Warning Over Spread Of Child Porn On Web

Accessing online images of child sex abuse is now faster and cheaper than ever before, an internet watchdog has warned.

Legitimate free web services are 'vulnerable' to exploitation by paedophiles, says IWF

Paedophiles pushing obscene material are taking advantage of free image sharing websites to reach customers, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said.
These sites, as well as blogs, message boards and social networking, mean new opportunities have opened up for the vile trade.
The IWF said legitimate free online services are "vulnerable" to exploitation through the storage, sale and sharing of illegal images.
This means the true scale of the underground industry is almost impossible to measure as the number of complaints to the IWF continues to rise.
Almost three quarters (72%) of child victims are aged 10 and younger and almost half (44%) of images feature rape or sexual torture.

There has been a rise in child sexual abuse content online

Many sites use automated programmes to move around different internet hosts, often at random in an attempt to frustrate detection.
Others hack into legitimate commercial websites to use them as storage for obscene material after alerting customers to the address with spam email.
Investigators have identified 461 distinct "brands" selling digital child abuse images and video to customers worldwide.
The 10 most prolific brands accounted for 660 website addresses, with the largest controlling 102 website addresses alone.
The watchdog charity reported 8,844 cases of child sexual abuse content to relevant authorities in 2009, a slight rise on 8,084 the previous year.

The distributors are increasingly using legitimate internet services to make the images available.

Peter Robbins, who heads the IWF

Its hotline team processed 38,173 reports, a 12% increase on the number received the previous year.
The number of website addresses with obscene content has remained fairly stable for the last three years, but the number of domains has fallen considerably.
Peter Robbins, who heads the IWF, said a "persistent core" of sites are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to evade police.
He said: "Over half of the material we deal with is related to commercial payment mechanisms confirming an ongoing demand for images of children being sexually abused.
"The distributors are increasingly using legitimate internet services to make the images available, from free hosting platforms and image sharing websites to social networking areas and hacked websites."