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Child Pornography Is at Home on the InternetDistribution of child pornography and adult obscenity has expanded exponentially with advances in computer technology and increased availability and popular use of the Internet. This globalization of criminal activity is a significant challenge to the U.S. Department of Justice capacity to investigate and prosecute these crimes. Child pornography is relatively easy to identify. Obscenity is less easy to identify and the legal definition of obscenity was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller v California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). Under this ruling, the following three conditions must be met before material is considered obscene and subject to prosecution: ? The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material appeals to the prurient interest.
Increasingly, obscenity is transmitted via the Internet and this has caused confusion as to which community standards should be applied in determining whether material is obscene. The Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), and the FBI as a matter of policy, pursues major producers and traffickers of obscene materials. The National Obscenity Enforcement Unit was established in 1987. The unit was later renamed the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) to reflect its work on child sexual exploitation crimes. CEOS attorneys assist the U.S. Attorney’s Offices (USAOs) in investigations, trials, and appeals of child pornography cases. These cases include the prosecution of individuals who possess, manufacture, or distribute child pornography; who sell, buy, or transport children interstate or internationally to engage in sexually explicit conduct; who travel interstate or internationally to sexually abuse children; who abuse children on federal lands; and who transport obscene material in interstate or foreign commerce. Occasionally, due to their expertise, CEOS attorneys may prosecute cases themselves. In addition to assisting prosecutors, the CEOS has several other responsibilities relating to child pornography and child exploitation issues. These include advising USAOs on child victim witness issues; developing proposals for policies, legislation, government practices, and regulations; and training federal, state, local, and international prosecutors, investigators, and judges [6]. The CEOS and its High Technology Investigative Unit (HTIU), created in 2002, are experts in prosecuting child exploitation cases, and in investigating high-technology child exploitation crimes. CEOS attorneys and HTIU computer forensic specialists investigate and prosecute defendants who violate federal child exploitation laws and also assist the 94 USAOs in investigations, trials, and appeals related to these offenses [7]. The NCMEC maintains the CyberTipline, an online reporting system for Internet service providers (ISPs) and the public to report online child pornography. It receives over 90,000 child pornography (possession, manufacture, and distribution) tips per year. From 2005 to 2009, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 8352 child pornography cases, and in most instances, the offenders used digital technologies and the Internet to produce, view, store, advertise, or distribute child pornography. Prior to the mid-1990s, Internet access and the availability of digital home recording devices (still, video, and web cameras) were very limited, thereby confining the production and distribution of child pornography material to relatively few individuals. Now the ease with which a person can move from viewing child pornography to producing and distributing child pornography is illustrated in numerous cases. In addition, advances in computer memory storage, the speed of downloading and uploading, and advances in file-sharing technologies make it very easy to quickly transfer or receive large volumes of child sex abuse images. Numerous technologies are used by offenders including peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, Internet relay chat (IRC), newsgroups, bulletin boards, photo-sharing sites, and social networking sites, among others. Experts posit, and common sense suggests, that the easy accessibility to this material online draws new offenders to the crime [8]. Children tend to be trusting online and will befriend people of any age or sex that they may not know. Offenders take advantage of this naivete and target children who openly engage others online or have a strong social networking presence. In most instances, they openly post pictures or videos of themselves. Offenders can gain information from the online presence of potential victims by reviewing posts and friends lists and pose as an acquaintance, another teen from the same or a different school, or a stranger with similar interests. Friends lists may serve as a source to identify additional victims once the sextortion process starts. Once a child becomes a victim of sextortion, the victimization may last for years. Victims have reported having to meet demands for sexually explicit images and videos multiple times per day. The FBI has identified cases in which children committed suicide, attempted suicide, or engaged in other acts of self-harm due to their sextortion victimization. In one instance, the victim purposely engaged in activity that resulted in hospitalization to get a break from the offender’s demands. As soon as the victim was released from hospital, the victimization continued. People involved in child pornography are from all over the United States and the world and come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The following list represents a small sample of cases found during a September 22, 2016, search of the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s websites:
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