Child Pornography and Abuse Online - What Can We Do??
Sadly, child pornography is becoming more and more widespread since the advent of the internet ... and at one time or another, many of us are likely to come across some form of it. If this happens to you, there is something you can do about it. There are many agencies and organisations across the world working to combat child pornography and abuse on the internet, and many of these have easy online reporting set up - from where you can report to these agencies what you have seen, and where you have seen it. Those agencies will then check the information given them, and where appropriate, will take action against the people responsible for the abuse!
If you come across anything that concerns you online, (child pornography, a possible perp in a chatroom, online enticement of children for sex acts, unsolicited obscene material sent to a child, unsolicited pornographic emails, etc) on a website, in a chat room, or via email (or anywhere else!) we would advise you to make a note of the circumstances around this event, and report them to the relevant agencies or authorities.
To do this, you will need information such as the website/domain involved; the url of any offending images; the time/date you encountered the problem; any email addresses, username etc that was used by the offending person or website; chat room involved; a copy of any email involved, including full headers (your email provider should have information on how to open 'full headers' for your email if you are uncertain. Full headers provide lots of information about where the email came from, that isn't shown on the basic email headers!); & the information on any child who was involved. Try to keep a copy of any information you find, in case the agencies need to contact you for further information!
If you have seen or received child pornography, spam, or other worrying or illegal content, it is a good idea to find out who is hosting the domain that the content originated from. You can easily find out who owns a particular website, and which isp hosts this site, using a 'whois' search online.
You can do this at the following link :
Who Is (International)
You can then contact the hosting isp and report the domain name in question. ISP's *should* remove any such content, and may well discontinue their contract with the website in question. They also may well independantly contact the authorities regarding the offences.
We appreciate that not only are these types of situations very stressful, but they can of course also be very triggering for survivors. If you run into something like this, feel free to contact our staff in the member concerns forum, and we can help you work through the reporting process.
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In addition to these agencies, the following information may be useful : US National Hotline for reporting abuse : 1-800-422-4453 More local contact information for reporting abuse in the US can be found at : Love Our Children USA In the UK, you can call the NSPCC Helpline on: 0808 800 5000, who can make a referral to the relevant agencies. |
Below are a list of websites and agencies to whom you can report child pornography and abuse online.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (US)
The Congressionally mandated CyberTipline is a reporting mechanism for cases of child sexual exploitation including child pornography, online enticement of children for sex acts, molestation of children outside the family, sex tourism of children, child victims of prostitution, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child.
Make a report at : Cybertip
Internet Watch Foundation (UK)
The UK hotline for reporting illegal content, specifically: Child abuse images hosted worldwide and criminally obscene and incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK
Make a Report at : IFW
Virtual Global Taskforce (International)
The Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) is made up of police forces from around the world working together to fight online child abuse. Make a report on inappropriate or illegal activity with or towards a child here : VGT
Anti Child Porn (International)
ACPO (antichildporn.org) is an international non-profit group formed to actively seek out and stop the exploitation of children on the internet.
Make a report of websites/ftp sites containing child porn at : ACPO
Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (International)
ASACP is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating child pornography from the Internet. ASACP provides an online hotline to report suspected child pornography. Amongst other roles, ASACP reviews these reports and forwards suspected child pornography sites to the appropriate government agencies and associations, red flagging reports of particularly worrying material. These agencies include the FBI and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as well as European hotlines.
Make a report of a website containing child porn at : ASACP
Child Exploitation & Online Protection (UK)
The CEOP Centre works across the UK and maximises international links to deliver a holistic approach that combines police powers with the dedicated expertise of business sectors, government, specialist charities and other interested organisations.
Make a report at : CEOP
In the UK, you can also contact the Metropolitan Police regarding any incidents of child pornography.
Information line - phone free on 0808 100 00 40
Obscenity Crimes (International)
ObscenityCrimes.org was created primarily for citizens who have been unintentionally exposed to pornography or ads for pornography on the Internet or whose children have been exposed to pornography or ads for pornography on the Internet. The Complaint Form is not a government document and does not accuse anyone of a crime. It requests that a website be investigated and that a criminal obscenity prosecution or other legal proceeding be initiated if warranted.
To report unsolicited pornography (Non-child) go to : Obscenity Crimes
Information for reporting an incident to your local FBI office (US)
FBI Local Branches
