Child abuse images "getting worse"

 

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By Stuart Turton and Reuters

Posted on 29 Apr 2009 at 18:29

The Internet Watch Foundation has reported that websites displaying child pornography fell by 9% in 2008, but warned the images are getting more graphic.

According to the IWF, the number of sites containing indecent images of children fell to 1,536 in 2008. However, it notes that 74% of those child abuse websites are commercial in nature making it extremely difficult to combat them.

This translated into a proliferation of more hardcore images, with the number involving penetration or torture rising from 47% in 2007 to 58% this year. More startlingly, around 69% of children appeared to be aged 10 or younger; 24% aged six or under and 4% aged two or under.

The report goes on to claim a further three-quarters of those websites are registered with just 10 domain-name registries, which manage and sell internet addresses.

Part of the difficult in shutting down these websites, according to the report, comes from the fact that criminals are now using "incredibly high-tech" methods to cover their tracks, including hopping between continents when switching servers and operations. This was something that communications minister Lord Stephen Carter says can only be combated by global cooperation.

"The IWF's done a terrific job and there's still an opportunity for it to go strength to strength. It's long been underfunded, and we need to ensure that we don't just parade the IWF but support it in a practical way," he says.

"Child abuse sites are a global problem and we're going to have to find some international structural solutions going forward, but that's an area where I think we can take the lead."