Child Porn on the Internet

Child Porn on the Internet

Pedophiles once moved about in a secret underworld to purchase and swap sexually explicit images of children, however today, they are merely a click away from illegal images of children. Due to the Internet, pedophiles can surf web sites for child pornography from the solitude and safety of their homes, anytime, day or night. Unfortunately, as the Internet has grown, so has the number of child pornography offences. In fact, according to one source, child porn cases have risen at an alarming rate, 1,500% since 1988. Moreover, as the number of child porn cases has risen, so has the number of children being physically abused by adults, as studies reveals that at least one in three people who possess sexual pictures of children go on to abuse physically abuse children themselves.

Pedophiles prey upon children by pretending to be teenagers while using Internet chat rooms to lure them into meetings. One recent survey showed that 77% of people using the Internet lie about their background, including age and occupation, thus although chat rooms are fun and a great way to meet peers, they also pose a great danger.

In 1984, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was established to "help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation, help find missing children, and assist victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and professionals who serve them." The Center also operates a Cyber Tipline that allows the public to report Internet-related child sexual exploitation. In 1996, the United States Congress established the Exploited Child Unit within the NCMEC, which serves as a resource center about the issues surrounding the sexual exploitation of children.

Child pornography is defined as any visual depiction, whether a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, painting, photograph, film, video, computer-generated image or picture of sexually explicit conduct that:

depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and is obscene, or depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex, and such depiction lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.