The Internet is being used by child pornographers and molesters to further their criminal activity.
United States federal prosecutions of Internet child pornographers have increased 10% every year since 1995. Authorities now prosecute approximately 400 such cases per year.
The U.S. Congress provided funding to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that led to the "CyberTipline" which allows citizens to report children in danger and child pornography on the Internet. Since its inception in March, 1998, the tip line has received over 8000 tips reporting child pornography alone.
The International Child Pornography Conference (Vienna, September 1999) had as a central theme, "Combating Child Pornography on the Internet." The conference sought to combat child pornography and exploitation on the Internet and was based on existing international obligations and commitments for the protection of children, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The conference built and acted upon commitments undertaken at the Stockholm World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (1996) and ongoing initiatives in many countries and regions.
Child pornography on the Internet must be an issue of international concern, it must be at the forefront of the global agenda. Children are our most precious and fragile resource, they are our future. This is true regardless of what nation they come from. Their protection must be an international priority.
The technological world in which we live must be, ultimately, a world where concern for our fellow citizens is transcendent. And the people about whom we must care the most are our children. The technology that we have created must be used in such a way that children's lives are made better, not damaged.