Why A Fraction Of 1% Is A Huge Problem
Posted on Jul 22, 2005 at 10:46 AM by John Foley
The problem of child pornography is easy to ignore because, if you're lucky, you'll never see it. According to analysis done by SurfControl, a Web-filtering company that tracks a billion Web pages, child porn is found on only about one-quarter of 1% of the Web sites it categorizes as being pornographic in nature. But the problem is bigger and nastier than it seems and increasingly difficult to contain as pedophiles find new ways to share their illegal images. IT folks need to come to grips with the issue, or face the ugly consequences.
First, it's important to know that child porn is a growth business. SurfControl reports a 38% increase in the number of child-porn sites from September to June. And the creeps who create and view this stuff have gotten even more creative in how they do it. There's an upsurge in so-called "child modeling" sites, where children are photographed in suggestive poses with skimpy clothing to get around the law. With those Web sites factored in, child-porn rises to one-third of 1% of pornographic sites.
Child-modeling sites may not be illegal (child-protection advocates are working to change that), but they're a slippery slope for the people that visit them. "They serve as fodder for pedophiles and inciting lust for children," SurfControl contends. Russia, Romania, and other countries in that part of the world are the source of some of it, with this depressing explanation: "There is a large population of orphans and street children in these countries that are more easily exploited."
Child porn is growing because the proliferation of digital technologies--cameras, video cams, broadband, peer-to-peer, keychain storage--has made it easier. Child-porn message boards are on the rise, too. Among the topics of discussion when E-perverts meet: incest (pedophiles are known to victimize their own children) and so-called "child love."
"There is a community of pedophiles that embraces 'child-love' and experimenting with children," reports SurfControl. "The pedophiles are supportive of each others' view of 'helping' children become sexual, as they feel that children are sexual beings and that the mainstream public is wrong in 'protecting' children from their influences."
The authorities can't keep up with the problem, as InformationWeek reported last year in "Technology And The Fight Against Child Porn," but they haven't given up. On July 19, Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division announced that a two-year investigation into an overseas Internet child-porn operation has resulted in 236 arrests in the United States and more than 1,000 arrests abroad.
It's naive to think child porn won't happen at your company, because it's found in the workplace all too often, even among well-regarded, established employees and top managers. New York Law School professor Edward Samuels spent four months in the slammer after child porn was discovered on his computer by IT staffers. And former Bowne & Co. CEO Robert Johnson was recently arrested on charges that he downloaded child-porn movies onto a PC that belonged to his company.
More IT departments need to put technology and processes in place to protect their companies from these types of situations. In reporting on the Johnson case, I was surprised to hear from St. Bernard Software, another Web-filtering company, that only about half of large companies and a quarter of smaller companies have deployed Web filters. Web filters aren't foolproof--child-porn Web sites change URLs to avoid detection--but they're a necessary first step if companies want to block access to child-porn sites and alert them when employees are trying to visit them.
IT professionals need to be very careful about how they proceed because child porn is not only a highly sensitive issue, but illegal to store, copy, or distribute. As I reported in February, Microsoft is looking at ways to make its Windows platform resistant to storing child porn.
For more on what companies can and should be doing, see the links below.
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