Child Pornography
Resources for Jewish Survivor
Facts by Country
One of the major difficulties in the fight for Child Protection, and against Child Trafficking and Child Pornography is the international, multi-jurisdiction nature of the crime.
Age of Consent At a basic level each country has its own definition of what the age of consent to sexual activity is which, in some cases, is different from the Age used in Child Pornography Legislation.
Legislation Issues Also, each country has its own definition of what Child Pornography is, what range of criminal activities are specified (possession, production, distribution, etc), how the crime might be investigated and what the penalties might be in the event of a successful prosecution.
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If you know of any resources that would be helpful to Jewish Survivors of child pornograpy, please send the information to: vickipolin@ theawarenesscenter.org
Jewish Resources
Secular Resources
Articles
'Child porn writing is okay if its artistic' (03/22/2002)
Senate OKs Tools to Fight Child Porn (03/01/2032)
Child abuse shown live on internet (11/09/2003)
Also see: Sex Addictions Child Prostitution/Trafficking Childhood Sexual Abuse
Articles
Ask A Rabbi
http://www.jewish.com/askarabbi/askarab
A: Pornography is a completely different issue. In his pamphlet, "This Is My Beloved, This Is My Friend," Rabbi Elliot Dorff writes about the Jewish value of tzniut, modesty. While sexual activity is not shameful, corrupting, or embarrassing in Jewish tradition, it is also held by Jewish law to be reserved for private quarters. Sexual activity is not merely an animal instinct or a biological urge - it is an act which binds a couple together emotionally, as well as physically. Therefore, it belongs within the context or marriage, where it may it sanctified and distinguished from animal sexual acts.
The value of tzniut should affect the way we dress, as well. We should not dress in overtly sexually suggestive or revealing ways. We are created in the image of God, and our bodies deserve the respect of this divine value. It is disrespectful to ourselves, our bodies, and God, to cheapen the body by putting it on display for public sexual consumption.
Pornography, which uses gratuitously sexual displays of the human body for the sole purpose of sexual arousal, therefore, is not in keeping with the values of tzniut and respect for the human body.
Rabbi David J.B. Krishef (Conservative)
Escaping the Cyber-Slums - Online dangers and practical
responses.
by Lawrence Kelemen
Aish HaTorah - January 19, 2004
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/society/Escaping_the_Cyber-Slums.asp
Like most public libraries in the United States, the Central Phoenix Library provides adults and children with Internet access. When Toni Garvey, the chief librarian, recently spotted three separate men and a group of giggling girls viewing pornographic material on the library's terminals, she had no idea how to respond. She says she feels uncomfortable providing such material for the public, but so far Federal courts across the country have ruled that banning the Internet from public institutions or even filtering its contents "offends the guarantee of free speech" and "restricts First Amendment rights." Garvey complains, "For me, this has been one of the most challenging issues of my career. We all want to do the right thing, but it's not clear what the right thing is." 1
Garvey, like most people of conscience, is morally confounded by the technology that links together nearly half a billion people in a "Worldwide Web" -- a global village -- allowing instant, anonymous exchange of uncensored text and images. Anyone in this virtual-metropolis can put anything online, and once it is there anyone can access it.
The Seedier Side of Cyberspace
Like any metropolis, the web has neighborhoods, some safer and some horrific. Unlike any other metropolis, the web lacks a government, laws, or a police force. The only universally acknowledged cyber-crime is the intentional spreading of computer viruses -- infectious software programs that could impair the experience of other cyber-tourists. Beyond this, there are no moral guidelines. A turn down the wrong cyber-street guarantees exposure to information or images at least as corrosive as anything available in the streets of New York, Paris, or Tokyo -- and often even worse.
For example, the web hosts thousands of pornographic sites -- offering material that is as explicit and generally more violent than what is found in print publications 2 -- and these sites are heavily trafficked. In response to academic surveys, 25-50% of men with Internet access admit spending time online viewing explicit material. 3 While most visitors to pornographic sites are married college graduates 4, a Canadian survey reveals that 44% of men who visit these sites admit that they began doing so before age 16. 5 A British survey reported that over half of all word searches on the Internet are aimed at locating pornography. The top eight word searches were all pornography related. 6 Although much of the explicit material available online is free, through fee-per-view services and advertisements the online pornography industry currently generates about $1 billion annually. 7
Researchers explain that it is the web's "Triple-A Engine" -- access, affordability, and anonymity -- that drives the online pornography industry: 8
While men outnumber women 6:1 in their online use of explicit material, women slightly outnumber men when it comes to the "Chat Room" and "Multi-User Domain" (or MUD) 9 -- the cyberspace equivalent of a singles bar. Studies reveal that about 90% of Chat and MUD users form personal relationships; about one-third of these relationships result in a face-to-face meeting; and about a quarter of these relationships evolve into romantic involvements. 10
A large study of American teens just revealed that close to 60% have received an instant message or email from a total stranger, and 63% of those teens who have received such instant messages or emails say they responded but never told their parents. 11 In the last three years there have been several infamous cases of abduction, rape and murder in which the victim was first approached and lured through a Chat or MUD site, instant messaging, or emails. There are, no doubt, many more cases in which Chat, MUD, instant messaging, or email interactions led to psychologically destructive relationships. These are the harsh realities of cyber-street life.
The nature of human psychology is that over-indulgence in one pleasure creates a desire for another, more depraved pleasure, and so forth in a potentially unending downward spiral towards total degradation. In a nightmarish scenario, an upstanding gentleman could thus wake up to find himself on one of the web's many sites explicitly dedicated to facilitating illicit activity. Thousands of sites offer 24/7 online gambling, and researchers say upwards of 15 million people visit these sites annually and leave several billion dollars of their family's funds there. 12 Researchers also report that escorts and prostitutes in most major cities can now be reserved online. There are even special sites for those seeking extramarital affairs and other, more bizarre liaisons.
A Glimpse at the Damage: An Academic Perspective
Recent surveys identify a burgeoning trend of Internet-related divorces. 13 In most of these tragedies, visits to explicit sites, or extramarital relationships forged over the web, destroyed mutual trust and ripped the marriage apart. Sadly, I have seen first-hand in my counseling practice that the Jewish community is not immune to this plague.
In a landmark study, published in American Psychologist, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University examined the amount of time people spent interacting with other family members before and after installation of a computer with Internet access. During the two-year longitudinal study, family interaction declined dramatically, and the drop was directly proportional to the increase in Internet use. Ironically, many study participants justified their increasing time online saying they needed to "stay in touch" with more distant friends and relatives, while they increasingly ignored those they were living with. 14 I hear complaints weekly from spouses, parents, and especially children who feel the Internet has robbed them of their loved-ones.
As Internet involvement increases, so do loneliness and depression -- especially among middle and upper class males. 15 There are many theories about the relationship between Internet use and depression. For example, some researchers argue that productive people have only limited time to develop and maintain their most significant relationships, and moderate-to-heavy Internet use necessarily siphons hours off this precious reservoir, leaving people socially isolated and sad. Other researchers remind us that the mere act of sitting still in front of a computer display can trigger a biochemical chain-reaction that ends in depression. 16
A whole genre of studies describes the damage Internet involvement can wreak on academic performance. Although many parents help their children get online in order to bolster grades, research reveals that more time spent online translates into less time spent reading books and worse study skills. 17 The Internet cultivates impulsive jumping from web page to web page, but real learning requires still concentration. At a large New York university, the dropout rate among freshman rose proportionally as their investment in computers and Internet access increased. 18 Business analysts also note associations between employee Internet access and decreased productivity. 19
The Necessity of Identifying Risk Factors
It is clear that there is a need to protect one's children from the distractions and corrosive elements of the net. Limitations to Internet access, the use of filtering software and pre-filtered Internet providers, placement of computers in highly visible areas of one's home are all good ideas.
Ultimately, restricting Internet access is a necessary but insufficient solution. But what is needed is healing the personality weaknesses that virtually guarantee some individuals will fall victim to Internet temptations. Studies show that those most likely to get into trouble are not deterred by limits on Internet access. Given the net's ubiquitous presence, they will find a way to get online -- at the local public library, if not elsewhere. Therefore, a key challenge to parents and educators is identifying the risk factors and the individuals most at risk.
Researchers describe four pre-existing conditions that put an individual at high risk for getting into trouble on the Internet. 20 They are: lack of family bonds; low self-esteem; inability to express opinions and questions; and inability to socialize.
1. Lack of Family Bonds
Both for adults and children, the most statistically significant risk factor for Internet use is weak familial connections.
The data indicate that adults are at risk when they are unmarried or emotionally distant from their spouse. Anything we do to strengthen our marriages --from spending more time together as husbands and wives, to taking courses in the practice and philosophy of marriage -- makes us less vulnerable to the Internet.
The data also indicate that children are at risk when they are physically separated or emotionally distant from their parents. Anything we do to strengthen our relationships with our children -- from spending more one-on-one time with them, to taking courses in the practice and philosophy of parenting -- makes them less vulnerable to the Internet.
For centuries, rabbis have been teaching that children need parental love, and that when parents are not present to provide it, the children will find dangerous replacements elsewhere. 21 Therapists steeped in Jewish tradition were therefore not shocked when the director of computer-addiction services at McLean Hospital of Harvard Medical School, Maressa Hecht Orzack, recently revealed her finding that the children most vulnerable to the Internet 's magnetic pull are "from families where nobody is at home to relate to after school." Greeting our children when they arrive home from school, being there to send them off again in the morning, and spending quality time with them in between all constitute inoculations against the Internet.
2. Low Self-Esteem
Architects of the European Enlightenment attempted (and to a large degree succeeded) persuading the masses that man was nothing more than a sophisticated monkey. When Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel was preparing to found the now legendary yeshiva in Slobodka, he asked is teacher, Rabbi Israel Salanter, what principle should guide the institution. Rabbi Salanter, acutely aware of the degrading campaign being conducted all around him, answered with a verse from Isaiah, "Revive the spirit of the lowly and resuscitate the heart of those who have been crushed." 22 If we think we are apes, we will behave as such; and if we know we are more exalted than the angels, we will live up to that reality.
We are not surprised that study after study reveals that those who are most attracted to the most degraded Internet sites also have the lowest self-esteem. 23
Today's parents and teachers who have experimented with Isaiah's ancient approach -- teaching about the essential greatness of being human -- have experienced tremendous success. We can teach this not only through what we say, but through how we say it, and how we walk, eat, and dress. Every fiber of our existence can declare, "I am a mensch -- and so are you!" We must also be careful not to degrade others even when we need to rebuke them. Perhaps never before have we had so much to lose should we abandon the teachings of our forebears.
3. Inability to Express Opinions and Questions
Because of its perceived anonymity, the world of the web offers adults and children alike a place to say and ask what they feel they cannot say and ask in the real world. The less people feel they can discuss with their teachers and parents, the more likely they are to turn to the Internet for discussion and information. 24
We especially want our children and our adult students to ask us their questions regarding sexual matters and theological issues. We want our children and students to hear about these matters directly and exclusively from us, not only because the Internet offers such corrupt presentations of these topics, but also because these areas constitute the most precious aspects of our nation's tradition. It is a tremendous privilege to pass along these special gifts to the next generation.
We must be sober enough to realize that today almost all children and many adults have questions on these topics. If they are not asking us, they are either getting answers elsewhere or looking for an opportunity to do so. If a child doesn't ask, we read in the Passover Haggadah, "You must stimulate his question." We must encourage our children and our adult students to inquire, and then we must give them suitable answers. If we do not know how to approach these topics or respond to our children's questions, we can approach our own teachers and counselors, master these aspects of our tradition, and then pass these teachings on to the next generation.
4. Inability to Socialize
Data indicate that many who turn to the Internet for pornography or social contact do so because they consistently fail to succeed socially in their own world. 25 These individuals generally fall into one of two categories: the socially inept; and the "not-so-beautiful."
First, there are the socially inept. These are individuals who never mastered how to get along with others. When they were young, they often studied straight through recess or preferred playing computer games or doing other solitary activities. In some cases, they wanted to play with everyone else but were excluded. In their pre-teens or even earlier, these children were joining the ranks of the "at-risk" for later Internet involvement.
Their cases highlight the crucial educational potential of recess time. The playground and after-school free play are not only the perfect venues for teaching less popular children how to make friends, share, and lose with a smile; they are also ideal opportunities to teach more popular children how to pick teams using randomizing procedures (instead of choosing just their friends), introduce new members to their clique, and encourage those who are less socially confident. Just as the classroom is ideal for teaching math and science, the playground is ideal for teaching character refinement. It would be odd if we left either of these venues unsupervised. Those teachers and parents who invest time in supervising free play are taking a vital step in inoculating the next generation against the dangers of the Internet.
The second group who fail socially and are therefore at risk for Internet use are those not considered "beautiful" -- they lack the physical attractiveness or money that would give them a fighting chance in many social circles. Despite being thoughtful, deep people with nice character, these men and women usually have suffered repeated social rejection.
Men in this category are sometimes attracted to Internet pornography because it gives them a brief -- albeit depraved -- opportunity to leave their painful, lonesome reality. Loneliness can be excruciating, and these men are so desperate to escape their solitary lives that they use the Internet like a sort of hallucinogenic drug. After the fantasy, return to reality is even more painful, and then these men often feel terribly guilty too; but until they find real companionship, they are likely to return to the net again and again.
Women who lack physical attractiveness or money are sometimes attracted to the Internet because the medium conceals their "appearance." While mainstream dating requires that people first reveal their physical profile or wealth, and only then get to know each other, the virtual world of the web seems to offer the opportunity first to get to know someone and only afterward discover these less intrinsic details. In theory, this should tip the scales in favor of nice-but-ordinary-looking, or nice-but-poor women.
The assumption is dangerously naïve, however, since so many Internet relationships are built on deception and misrepresentation. Children pretend to be adults, adults pretend to be children, men pretend to be women and vice-versa, and people lie about their religion, background and accomplishments. In one survey, more than a quarter of those who socialized using email or instant messaging admitted to lying about their identity. 26 Not surprisingly, disappointment and heartbreak are commonplace in Internet romance. This is not to mention those beastly predators who go online specifically to lure unsuspecting individuals to personal meetings and then victimize them.
We can teach our children about the cyber-street and about the hucksters and criminals who live there. This could lessen the Internet 's attractiveness as a forum for meeting friends and partners. An even more significant step in reducing our children's vulnerability would be to teach children and students to value personal refinement and integrity at least as much as they value physical appearance or money.
The challenges and threats posed by the Internet leaves us no option but to strengthen family ties and teacher-student relationships; to stress in our educational approach and behavior the essential greatness of being human; to encourage questions and open discussion, especially about issues related to sexuality and religion; and to raise a generation who will seek marriage partners who are above all emblems of refinement and integrity. Parents and teachers who recognize these challenges can adjust to modernity and raise a heroic generation. Those who fail to see this hairpin turn in the path towards normalcy could lead their children and students over a disastrous precipice.
FOOTNOTES
1. Michael Janofsky, "What Would Dewey Do? Libraries Grapple with Internet," The New York Times, 2 December 2002.
2. Jennifer Lynn Gossett and Sarah Byrne, "Click Here: A Content Analsis of Internet Rape Sites," Gender and Society, Volume 16(5), October 2002, pp. 689-709.
3. Amanda Lenhart, Lee Rainie, and Oliver Lewis, Teenage Life Online: The Rise of the Instant Message Generation and the Internet's Impact on Friendships and Family Relationships (Washington, D.C.: Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2001), p. 33; Sylvain C. Boies, "University Students' Uses of and Reactions to Online Sexual Information and Entertainment: Links to Online and Offline Sexual Behavior," The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, Volume 11(2), Summer 2002, p. 82
4. Mark Griffiths, "Sex on the Internet: Observations and Implications for Internet Sex Addiction," The Journal of Sex Research, Volume 38(4), November 2001, p. 338.
5. Boies, p. 82.
6 Mark Griffiths, "Excessive Internet Use: Implications for Sexual Behavior," Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Volume 3(4), 2000, p. 541.
7. Griffiths, 2001, p. 333.
8. A. Cooper, "Surfing into the New Millenium," Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 1998(1), pp. 181-187.
9. Boies, p. 79; Griffiths, 2001, p. 336, 338.
10. M. Parks and L. Roberts, "Making MOOsic: The Development of Personal Relationships Online and a Comparison to their Offline Counterparts," Journal of Social Personal Relation, 1998(15), pp. 521-537. See also K.S. Young, E. Griffin-Shelley, A. Cooper, J. Omara, and J. Buchanan, "Online Infidelity: A New Dimension in Couple Relationships with Implications for Evaluation and Treatment," Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity, in press.
11. Lenhart et al, p. 19.
12. Mark D. Griffiths, "The Social Impact of Internet Gambling," Social Science Computer Review, Volume 20(3), Fall 2002, pp. 312-320.
13. J.P. Schneider, "Effects of Cybersex Addiction on the Family: Results of a Survey," in A. Cooper (ed.), Cybersex: The Dark Side of the Force(Philadelphia: Bruner Routledge, 2000), pp. 127-144.
14. Robert Kraut, Vicki Lundmark, Michael Patterson, Sara Kiesler, Tridas Mukopadhyay, and William Scherlis, "Internet Paradox: A Social Technology that Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being," American Psychologist, September 1998, Volume 53 (9), pp. 1917-1031.
15. Ibid, Kraut, et al.
16. For a detailed outline of this process, see Leib Kelemen, What They Don't Want You to Know About Television and Videos (Southfield, MI: Targum/Feldheim, 2003).
17. K. Young, Caught in the Net: How to Recognize the Signs of Internet Addiction and a Winning Strategy for Recovery, (New York: John Wiley, 1998).
18. A. Wallace, The Psychology of the Internet (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
19. Keith Beard, "Internet Addiction: Current Status and Implications for Employees," Journal of Employment Counseling, March 2002, Volume 39(2), pp. 2-10.
20. R. A. Davis, "A Cognitive-Behavioral Model of Pathological Internet Use," Computers in Human Behavior 17 (2001), pp. 187-195; Scott E. Caplan, "Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-Being: Development of a Theory-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Measurement Instrument," Computers in Human Behavior 18 (2002), pp. 553-575; Leo Sang-Min Whang, Sujin Lee, and Geunyoung Chang, "Internet Over-Users' Psychological Profiles: A Behavior Sampling Analysis on Internet Addiction," Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Volume 6(2), 2003, pp. 143-150.
21. Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, Zriyah U'Binyan B'Chinuch (Jerusalem: Feldheim Publishers, 2000).
22. Yeshava 57:15. See Alei Shur, pp. 158.
23. R.A. Davis, p. 191; Griffiths, 2001, p. 336; and Wei Wang, "Internet Depedency and Psychosocial Maturity Among College Students," International Journal of Human Computer Studies (2001), 55, pp. 919-938.
24. Beard, p. 2; Lindsay H. Shaw and Larry M. Gant, "In Defense of the Internet: The Relationship Between Internet Communication and Depression, Loneliness, Self-Esteem, and Perceived Social Support," Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Volume 5(2), 2002, p. 169.
25. W. Wang, p. 920.
26. Lenhart et al, p. 23.
Author Biography:
Lawrence Kelemen is Professor of Education at Neve Yerushalayim College of Jewish Studies for Women in Jerusalem.
Cybertip Line USA - The CyberTipline handles leads from individuals reporting the sexual exploitation of children. NCMEC, in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and state and local law enforcement in Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, serves as the national CyberTipline and as the national Child Pornography Tipline 1-800-843-5678.
The Association of Internet Hotline Providers in Eurpoe An organization supported by the European Union whose members are provider of internet hotline services dealing with illegal content on the internet. It's mission is to eliminate child pornography from the Internet and protect young people from harmful and illegal uses of the Internet.
Hotline against child pornography on Internet The Dutch Hotline against child pornography focuses on the Dutch part of the Internet and/or if there is a 'Dutch' link. We will however investigate all reports but we will contact an Inhope partner Hotline if we feel that the report would be better handled under their supervision. We will then forward the location of the offending material. The name of the person filing the report with us remains confidential. Send Email to the Hotline: meldpunt@meldpunt.org
Internet Watch Foundation United Kingdom - Our first priority is child pornography. You should make a report to us if you see something which you believe to be illegal. If that is a difficult judgement for you to make, do not worry. Report it and let the Foundation make an assessment of what we should act on. Send Email to the Hotline: report@iwf.org.uk
Bill (No. 300) – The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Incorporation Amendment Act/Loi modifiant la Loi constituant en corporation "The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba", be now read a Second Time and be referred to a Committee of this House. Resolution No. 6: Child Pornography.
FBI Congressional Statement - Internet Child Pornography (May 1, 2002) Statement of Michael J. Heimbach
Victims of Pornography Recognizing that pornography is affecting our families and friends... is the key to changing lives.
Child Focus: Help to Stop Child Pornography Belgium - You can call the free emergency number 110 in Belgium (+32 (0)2 475 44 99 from abroad) to give information. Beforehand, please take note of the addresses of the sites and the time and date when you came across this material. This helps to ensure that your report is processed quickly. On line form
Articles (General)
'Child porn writing is okay if its artistic'
March 27 2002
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=3&click_id=3&art_id=qw1017200340366B253&set_id=1
Vancouver - A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled on Tuesday that a man who wrote about children having sex with adults was not guilty of possessing pornographic texts because the stories had artistic merit.
But Supreme Court Justice Duncan Shaw also ruled against retired bureaucrat John Robin Sharpe on two counts, saying he was guilty of possession of child pornography for various photographs of boys in sexual poses.
Sharpe, 68, was charged under the federal child pornography law in 1996 with possession and intent to distribute.
Since then, he has challenged the federal law on child pornography, saying it was too vague and unreasonably restrictive of freedom of expression as protected under Canada's Constitutional Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
'They have an extremely broad and inclusive definition of child pornography'
In a January 2001 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the 1993 federal law prohibiting possession of child pornography, but made two exceptions, including self-authored text materials that have artistic merit and are intended for private use.
"The Supreme Court of Canada... decided that any objectively established artistic value, however small, will suffice to support this defence. I find that there is some objectively established artistic value to Boyabuse. The second defence therefore succeeds," said Shaw in his ruling.
Sharpe, who is widely recognised in Canada for challenging the nation's definition of child pornography, will be sentenced on the two remaining possession counts on May 2.
"They have an extremely broad and inclusive definition of child pornography... and yet at the same time they provide a very generous artistic merit defense," said Sharpe following the ruling.
"In a sense the artistic merit defence is almost such that it makes a mockery of the main thrust of the law," he said.
'It makes a mockery of the main thrust of the law'
Sharpe's lawyer, Paul Burstein, told Canadian Broadcating Corporation that he was unsure whether or not the government would appeal the judge's decision that his writing, which describes torture scenes involving children, had artistic merit. - Sapa-AFP
Senate OKs Tools to Fight Child
Porn
By JIM ABRAMS
The Associated Press - March 1, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - Not a senator dissented as the Senate sent to the House legislation seeking to give prosecutors powerful new tools to fight child pornographers.
The measure makes it harder for producers of computer-generated child pornography to evade prosecution, creates new crimes aimed at those who would entice minors into sexual activity, increases penalties and requires greater proof from pornographers that they are not using children.
``We have a compelling interest in protecting our children from harm,'' said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who sponsored the bill with the panel's top Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont. ``The `Protect Act' strikes a necessary balance between this goal and the First Amendment,'' Hatch said.
The Senate bill, passed Monday on an 84-0 vote, grew out of a Supreme Court ruling last April that struck down most of a 1996 law to ban virtual child pornography. The court, in its 6-3 decision, said the law was unconstitutionally vague and overreaching because it prohibited images that only appeared to depict children engaged in sex.
The Hatch-Leahy bill was written with that decision in mind, and the Bush administration said it strongly supports the revisions. Passage ``would be an important step in protecting children from abuse by ensuring effective child pornography prosecutions,'' a White House statement said.
There was no indication how quickly the measure would be taken up in the House.
Specifically, the bill prohibits the pandering or solicitation of anything represented to be obscene child pornography. Responding to the court ruling, it requires the government to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a person intended others to believe the material was obscene child pornography.
The bill also plugs a loophole where pornographers could avoid prosecution by claiming that their sexually explicit material was computer-generated and involved no real children. Under an affirmative defense provision, the defendant would be required to prove that real children were not a part of the production.
It narrows the definition of ``sexually explicit conduct'' for prosecutions of computer-created child pornography and requires people who produce sexually explicit material to keep more extensive records so that they can prove that minors were not used in its making.
It creates a new crime: the use of child pornography by sexual predators to entice minors to engage in sexual activity or the production of new child pornography.
Leahy said he still worried that some provisions of the bill would be challenged in court. ``The last thing we want to do is to create years of legal limbo for our nation's children,'' he said.
Leahy mentioned language that would allow prosecution of anyone who presented a movie that was intended to cause another person to believe that a minor was engaged in sexually explicit conduct. By that definition, he said, a theater presenting the movies ``Romeo and Juliet'' or ``American Beauty'' would be guilty of a felony.
Bill Lyon of the Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment trade group that challenged the 1996 law, said the Hatch-Leahy bill appeared ``much more confined to the specific area of child pornography.'' The original bill, he said, ``went way beyond protecting kids and was really a covert attempt to destroy the entire adult entertainment industry.''
The Senate bill is S. 151.
On the Net: Sen. Orrin Hatch site: http://hatch.senate.gov/
Sen. Patrick Leahy: http://leahy.senate.gov/
Roll call results: http://www.senate.gov/galleries/daily/index.htm
Child abuse shown live on
internet
By Amelia Hill
Sunday November 9, 2003
The Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/child/story/0,7369,1081169,00.html
Children are being sexually abused to order by paedophiles who charge other members of their virtual sex-rings a fee to watch over the internet as it takes place.
Abusers promise other members of their secret online societies that they will use a live webcam to film a particular child on a specified day, provided enough money has been deposited in their bank account beforehand.
Police have known for some time that real-time sexual abuse of children takes place over the internet and that images of abuse are bartered between paedophiles who are keen to increase their collections.
But this is the first time that real-time images of internet abuse have been sold for cash, raising concerns that criminal entrepreneurs have moved into the world of online child abuse.
In a further twist, paedophiles watching the abuse take place are increasingly being allowed by the abuser to direct what is done to the child. There are even cases of the abuser and the paedophile voyeur working together to groom the child before the abuse begins.
'This is an online version of what has been happening for years,' said Tink Palmer, a specialist in child abuse on the internet for Barnardos, who has identified the new tactic by paedophiles. 'Children have long been sold by paedophiles to other abusers in their ring. This is the obvious next step.
'In these paedophile societies, having access to a child makes you enormously important and it seems abusers have realised they can use that status to profit financially,' she said.
Palmer has come across situations where paedophiles direct the abuse over the web cam as it takes place. 'The final step is that the paedophile forms a relationship with the child through the camcorder, so they can encourage them to do certain things,' she said.
'It's the perfect scenario for paedophiles: not only can they orchestrate situations that make it look like the child is proactively taking part but, because the child is left believing they were responsible for the situation, they will never tell anyone what took place.'
Peter Robbins, chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, has established arrangements with Visa and Mastercard to help to track paedophiles using their credit cards to purchase images over the net.
'It was inevitable that this form of pay-per-view abuse would develop given the possibilities of the internet,' he said.
'We already have live, pay-per-view, adult pornography webcams where you can pay a woman to carry out specific requests; this is the paedophiles' version.'
So far, police have failed to break the encryption codes created by online paedophile societies to block access into the group in time to prevent the abuse taking place and before the closure of bank accounts that could lead them to the abusers.
Jackie Bennett, from the National Crime Squad's Paedophile Online Investigation Team, admitted that the police were finding it difficult to keep up with the new ways paedophiles were finding to exploit the internet.
A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police also confirmed that they were familiar with such cases, but added: 'We can't talk about this without compromising cases we're working with.'
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Last Updated: 08/18/2005
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