It took only a day before a major child porn bust prompted German authorities to call for tougher sentences for child porn users.
On September 26, police said they broke open a ring using computer files seized in 2002 in Germany, making a sweep called Operation Marcy to raid an estimated 502 premises and seize 745 computers, 35,500 CDs, 8,300 floppy disks, and 5,800 videos, with suspects as far apart as the United States, Switzerland, and Australia, according to the Associated Press.
"The latest investigation successes have shown once again what sort of disgusting acts people are capable of," junior interior minister Fritz Rudolf Koerper told a German newspaper for publication September 28. "We must deal with them severely. I propose a coordinated increase of sentences Europe-wide." He also called for more world cooperation on fighting child porn's spread in cyberspace.
That is just about what Joan Irvine, executive director of Adult Sites Against Child Pornography, told AVN.com when she learned of the big bust last week. Irvine recently spoke to the Internet Hotline Providers of Europe, an Internet safety and security group, at their Luxembourg conference, where results included ASACP sending validated child porn reports directly to hotlines in Spain, England, Germany, and other countries in the future, as well as the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"Those who are the worst are the people who are making money from this," Irvine said when she learned of the German bust. "They abuse both innocent children and take advantage of the illness of pedophilia."
The case began when the U.S. Postal Inspection service discovered a list containing 389,000 people who bought access to an Internet child porn site. Authorities said network members got to the material by a password system where a designated manager verified members were contributing as well as viewing the material in question.
For now, in Germany, child porn possession means up to a year behind bars while production and distribution means up to ten years behind bars. German police union chairman Konrad Freiberg joined Koerper for tougher sentencing for consumers as well as producers.
"It's not just producers, but also consumers who are criminals," Freiberg said in a formal statement obtained by the AP. "The current threat of a fine or jail of up to a year for the possession of such photos, films and data is not enough of a deterrent. That is why a minimum sentence should be introduced. More investment in personnel and technology is needed to put a stop to this for good…What my colleagues in this field have to look at and deal with is unbelievable."
