TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Kiddie Porn Problem Severe, Expert Sees it Worsening

Kiddie Porn Problem Severe, Expert Sees it Worsening

Lisa Minter (lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com)
Tue, 10 May 2005 18:08:43 -0500

Posted by Robert T DeMarco on 05/04/05

Last year 705 children in the U.S. were abducted by a mouse. That's
how Andrew Oosterbaan, chief of child exploitation and obscenity for
the U.S. Department of Justice, described the luring of children
through the Internet for sexual meetings with adults.

Oosterbaan was the guest speaker at a one-day symposium hosted by
Microsoft at the University of Toronto.

It brought together international lecturers, police, lawyers, social
workers and psychiatrists in an effort to find better ways to protect
children from internet predators.

"The problem is becoming more severe," Oosterbaan said. "The
marketplace is diversifying."

The Internet and cheap digital camera technology have provided those
inclined to abuse children with the technology to become international
producers and distributors of child abuse images, Oosterbaan said.

KIDS AS COMMODITY

He said "children are viewed as a commodity and will be victimized as
a commodity," and he saw that first hand in Miami, where he worked
with the U.S. Attorney's office for 10 years before taking his recent
position in Washington.

SEX IN PLAYGROUNDS

Oosterbaan said school police in Miami-Dade County monitor online chat
sites and have observed adult predators asking very young children at
schools "to have sex with them in the playground areas."

And Oosterbaan said the victims are getting younger.

"Now we are seeing babies whereas before, 10 to 15 years ago, at the
outside, the youngest might have been 12," Oosterbaan said.

Later this spring a report will be put together from the presentations
and discussions at yesterday's symposium in an effort to further
evaluate options for strengthening laws in Canada to protect children.

It is estimated one in five children will view some form of child
abuse image when they log on to the internet.

Police are now using the Child Exploitation Tracking System, designed
by Microsoft Canada and Toronto Police, to tackle the growing problem
of online child exploitation.

In 2003, Toronto police estimate they seized more than two million
images and videos of child sexual abuse.

Copyright 2005 Watch Right.

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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know that you -- like myself --
probably looked askance at the claim in the article about the
kids who this happens to getting younger, but in the next report
today from Lisa about the Internet Slum, she reports on a woman
who fondled a little boy _on camera_ for all to watch in a Yahoo
Group. Some who watched the spectacle included a Naperville, IL
police officer who know is assigned almost entirely to the Internet
Kiddie Porn patrol. PAT]

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