As technology improves, paedophiles are developing increasingly
sophisticated methods of grooming their victims, networking with
other offenders and hiding their activities.
Chat rooms are the obvious example, where the distance and
impersonality of a computer keyboard lull victims into a false
sense of security, and aids the paedophile in what is known as the
'grooming' process. But chat rooms also provide a means of
networking for offenders – often on a worldwide scale – with little
risk of being caught.
According to the report, "On-line guides to all aspects of child
sex are available. Some have hyperlinks to bulletin boards,
information about chat rooms, where IT expertise and access or
grooming techniques are shared, and passwords or pass-phrases given
to access pornography."
The offender is more likely to be caught out by members of his
network than the police. The report reveals: "If an offender puts
members of the network at risk, perhaps by the unauthorised passing
on of images, he is likely to have his computer targeted with
viruses or denial of service attacks."
The growth of the internet has resulted in a proliferation of
sites containing pornographic images of children. The report refers
to the work of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) – a body that
receives complaints about web sites and, if shown to contain
illegal images, transfers the details to police and ISPs.
The IWF has seen a 64% increase in the number of complaints in
2002, and its work shows that over half of the reported sites are
hosted in the US. The number of sites hosted in Russia has more
than doubled in the same period – from 286 to 706. However, it is
quite common for sites to be hosted in one country and run from
another, substantially reducing the risk of being caught.
