that the identification and investigation of child pornography offences is becoming increasingly difficult and appears to exceed the capacity of law enforcement alone to control. With content originating in and accessible to locations anywhere around the world, the challenge is also a global one.

The following section looks at various means of controlling internet child pornography. Depending on the context, the location, and the level of visibility of the conduct in question, control strategies will involve a combination of effort by law enforcement, concerned citizens, and the online services industry.

Law enforcement

The overt use of the Internet for the dissemination of child pornography is perhaps most amenable to control (Duke 1998). The most nonchalant and unabashed participants appear to make little effort to conceal their identity. By contrast, law enforcement agents are easily able to acquire a covert internet alias, and impersonate a member of the general public. They may also use ICQ software to monitor the behavior of suspects. A suspect who joins a chat room can often be identified through an electronic (Internet Protocol or IP) address, accessible with readily available tools such as "Sam Spade" or other "digger engine" software which may be downloaded by anyone free of charge. (See http://pedowatch.org/pedo_txt.html#Investigate) Other software may be purpose-built by law enforcement agencies. Based on these data, the suspect's name and physical address can usually be obtained from a cooperating service provider, either voluntarily, or pursuant to a judicial order, depending upon the law of the jurisdiction in question. A search warrant can then be obtained and executed on the suspect's physical premises.

The global nature of cyberspace means that law enforcement authorities in a given jurisdiction who are looking for illegal activity in publicly accessible internet sites may encounter suspects whose actual physical location may be anywhere in the world. The proportion of suspects residing in Tasmania, for example, will be extremely small. Tasmanian authorities, moreover, have no jurisdiction over the vast majority of internet illegality originating elsewhere.

On-line investigation of illegal content, of whatever form, is an extremely resource intensive and costly undertaking. Rather than invest massively in "surfing" cyberspace in search of child pornography which may originate within one's own jurisdiction, law enforcement agencies around the world are more likely to commit a modest amount of resources to this end, while co-ordinating their efforts with those of agencies in other jurisdictions. International cooperation in law enforcement can facilitate the identification of addresses within one's own jurisdiction which have been the originators or the recipients of illegal content. Law enforcement agencies who identify a suspect in a foreign state involved in crime, can disclose this to those foreign authorities who have jurisdiction over the matter. The strengthening of mechanisms for information sharing and coordination is likely to become a priority for law enforcement agencies around the world.

Third parties: citizens and interest groups

Citizens' groups have been extremely successful in raising public awareness of issues relating to the sexual exploitation of children, and in striving for a degree of international consensus. They vary in size and scope from those which operate on a transnational basis to those whose activities are local.

ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking) is a global network of organizations and individuals campaigning against the sexual exploitation of children. They played a prominent role at the 1996 World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. The Declaration and Agenda for Action produced by the Congress was signed by over 120 nations (http://www.ecpat.org/)

In individual jurisdictions, the vigilance of law enforcement can be further enhanced by enlisting the assistance of private third parties. "Electronic neighborhood watch" initiatives have also begun to emerge in many locations around the world.. Hotlines are under development in a number of nations which permit citizens who discover online illegality to report the conduct in question to relevant authorities. These include the Cyber Tip Line, established in 1998 in the United States at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A similar hotline established in the Netherlands exemplifies collaborative public-private alliances in furtherance of law enforcement. The Netherlands Hotline for Child Pornography on the Internet is a joint initiative of the ISP industry, law enforcement, and citizens' groups (Grabosky and Smith 1998, 132). The ECPAT Norway tip-off line children@risk.sn.no also seeks to identify content related to the sexual exploitation of children. Other hotlines, such as that established in the United Kingdom under the auspices of the Internet Watch Foundation, http://www.internetwatch.org.uk/ are vehicles for the reporting of online illegality more generally.

There are those users who would avail themselves of the information technology services of their workplace or educational institution for the transmission or receipt of illegal material. This activity is often visible to the institution's systems administrator, who is usually in a position to refer suspected criminal activity to law enforcement for possible further action.

Organizations such as Pedowatch, <http://pedowatch.org> provide an online information service for members of the public, the news media, and some law enforcement agencies. Content includes information on misuse of the internet, and instructions for journalists and law enforcement officers wishing to investigate IRC activity. Included in the information are links to "digger engines" and other technologies which may assist in identifying the originator and/or the recipient of illegal content.

In addition to the above, some concerned citizens engage in which might be termed electronic vigilantism. Groups such as Ethical Hackers Against Pedophilia may threaten the use of techniques, often illegal, to disable the computers of those suspected of traffic in child pornography. Programs which cause system instability in or freeze the target computer, forcing the user to reboot. (http://pedowatch.org/pedo_txt.html). Because of its questionable legality such activity is not officially encouraged.

Third parties: the internet industry

Internet service providers can also contribute to such a framework by facilitating the referral of relevant information to law enforcement authorities. Depending on the laws which prevail in their respective jurisdictions, ISPs themselves may be required to disclose to law enforcement agencies any criminal activity coming to their attention (Akdeniz 1998). In some cases, ISPs may actively assist in the conduct of an investigation. Alternatively, the ISP industry may develop its own self regulatory mechanisms. ISPs will usually incorporate basic standards of compliance as integral to their service agreement or contract.

The Internet Industry Association of Australia has been developing a Code of Practice consistent with the regulatory regime for Internet service providers established by the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth). The draft Code seeks to balance interests of privacy, to foster use of the Internet for legitimate purposes, and to discourage the use of the Internet for illegal activities.

The Code contains explicit provisions aimed at preventing the communication of illegal content: for example, "Content Providers will not knowingly place illegal content on the Internet or allow illegal content to remain on the Internet." In addition, code subscriber Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are to encourage those of their users who are Content Providers to use appropriate labelling systems.

The draft Code provides for the handling of complaints from users, as well as inappropriate conduct by users and by content providers. The draft Code would further require a subscriber ISP to cancel the account of any user that repeats offending conduct after being informed that the user's conduct is a breach of the user's service conditions, including a criminal offence. In addition to the draft Code of Practice, all ISPs are bound by legal requirements to offer reasonable assistance to law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of the criminal law.

Creation of a hostile climate for persons who would engage in blatant illegal behaviour is at best a partial solution. The above efforts on the part of law enforcement, concerned citizens, and the ISP industry may suffice to discourage the casual opportunist. But service providers cannot read all subscribers' electronic mail. Private bulletin boards lie beyond the reach of the internet industry altogether. The committed trafficker of child pornography who has not already exploited technologies of anonymity and privacy can seek refuge in more covert corners of cyberspace.

Complex criminal investigations

The more sophisticated and organised activities involving child pornography will be less amenable to what might be described as "beat patrols" on the information superhighway. Covert and clandestine activity can be interdicted, but usually only by more aggressive investigative methods.

While there may be some individuals who traffic in child pornography but who otherwise lead law abiding lives, there are many who engage in diverse forms of criminal activity, against children, against information systems, or otherwise. To the extent that a search directed at apparently unrelated criminal activity yields evidence of an offence related to child pornography, the capacity of law enforcement to operate in the darker stretches of the information superhighway may be enhanced. As internet technology becomes increasingly pervasive in modern society, computers will be found, coincidentally or otherwise, at more and more crime scenes. Whether the scope of a search warrant will enable police to seize evidence of an unrelated crime can be an important consideration in identifying incidental evidence of online child pornography.

All else equal, the larger a criminal organisation, the greater the risk that its activities will come to the attention of law enforcement. The possibility that any one participant in a criminal enterprise may commit a mistake will increase with the size of the enterprise. The existence of one weak link can be exploited by law enforcement to reveal the suspect's connections with other members of the network, and thereby unravel the entire fabric.

Child pornography networks are particularly suited to this strategy of interdiction, because they rarely exist as closed systems. The demand of members for new material will lead them to seek to recruit new members and/or to acquire new materials from non-members. Either way, the risk of disclosure from mistake or detection will persist.

One investigative strategy which may be less appropriate in the direct investigation of child pornography, but which has been useful in identifying criminal pedophile activity, is that of covert facilitation or "sting" operations. The laws of some jurisdictions may preclude the use of such methods altogether. In those jurisdiction where such methods are permissible, the activity required on the part of an undercover officer in order to gain the confidence of a suspect may have serious downside consequences. There may be ethical or legal barriers to exchanging child pornography with a suspect, much less participating in "real time" abuse of children. On the other hand, law enforcement officers posing as children seeking liaisons with adults have succeeded in identifying a range of offences, including those relating to child pornography (Freeh 1998).

The emergence of the internet as the dominant medium of child pornography raises a variety of additional legal issues by no means unique to sexually explicit material, but relevant to online criminality in general. Laws drafted for photographic and print media may not be adequate in the digital age. Incriminating material in the form of electromagnetic impulses on a floppy disk may not satisfy evidentiary requirements in those jurisdictions which require evidence to be in tangible form. It may be difficult to prove possession of data stored remotely, on a server physically located in another jurisdiction, and accessed only occasionally.

Despite the formidable technological impediments to the investigation of sophisticated internet crime, there have been some noteworthy examples of successful operations against transnational child pornography networks. One of the most recent was Operation Cathedral, which targeted the aforementioned Wonderland network. Cathedral was an international operation coordinated by the British Police and their counterparts in at least thirteen other nations.

The global nature of cyberspace requires concerted international efforts to combat transnational traffic in child pornography, as well as other forms of online illegality. Especially in circumstances where child pornography entails or may be accompanied by real-time abuse of children (as was the case with the Orchid Club), this would include the development of new mechanisms for international cooperation. Such initiatives might include the establishment of a network of 24 hour points of contact to facilitate rapid response to criminal activity, as proposed by the Group of Eight industrialized nations in May, 1998 . If, for example, law enforcement agents in country "A" become aware of real-time abuse of a child taking place in country "B" mechanisms for the immediate notification of authorities in country "B" are highly desirable.

The international child pornography network setting differs in one important respect from some other scenarios of transnational crime. In the former, the international transactions are usually consensual. That is, participants in country "X" and country "Y" are both engaged in illegal conduct against the laws of their respective countries. Each can be prosecuted "at home", without the involvement of the other nation's authorities. In the case of some other offenses which can occur across international borders, such as intrusion, theft, and fraud, the party in country "X" offends against the victim in Country "Y". Here, the co-operation of authorities in both nations will usually be required in order make a case.

Thus, where the transnational criminal activity is consensual, cooperation between respective authorities will generally be required at the investigative stage. Police who seize a suspect's address book and determine that a number of the suspect's contacts reside in foreign locations may alert the authorities in the various foreign jurisdictions of their citizens' identities and possible involvement in illegal activity. On the other hand, when the offender in one country acts against a victim in another, additional cooperation may be required downstream in the criminal process.

In any event, current arrangements for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters are slow, and sometimes cumbersome. Moreover, not all nations have entered into reciprocal arrangements with other states that would provide the basis for mutual legal assistance. The development of fast and effective procedures for international cooperation in criminal investigations, including arrangements for expedited mutual legal assistance is one of the challenges facing nations of the world today. This imperative is by no means unique to child pornography, but is equally applicable to matters such as terrorism, extortion, and financial crime.

Conclusion

Because of its emotive nature, discussions of child pornography will continue to generate as much heat as light. The convergence of a "hot-button" issue such as child sexual exploitation, high technology, and transnational reach, mean that the matter of internet child pornography is destined to remain high on the public agenda in many nations around the world. It is therefore important for those who may be in a position to contribute a degree of analytical rigor this policy issue to do just that.

While it may be impossible to come to a universally accepted definition of what child pornography is, the effort should continue, for only when a common foundation is established can there be a dual criminality basis for mutual assistance in criminal matters.

If there is any good news about child pornography, it is that it is very difficult to become an unwilling consumer. Child pornography may not be terribly difficult to find in cyberspace, but for the most part, one must know where to go looking for it. The likelihood of stumbling across it unwittingly is slim; of having it thrust upon one against one's will even more so. For those who would take special precautions, blocking and filtering software exist to prevent access to certain internet sites. The exercise of basic parental responsibility can help children stay out of harm's way in cyberspace, especially with regard to the disclosure of personal details to strangers. Until the first generation of children born in the digital age themselves enter adulthood, a degree of education for parents seems appropriate. Fortunately, the world wide web abounds with materials to assist parents to help their children navigate cyberspace safely.

In these efforts to control child pornography, care should be taken not to dismiss legitimate concerns about the protection of privacy and freedom of expression. The tension between these interests and those of law enforcement are likely to endure and become one of the most hotly contested issues of public policy, at least in western democracies, over the next decade. This is not to suggest that those who would subject children to torture and record the practice for posterity should be free to do so in privacy. But those who would condemn certain forms of legitimate political expression because they object to the message, those who would intrude on private communications and censor works of art because they find them distasteful, may encounter some resistance in a world without borders. It is important to distinguish between child pornography, communications between pedophiles for the purposes of mutual support or reinforcement of beliefs and preferences, and live communication with children in an attempt to seduce them. Vague and imprecise use of the term child pornography can be seized upon to discredit legitimate efforts in furtherance of child protection.

Regardless of the conceptualization and trajectory of these policy debates, what does the future hold for internet child pornography? It seems most unlikely that the issue will fade from public view. Its continued salience will be assured by the compelling nature of children's vulnerability to sexual exploitation.

The more publicly visible areas of cyberspace will become increasingly inhospitable to those who would traffic in child pornography. Increasing knowledge and capacity on the part of law enforcement, combined with vigilance on the part of concerned citizens and the assistance of some ISPs, will deter most casual opportunists, and drive the residual participants underground. The future of online child pornography would thus appear to lie in more private networks whose members will depend on sophisticated technology to avoid public attention. One may thus expect a continuing game of "leap-frog" in which improvements in law and technology will facilitate detection and investigation of illegality, until the adaptive sophisticated offenders discover new ways to cover their tracks. Production and distribution will remain decentralised, with markets remaining essentially non-commercial.

The global nature of cyberspace, where transactions may occur as easily between users on opposite sides of the world as between users located in the same city, will require an unprecedented degree of coordination and cooperation between law enforcement agencies. In this regard, large scale, coordinated investigations such as Operation Cathedral are likely to play a prominent role in the control of internet child pornography in the 21st century.

References

• Akdeniz, Yaman (1998) Regulation of Child Pornography on the Internet: Cases and Materials related to Child Pornography on the Internet http://www.cyber-rights.org/reports/child.htm
• Denning, Dorothy and Baugh, William (1997) Encryption and Evolving Technologies as Tools of Organized Crime and Terrorism. Washington, National Strategy Information Center.
• Duke, Paul (1998) "New Zealand Censorship Compliance Unit" Paper presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology Conference on Internet Crime, Melbourne, 16-17 February 1998. http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/internet/duke.html
• Forde, Patrick and Patterson, Andrew (1998) Pedophile Internet Activity. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 97. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi97.html
• Freeh, Louis (1998) "Child Pornography on the Internet and the Sexual Exploitation of Children" Statement Before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and related Agencies, Washington, D. C. March 10.
• The Washington Post (1996) "13 to Face Charges of Child Pornography" Thursday, July 18, page A02. World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, 1996.
• Yeomans, Peter and Hole, Vince (1998) "Child Pornography and the Internet" Sydney: New South Wales Police Service, Child Protection Enforcement Agency.