All of us in the development team have recently had the unpleasant task of turning our attention to the dark underbelly of the internet – the world of online sexual predators. 

Lisa's training with Tony Domaille certainly opened her eyes further to the full extent of the problem – and to what lengths professionals are going in order to monitor and control the situation.  Most of us in the office have also watched the recent Panorama documentaries - One click from Danger and One click from Capture.  The planned changes put forward by Justice Minister Maria Eagle to the The Obscene Publications Act therefore comes as welcome news. 

The Act currently makes it illegal to sell or distribute photos of child abuse but it is still legal to own drawings and computer-generated images.  The plans, if implemented, will criminalise the latter too, with a penalty of up to three years in prison for owning any images of child abuse.

Having spoken to a number of people about this I was surprised at how many dismissed the issue of online predation as an uncommon problem, hyped up by a media eager to sensationalise any story.  Thinking back, I was as equally sceptical a few months ago before I began looking into the problem as part of my job. 

Unfortunately I think that in this instance the stats don't lie – they only show the tip of the iceberg:

*  Over 13 million child sex abuse images and videos have been assessed by the NCMEC since 2002.

*  5million of the above images were collected in the last year alone.

*  An average of 400 reports a month of sexual abuse online are recorded by the CEOP.

To me, the link between the wide distribution of pornography via the internet, and the rise in sexual abuse – on and offline – seems too obvious to ignore.  Explicit images and messages have become part of the irritating load of spam that collects in most people's junk email folders, yet the sheer weight of it is feeding a hungry market.  In essence, the internet has normalised pornography to such an extent that individuals already at risk of sexually offending have a ready outlet for their desires.  

This is why I believe that restricting the dissemination of child abuse images should be of utmost priority to the entire industry – ISPs, IM services, large file sharing companies like Pando and social networking sites to name but a few.

*Sources
CEOP
NCMEC
BBC