Australia- Worldwide web of exploitation

6-7-2008 Australia:

THE abuse of children is being fuelled by hierarchical online pedophile networks which reward those who supply their own fresh images of child exploitation with access to even more material.

Speaking as police revealed disturbing new details about Operation Centurion, the nationwide investigation into internet child porn which has nabbed 90 alleged Australian offenders, the federal police commissioner, Mick Keelty, said the crime type was experiencing "exponential growth".

"To get into the [child porn trading] network, you have to actually prove yourself," he said.

"To get in you've actually got to be supplying something yourself to the scheme, to the system, and that means more children will be abused."

The scale of online social networks of pedophiles has shocked law officers, with no greater example than the event that triggered the investigation into more than 1500 Australians who accessed an obscure, legitimate European website.

The website was hacked into and 99 explicit images of naked girls in degrading poses placed on it. In the three days the images were up, it was deluged with 12 million hits by almost 150,000 different computer IP addresses from 170 countries, including more than 2800 from Australia. The website's address had been posted in pedophile chat rooms.

Seventy Australians have been arrested for child porn possession offences and a further 20 have been issued summonses to appear in court. Several of those arrested have been charged with rape and four children removed from harm after the initial probes into the 99 images uncovered reams of additional material.

All up, a million images have been seized around Australia.

"Some of the images involved adults as well as children," Mr Keelty said. "The children range from babies to 18 years of age."

Police said yesterday that many more arrests were expected to be made. Queensland Police, who have one of the world's most highly regarded online child protection units, said yesterday they expected to double their current level of 40 arrests.

Four of those arrested in Queensland were teachers and a further six had access to "blue cards", clearing them to work with children.

One of the teachers, Rodney James Tavener of Bethania, was taken from his home yesterday handcuffed by ambulance officers. Police were seen taking away ornamental swords from his outer suburban Brisbane home. Tavener allegedly superimposed the images of his students on to existing child abuse photos, while putting his own face on to that of the perpetrators of the acts. Many of those arrestedhave access to children in their occupations.

Those arrested also include a banker, a farmer, a federal policeman and the former head of Western Australia's volunteers association. The policeman, Michael Edward Hatch of Belconnen, has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography and appeared in court yesterday for sentencing. The matter was adjourned.

In Melbourne, an executive of a youth training company, Stephen de Rozario, 41, of West Footscray, is among 17 Victorians charged with possessing child pornography obtained over the internet.

Some of those charged have previous histories of child abuse, including one NSW man who was on parole for sex offences. While there are calls for tougher sentences on child pornography and abuse offences, the Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, said even harsher sentences may not stop some pedophiles.

"The fact that people are being caught with hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of images of abuse proves that the threat of long jail terms isn't enough to stop people," he said.

"The focus needs to be on making sure police can keep up to date with emerging technologies which allow pedophiles to operate without detection. That's the real challenge."

Those arrested also include a banker, a farmer, a federal policeman and the former head of Western Australia's volunteers association. The policeman, Michael Edward Hatch of Belconnen, has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography and appeared in court yesterday for sentencing. The matter was adjourned.

In Melbourne, an executive of a youth training company, Stephen de Rozario, 41, of West Footscray, is among 17 Victorians charged with possessing child pornography obtained over the internet.

Some of those charged have previous histories of child abuse, including one NSW man who was on parole for sex offences. While there are calls for tougher sentences on child pornography and abuse offences, the Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, said even harsher sentences may not stop some pedophiles.

"The fact that people are being caught with hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of images of abuse proves that the threat of long jail terms isn't enough to stop people," he said.

"The focus needs to be on making sure police can keep up to date with emerging technologies which allow pedophiles to operate without detection. That's the real challenge." ..News Source.. by Tom Allard and Tim Dick