According to a spokesperson for the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), the recent international child-pornography busts confirm a frightening trend that the association has detected in reports coming through its online reporting hot line: The children involved seem to be even younger, and the abuse is even more horrific than ever before.
“The use of [peer-to-peer networks] also exemplifies how these criminals take advantage of the latest technology,” says ASACP Executive Director Joan Irvine. “That’s in part because the Internet community has worked together to push them into a corner. ASACP is proud that its members in the online adult industry have played such an important part in that effort.”
ASACP says it applauds the U.S. Department of Justice’s continuing fight against child pornography. The indictment last week of 27 people in the United States, Canada, Australia, and England in connection with the “Kiddypics & Kiddyvids” chat room demonstrates the importance of international cooperation in the fight against the sexual abuse of children, the association says.
ASACP’s hot line receives about 55,000 child porn reports a year, and all suspected child pornography sites are forwarded to the appropriate government agencies and associations as well as international hot lines, Internet service providers, domain registrars, and credit card and billing companies.
Founded in 1996, ASACP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating child pornography from the Internet. ASACP battles child pornography through its child porn reporting hot line and by organizing the efforts of the online adult industry to combat the crime of child sexual abuse.
