Watchdog Employee Opens Up About Having To Find Child Sex Abuse Images Every Day
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) works tirelessly to remove indecent images of children from the web, deleting thousands every year.
The task is carried out by a team of 13 analysts, with each member trawling the internet and taking down some of the most horrific films and photographs of children being abused and raped across the world.
To prepare them for the role they are shown indecent images during their interview, and once they take the job have to attend mandatory counselling sessions every month.
Speaking to LADbible, one of the foundation's analysts - who wished to remain anonymous - said he's managed to build up resilience, but is still angered by what he sees.
He said: "You come across really bad images, stuff you just wouldn't believe. Some of the different pictures and videos have a level of violence and torture and they are the ones that stay with me the most.
"I remember one particularly awful video and it wasn't just sexual abuse, there was a level of violence and torture in the video and the youngest child was 18 months old, very young.
"That was really hard to see for the first time. And every now and again you just need to go out and take a breather to re-centre yourself.
"I think if you ask any analyst they will say the same, they will all have one or two images or videos that stay with them and affect them a bit more than the others."
He added: "You can definitely get angry. Particularly images or videos in which the children may be getting violently tortured as well as sexually abused. Seeing babies being abused would make most people angry.
"But everyone who works here is very supportive of each other, which help us deal with what we see."
Last year the IWF removed more than 100,000 websites showing the abuse of children. Credit: IWF
Every day, the team have to search through a list of 2,000 sites known to promote the abuse of children, and then get to work to delete any illegal content they come across and have the URLs taken down.
This is on top of the hundreds of reports they receive from the public.
But with thousands of images on any site, the analyst said you can quickly find yourself falling down a 'rabbit hole', with no end in sight. He said: "You could spend a day taking images down from one site and then you come in the next day, go on a different website and the same images pop up again."
But despite the frustration of often having to remove the same image multiple times, he says he is 'immensely proud' of the organisation's work. "Anything we can do to stop people stumbling across these images and stopping victims being re-victimised makes me proud.
"We sometimes have young people contact the hotline asking for sexual images of themselves to be removed that have been uploaded without their consent and being able to help people like that makes me really proud."
Analysts can have to look at hundreds of images of child abut a day. Credit: IWF
With many illegal operations hiding behind adult porn sites, people are at risk of stumbling across the content by accident.
Not if they avoid adult porn sites!
A recent study from the body found that young men (18-24) might not even recognise an illegal image of a child if they saw one - potentially leaving thousands more images in circulation.
According to the survey, 30 per cent of young men don't think it's illegal to download, view or share indecent images of children when they appear without nudity, while 27 per cent couldn't recognise it if they appear to agree to take part in the picture.
The worrying stats have now led to a campaign, urging young men who may accidentally come across child abuse online, to report it.
A spokesperson for the IWF said: "If you are say a young man curiously googling for perfectly legal sex/pornography sites, or someone just on a perfectly legal pornography site, you might fairly easily stumble across something you realise is - or are suspicious is - an image of a baby or a child being abused. And, like the Sock campaign says, that's when it needs reporting."
My heart goes out to these people. What a hard, horrible job, but someone has to do it as long as there are sick people willing to pay for child porn. And there are a lot of those. God bless you people for what you do.
Marked passports for child sex offenders from
Trinidad & Tobago
LOOP NEWS
Persons convicted of sexual offences against children will have their passports identified with this information, according to the proposed Sexual Offences Act (Amendment) Bill 2019.
Speaking during his presentation, Al-Rawi said once the once person is a registered sex offender, the information will be relayed to the Commissioner of Police and, if a passport is issued, to the Chief Immigration Officer.
"If you are a registered child offender, you have forfeited the privilege of your anonymity...we will put an endorsement via the Chief Immigration Officer onto your passport to say that you are a child (sex) offender," he said.
Al-Rawi said the proposed National Sex Offenders Registry would involve a public version and a more detailed private version for police use only.
“We are now saying that there’s a National Sex Offenders’ Register…there is a public aspect which is done on the website, controlled by the Commissioner of Police. There’s limited information – photograph, name, address, etc.”
“But then we have a private register which only the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service has and that private register treats with the provisions of the second schedule…name, main address, sex, date of birth, national ID, passport, driver’s permit, telephone number, everything down to fingerprints, DNA, photograph, IP information for devices, email addresses etc,” he said.
He said the database must be constantly updated otherwise an additional offence would result.
Al-Rawi added that deportees and returning nationals, as well as persons under the Transfer of Prisoners Act with previous sexual offence convictions, would be included under this Bill.
He added that there would be an opportunity for persons to request that their record be expunged after a period of time.
Al-Rawi said the Bill will be designed predominantly to protect children, in line with the Children’s Act.
He pointed out several crimes committed against children, as recorded by the Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, for the period 2015-2018.
Over the period 2015-2018, there were 787 cases involving children aged one to three years, 5.4 percent of the total number of cases.
“787 children in the age group one to three years old reported to the Children’s Authority for sexual abuse.”
There were 1,604 sexual abuse cases reported involving children between the ages of four and six, and 1,837 cases of sexual abuse against children aged seven to nine.
“Children (aged) 10-13, 3,543 (cases), and I’ll stop there. As I begin to paint the picture of what Trinidad and Tobago is. This is what Trinidad and Tobago is…and if you hear anger in my tone I think you’ll know why,” he said.
Al-Rawi also argued that government must stand united on this Bill, even though it conflicts with several articles of the Constitution.
DCI-Liberia Launches Reporting System
for Online Child Abuse
By Joaquin M. Sendolo 
Defence for Children International Liberia (DCI-L), a legally-oriented non-governmental organization involved with juvenile cases and protecting children against trafficking and abuses, has launched an internet portal for reporting sexual images that play on the psyche of children.
The launch, which was held at a resort in Monrovia on Tuesday, February 5, 2019, is the first reporting system on children issues in West Africa. It has been working in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola, Mauritius, Namibia, Mozambique and Zambia.
According to Attorney Foday M. Kawah, the entity’s executive director, sexual images uploaded on the internet when accessed by children constitute abuse, and reporting such cases through the portal will enable the UK-based Internet Watch Forum (IWF) working with other African countries in preventing such abuses to access the information and delete them from whatever page that uploaded those images.
Besides physical violence perpetrated against children by many guardians and parents, according to Atty. Kawah, children are also sexually abused by allowing them to view nude photos that create psychosocial problems for their well-being.
The launch of the portal coincides with observance of Safer Internet Day, which Kawah said “marks a crackdown on online child sexual abuse images and videos which, supported by IWF, will work with Liberian citizens to drive child sexual abuse imagery off the web.”
“DCI-Liberia’s mandate promotes and protects the rights of children and serve as a watchdog on the government in order to ensure that it fulfills its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Liberian Children Law, including all international protocols under the convention that is in the best interest of children,” Kawah said.
Colorado bill expanding statute of limitations for negligent reporters of child sex abuse gets 1st OK
By Quincy Snowdon, SentinelAURORA | Members of a state senate committee Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal from a pair of Aurora Democrats that would more than triple the statute of limitations for people in positions of authority who fail to report alleged sexual assault against children.
If the measure had been law now, it would have forced a different income (outcome?) in a local sex assault case in Cherry Creek schools that garnered headlines for the past year.
A local grand jury indicted three Cherry Creek administrators over a year ago for failing to report claims a 14-year-old girl was sexually abused by an Aurora middle school teacher in 2013.
Hmmm. It's arguable that 5 years would still be too short a period for those responsible for not reporting to be held accountable in this case.
Last month, however, an Arapahoe County judge dismissed the charges against two of the Cherry Creek administrators, citing the statute of limitations had expired before the grand jury’s decision. Prosectors dropped the charges against the third official involved in the case for an unknown reason last spring.
A trio of Democrats and a two Republicans in the state senate judiciary committee voted 5-0 yesterday to move ahead with Senate Bill 19-049, which would increase the statute of limitations for the crime of failing to report child abuse following an allegation of sexual behavior on a child.
The current statute of limitations expires 18 months after the crime occurred. The proposed measure would bump the statute of limitations to five years.
“Senate Bill 49 is about protecting our kids,” said state Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, who is sponsoring the legislation. “ … Most of the time children don’t report.”
In her testimony before the committee Wednesday, Fields said research shows that 25 percent of girls and about 17 percent of boys will be sexually abused by age 18, but some 80 percent of those assaults will go unreported.
Lawmakers heard more than two hours of testimony from local district attorneys, victim advocates and victims of childhood sexual abuse on Wednesday afternoon.
Several people who testified in favor of the proposed measure alluded to the recent sexual abuse case in the Cherry Creek School District that thrust the state’s mandatory reporting laws into the limelight.
Prairie Middle School teacher Brian Vasquez was convicted on multiple sexual assault charges. Mug shot courtesy Aurora police.
The former Prairie Middle School officials were accused of conducting their own investigation into the alleged abuse, and at one point made the victim apologize to and hug the convicted perpetrator, former Prairie Middle School teacher Brian Vasquez.
Vasquez was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for the crimes in September. The Cherry Creek School District last year doled out a historic $11.5 settlement to five of Vasquez’s victims.
The District Attorney who prosecuted the Vasquez case, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler, spoke in favor of Fields’ proposed bill at the hearing at the Capitol Wednesday.
A pair of attorneys, one from the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and another from a private law firm, were the only people who spoke against the measure.
“The bill would set a dangerous precedent here,” Tristan Gorman with the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar said. “This could be a slippery slope to the expansion of statutes of limitations for other carve-out offenses on a one-off basis.”
Both Brauchler and Denver District Attorney Beth McCann rejected Gorman’s argument in their testimony. McCann called the Prairie Middle School case a “particularly egregious example” of failure to report abuse.
Amanda Gall, a sexual assault resource prosecutor with the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, said the charge of failing to report child sexual abuse has been filed 111 times since the original statute was signed into law in the early 1990s.
Both Fields and Gall said the vast majority of mandatory reporters carry out their duties.
Stephanie Villafuerte, the state’s child protection ombudsman, said the state’s Department of Human Services hotline receives more than 200,000 calls of child abuse or child sexual abuse each year.
Per state law, more than 30 professionals are required to report alleged child abuse, including doctors, dentists, podiatrists, clergy members, among others.
A similar measure died in committee last year following opposition from teacher associations and the Catholic Church. No members of the Catholic Church spoke against the bill at the committee hearing Wednesday.
Current laws stipulate people convicted of failing to report child abuse can be charged with a class three misdemeanor, which can result in a fine of up to $750 and a sentence of up to six months in jail.
The measure would also slightly increase the workload for local district attorneys and county jails.
Currently, the state reimburses county jails that house state inmates $54.93 per day, according to the bill’s fiscal note. The average cost to house an offender in county jail is $98.83, but can be as expensive as $350.21 per day, depending on the county.
The bill, which is co-sponsored by House Democrat Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Aurora, will now goes to the Senate floor for debate.
Bangladesh blocks over 15,000 porn, gambling websites
By Sommer Brokaw
The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission blocked more than 15,000 porn websites and more than 2,000 gambling websites Monday. File Photo by Christopher Schirner/Flickr
(UPI) -- Bangladesh's government shut down more than 15,000 pornography and gambling websites and two popular smartphone video-sharing apps as regulatory pressure mounts in the country.
The Bangladesh government's telecommunications regulator blocked 15,636 porn websites and 2,235 gambling websites Monday, along with the two popular smartphone apps, Tik Tok and Bigo, Bangladeshi news website New Age reported.
Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar confirmed the move on his verified Facebook account.
Two users of the smartphone-based game, Tik Tok, poked fun at recent elections in the nation. With fears that apps could also be misused to make obscene videos, both have been blocked.
"We have found nothing positive out of these two apps and decided to close them accordingly," Jabbar told New Age. "Our effort is to make Internet space free from any sort of indecent content so that the young people can take benefit out of it."
What kind of idea is that? It will never catch on in the west. But God bless you for doing it!
Rachael Denhollader to publish a memoir and children's book in September
The children's book, "How Much Is a Little Girl Worth?", will be Denhollander's "anthem to little girls everywhere," according to the news release, to teach them that they have immeasurable value and help them develop confidence.
Matt Mencarini, Lansing State Journal
Rachael Denhollader, the first woman to publicly say that Larry Nassar sexually abused her, will publish a memoir and children's book later this year.
The book cover for Rachael Denhollander's memoir titled "What Is a Girl Worth?" which will be released in September. (Photo: Courtesy photo)
The titles — "What Is a Girl Worth?" and "How Much Is a Little Girl Worth?" — reference the question she asked in her victim-impact statements during Nassar's sentencing in Ingham and Eaton counties.
The books will be published in September 2019 by Tyndale House Publishers and their release will be followed by a national media tour, according to a news release.
In the memoir, Denhollander will reveal the crushing impact that this abuse has had on her life; trace her journey in harnessing the courage to speak out against such abuse— both for herself and on behalf of abuse victims everywhere; and illuminate the path to a better way forward.
The children's book, "How Much Is a Little Girl Worth?", will be Denhollander's "anthem to little girls everywhere," according to the news release, to teach them that they have immeasurable value and help them develop confidence.
The book cover for Rachael Denhollander's memoir titled "How Much Is a Little Girl Worth?" which will be released in September.
(Photo: Courtesy photo)
The hardcover of the memoir will cost $26.99 and the the hardcover of the children's book will cost $14.99, according to the news release.
Denhollander's story sparked the Larry Nassar scandal
In 2016, Denhollander reached out to the Indianapolis Star after the newspaper published an investigation of USA Gymnastics' handling of sexual assault complaints.
For more than a year, Denhollander was the public face and voice of those Nassar abused. Many of the more than 200 women and girls who give victim-impact statements during Nassar's sentencings thanked her by name for giving them the courage and confidence to come forward.
Denhollander testified against Nassar during one of his Ingham County preliminary hearings. She's also one of the nine women and girls Nassar, a former Michigan State University and USAG doctor, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting.
Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on three child pornography convictions and decades more in prison on state sexual assault convictions.
The fallout from the Nassar scandal has led to criminal investigations of MSU, Congressional hearings focused on sexual abuse in youth sports and resignations at MSU and USAG.
No comments:
Post a Comment