What Forces People to Produce and Post on the Internet Child Porn - Research Paper Example

 The Impact or Effects of the Internet on Child Pornography ABSTRACT As an example of Internet Deviance, Child Pornography is victimization of tremendous proportions as it is very challenging and in some cases quite impossible to identify the criminal responsible for such activities. The Internet as a medium provides a safe haven for the perpetrators of Child Pornography who share distinct deviant characteristics that lead them to engage in the act. The objective of this paper is to critically analyze the kind of Internet Deviance that is Child Pornography and to discuss the multidimensional impacts including social, political and economic effects of child pornography across the internet on U.S society. The paper will also assess the practices, legislations and policies that have been implemented in tackling with the effects of internet deviance and child pornography in particular. Furthermore, the paper will also analyze how the aforementioned technologies, laws, policies and legislations pertaining to internet deviance and specifically child pornography are expected to be dealt with in the next decade or so. The definition of what constitutes as child pornography is generally agreed upon as a sexualized depiction of children in forms of media that can include pictures, graphics, videos, drawings and paintings. The concept of the degree of such sexualized media involving children however, is a highly subjective perception that heavily depends upon the society and the legislations of the country that is being overviewed and observed. The subjectivity of the idea of sexualization of children in their portrayal in pornographic content has become a challenging situation when dealing with the emergence of child pornography over the internet, where the universality of the use of the medium of the World Wide Web poses several contradictory understandings of ethics, morals and legality in identifying the term “pornographic” (Taylor, Quayle, & Holland, 2001). In a February 2003 study conducted by the United States General Accounting Office, it was established that child pornography was easily accessible and readily available for download via peer-to-peer networks that allow internet users to directly access information and data provided by another user which can be exchanged back and forth without any constraint. In GAO’s research of 12 keywords considered to be affiliated with child pornography over the internet, a staggering 42% of the images obtained as search results were related to visuals portraying child pornography. Oswell (2004) comments that until the later years of the 1960s finding child pornography was a rarity, a scenario which changed drastically towards the late 1970s when the market for such material experienced a boom on a global scale and gradually crept towards the establishment of a worldwide engagement of individuals readily supplying child pornography and individuals participating as customers of child pornography. The discovery of Landslide Productions being operated by Thomas Reedy in 1999 uncovered a global network of 60 countries encompassing 250,000 subscribers who had access to approximately 5700 websites providing pornographic content involving children, the profitability of the supply of child pornography was such that the perpetrators behind Landslide Productions were earning an amount which exceeded $1 million US dollars a month. The simple economics behind the operations of a global supply of child pornography quite evidently suggests the existence of a huge internet-based market for child abuse content. Using the control balance theory presented by Tittle, which attributes the development or emergence of deviant behavior with a desire to seek greater control, independence and autonomy, Williams (2008) argues that the principle behind the existence of Internet crime and deviance suggests that the individual participants of crimes and abnormal behavior conducted in the shadow of the internet, greatly value the deindividuation and anonymity that the medium allows them, in order to engage in what can be termed as otherwise morally unacceptable behavior if it was being performed in the public eye. The participants of Internet crimes such as child pornography are successfully able to satisfy their urge to conduct themselves in a morally repugnant fashion as the facets of normal life are not able to intervene in the virtual world. This also explains the observation as to why individuals who are reported to have downloaded child pornography over the internet have a clean record when it comes to crimes conducted beyond the World Wide Web. Several sociological and psychological studies have been dedicated to understanding the psychological makeup of individuals who have reported to have had an association with internet child pornography through the means of downloading, sharing and viewing pornographic material. One of the dimensions of the mind of such offenders is their desire to seek anonymity, so that their activities cannot be identified in public. An in-depth survey of 531 internet users, in terms of their social, political, familial and religious ties concluded that there is a positive relationship between an individual’s strong ties to conventional societal norms, values and beliefs and his/her engagement with cyberporn. Therefore, the stronger the relationship between the individual and conformist views of society such as religion and marriage and an inexistence of past affiliation with engagement in sexual deviance , the less likely it becomes that a person will use cyberporn as a source gratification and satisfaction (Stack, Wasserman, & Kern, 2004). Seigfried-Speller & Rogers (2010) acknowledge that a great amount of research has been conducted in comprehending the personality, psychographic and behavioral characteristics of internet child pornography consumers who are male, but not much attention has been paid in understanding the motivations and background of the female child pornography audience. An analysis of the female consumers of internet child pornography versus the female non-users reflects that a level of low neuroticism and high hedonism was observed in the sample of participants who viewed ICP. The researchers however, recognized the limitations of their study in analyzing the female user base of ICP subsequently, affecting the proposed propositions for tackling cyber crimes. It is understood that internet child pornography viewers share certain character traits and behavioral tendencies with sex offenders, such characteristics are mainly composed of functional addiction that depicts instances of withdrawal, conflict and mood modification (Taylor et al. 2001) With the rampant boom in the child pornography industry, the popularity of Usenet Newsgroups as of 2001 reported the existence of 30,000 internet-bases user communities where pedophiles were able to share pornographic content and also interact with each other. As another convenient source of spreading child pornography the creation of Web pages dedicated to the display of child abuse images also allowed the promotion of child pornography (Taylor et al. 2001). Quayle and Taylor (2002) assert that an investigation into the minds and comprehension of a sample of thirteen men charged for having an association with internet child pornography in terms of downloading and viewing the material, were asked to report their motivations behind pursuing such actions of pedophilia. The researchers were able to conclude that there are six factors that reportedly play an integral part in creating the intentions of ICP users, one of the aspects which was established by the study was that of the Internet and its fundamental role in creating and heightening sexual arousal as a response to child pornography. A case study conducted on a male ICP user who employed the communication options of the internet to meet with potential targets concludes that the Internet supports the exchange of inappropriate material and messages between pedophiles and children, where the former make use of Chatrooms to select possible victims and lure them in by having the liberty to pose as an adult or a child depending on the situation (Quayle and Taylor, 2001). As quoted by the General Accounting Office in the United States, file sharing on peer-to-peer file networks posed a serious threat to the ability of law enforcement agencies in identifying pedophiles and ICP offenders. It should be noted that in comparison with usual Internet servers, peer-to-peer networking permits a greater measure of secrecy and inscrutability in discovering the user (“Washington: Internet Child Pornography Dragnet”, 2004). This stance is further strengthened by a study conducted on isoHunt, a peer-to-peer network, over a period that lasted 3 months. An examination of the most searched items on the network reflected that material related to child pornography constituted of a high percentage of the searches and was shared on a regular basis, posing a risk of the establishment of an Internet subculture where the idea of child pornography is reaching a degree of normalization (Prichard & Watters, 2011). There are several dimensions to the impact of internet child pornography on U.S society encompassing political, economic and sociological effects. Surprisingly, the majority of children portrayed in pornographic content are somewhat aware of the activities they are engaging in because they personally know the producer or any one individual who guides them through the process. It should also be stated that in some cases the producer is the father of the child (Wortley & Smallbone, 2006). Interviews conducted from the victims of child pornography indicated that apart from the immense physical distress that the children went through as a result of the activities, psychological disorders such as emotional instability and anxiety was also prevalent. Guilt, loyalty to the perpetrator and shame acted as possible reasons why the child never reported the incident to authorities. Sufferers of child pornography experience long lasting effects of their victimization that results in a failure of the victims to establish a healthy emotional state and maintain sexual and spousal relationships due to which they cannot function as constructive members of society. A viewer’s engagement in child pornography indicates a severe disproportionately of a mind that favors unconventional and inappropriate means of sexual gratification as opposed to traditional and conformist values. An offender’s viewership of child pornography puts him/her at a risk of participating in child abuse, as his/her sexual outlet is characterized by pedophilia and a desire to engage in sexual activities with children. The age of the internet has yet again transformed child pornography into a lucrative business. Some commentators suggest that creators of pornographic websites are often present in the business for the money and do not have any personal interest in the activities of the business itself which suggests that a majority of the owners are not preferential sex offenders but using the demand for the material as a potential business source. This however just not justify the activities of the owners, because victimization and exploitation of the participant children still takes place as a part of the grooming process. This part of the paper will examine the policies, legislations and practices that have been employed by law enforcement and various other concerned agencies in handling the impacts of child pornography over the internet. Furthermore, an analysis concerning the treatment of programs, policies, legislations and technologies in dealing with Internet Child Pornography in the coming decade and beyond will also be conducted. The Internet’s global presence and its decentralized operations have come across as a monumental challenge for authorities concerned with bringing down and attacking the universal consumption of ICP (Internet Child Pornography). The existence of treatment plans for offenders that have been readily exercised across the globe in a bid to cure or channel the inappropriate tenders of pedophiles must be designed in such a way that the programs acknowledge the strong relationship that has been observed between characteristics of sex offenders and internet pedophiles such as withdrawal symptoms, conflict and relapse all of which are categorized under “functional addiction” (Taylor et al. 2001). Moreover, another accepted and widely employed practice in tackling with Internet Deviance and specifically Child Pornography is an increased awareness of the significance of law enforcement training concerned with the identification and tracking of internet pedophiles. Law enforcement personnel must be taught how to track and dismantle the links involved in the display or appearance of child abuse images on the internet and ultimately treat the images and graphics as evidential material in the period leading up to the trial of offenders. Personnel belonging to concerned agencies and organizations working against the spread of ICP should be also be trained in decoding the online behavior and language of downloaders and child pornography viewers so that a comprehensive tracking system can be established to counter the growing number of child pornography viewership on a global scale. Esposito (1998) highlights the need to introduce legislations that should essentially regulate the content available on the Internet. Pedophiles that benefit from the anonymity of the Internet quite evidently prefer the medium for conducting their activities because there are arguably no barriers that exist between ICP users and the distribution and viewership of pornographic content. If all the concerned participants of the World Wide Web such as Internet Service Providers readily help in regulating the type of content which is available on the Internet, Internet Child Pornography users would no longer be able to access inappropriate material or websites that promote Child Pornography. There is an important aspect in understanding why an ISP may not take action against child pornography over the internet; this is that if competing ISPs do not remove content then the regulating ISP would suffer from a monetary point of view. From 1996 till 2006, Internet Service Providers have reportedly removed 20,000 pornographic visuals related to children from the Internet, while, 1000 sex offenders have been arrested across the United States for their involvement in child pornography (Wortley et al. 2006). Internet Child Pornography is an issue with modern roots, where modern refers to the spread, accessibility and availability of technology that the 21st century has observed. Hence, permitting the emergence of several Internet related instances of crime and deviance. Due to the nature of the crime itself, it is important to understand that a crime of the modern era requires modern policing, legislations, practices as well as identification and tracking methods. Kreston (2006) reports the underlying principles of the judicial aspect of child pornography cases where several factors influence the conviction of an individual participant or user of child pornography. Given that the primary existence of pornographic content portraying or depicting children is now readily accessible and available on the internet, it creates a certain distinction from cases of child abuse. An integral aspect of understanding whether a person accused of downloading and viewing internet child pornography should even be tried comes from the fact that, given the number of websites publishing child pornography some individuals only become members of the websites without any further evidence which suggests that the member actually viewed, shared or downloaded pornographic content. In such instances, offenders may argue that membership of child pornography websites does not account for a definitive reason that child pornography will be discovered on the suspect’s personal computer. Thrashing this claim at a point when it may act as a barrier in issuing a warrant for a suspect involved in the case, FBI’s launch of Operation Candyman, into the electronic group with the same name concluded that subscribers of the group would receive emails containing pornographic images of children without accessing the website itself or specifically requesting for such material. The tendencies of Preferential Sex Offenders (PSOs) suggest that such individuals have an exclusive sexual interest in children and their satisfaction depends upon the fulfillment of fantasies involving children through a vast range of mediums such as photographs, magazines, books and videos. The nature of child pornography present across the internet is such that prosecutors may experience difficulties in backing their cases because of a lack of concrete evidence that can directly allow them to establish that an individual’s membership of a child pornography website for instance is enough to suggest that the individual actively participated in downloading, viewing, sharing and discussing pornographic material. In the case of the e-group Candyman, once the agents were able to establish that having membership of the group certainly meant that the suspect was an active participant and viewer of child pornography legislation would allow the investigators to search the suspect’s computer based on the principle. Therefore, in such situations it is an acceptable practice supported by law and legislation, which permits law enforcement agencies to seize or search the personal computers of suspects as evidence in a trial. Thereby, fulfilling the constitutional tenets of having a cause supported by affirmation and an exact knowledge of the place to be investigated and evidence to be ceased when bringing a suspect to the court of law. The primary concept behind this ideology is the fact that child pornography is illegal and what can be termed as an “underground industry”. Unlike, the legality of adult pornography in various parts of the world, an individual must consciously search for child pornography on the internet with clear intentions of exploring and finding sexualized images of children, when doing so is not as accessible or easy as finding websites or content portraying adult pornography. The idea is to establish a point of cooperation and mutual acceptance between the defendant and the law, when dealing with cases of internet based crimes and deviance such as child pornography. In permitting concerned agencies to handle the suspects the way that best provides the required and sufficient evidence, an acceptable policy is to favor commonsense over stringent principles in settling on a probable cause as required by the constitution. If a suspect is said to have voluntarily accessed a website containing child pornography and has signed up for a membership that would lead to a regular correspondence between the suspect and the website through an exchange of emails containing child pornographic images or other related material, then commonsense entails that there a is a possible chance that the suspect’s computer will have stored images, photos, videos and a host of other content related to child pornography that he/she could have downloaded, saved, shared and viewed several times by storing it on the computer or on portable devices such as a floppy disk or a USB. In analyzing the projections for legislations, policies and technologies that are expected to be implemented in the coming years to promote a greater regulation of deviant content on the internet, it is important to mention strategies that are being undertaken as a collective effort of all industries that have a stake or a direct interest in the operations of the internet. For instance, companies that issue credit cards are being held accountable so that they take steps to control purchases made via credit cards such that no user is able to buy pornography or any illegal material for that matter from internet sources. In a similar effort, advertising agencies and marketing specialists promoting renowned brands have pulled advertising campaigns from peer-to-peer networks that also contain pornographic content, which is a move that is expected to march forward with an even greater effort in the coming years. A successful operation conducted in the name of Operation Pin in 2003 proved to be highly beneficial in the capture of several internet pedophiles. Beginning in the UK, the operation which required the establishment of a honey-trap website prompted similar measures by agencies in the U.S, Canada and Australia. A honey-trap website was made use of in luring in ICP users when they visited a child pornography website which was in fact being administered by law enforcement personnel, despite of several warning signs that were left on each page suggesting to the user that he/she should understand that the website contained pornographic images portraying children, several users logged into the website, providing their credit card and other details in the process, once the procedure was fully completed a sign stated that the user had committed a crime and would be tracked down using the information provided. The honey-trap technique resulted in several arrests across the globe, damaging the most valued aspect of ICP users – their anonymity. Once, aware of such operations, ICP users became aware of a potential risk of visiting inappropriate websites which acted as a obstacle in obtaining and gaining access to child abuse images. Another expected projection on the technological front is that of key escrowed encryption. Law enforcement agencies intend to make it mandatory for the sellers of encryption software to provide the code key to a party except for the seller and the buyer so that agencies can shut down encrypted pornographic images of children. Despite of the fact that this technology has serious opposition in the form of the computer industry, software developers working for law enforcement agencies are working on the development of such a revolutionary technology (Wortley et al. 2006). The gravity of the impact or effects of the Internet on Child Pornography are of an immeasurable magnitude, since, the existence of this “underground” business makes it quite impossible to estimate the number of children who have been and are being currently victimized by the ICP industry. It is evident that child pornography has long lasting and devastating impacts on the victimized children and also indicates the potentially abusive personality of the ICP user. With the state’s efforts to dismantle the internet child pornography business in terms of accepted legislations, procedures and practices as well as the potential of technological advancements to counter the effects of the internet on child pornography, it can be ascertained that the internet child pornography industry and several other forms of internet deviance will be tackled with in a an effective manner to reduce their negative impact on the society as a whole. REFERENCES: Taylor, Max, Ethel Quayle, and Gemma Holland. 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