Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 11 December 2008 11:04
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Australia’s Minister for Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy, has
issued his congratulations to the Australian Federal Police over a
major crackdown on the insidious crime of Internet child abuse imagery.
Today's crackdown against child pornographers by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) “demonstrates the importance of online law enforcement”, according to Senator Conroy.
Of course, this seems obvious, as that is the job of the police, whether they are operating online, or offline.
Still, given that yet more nefarious child pornographers have been caught following a massive catch just a few months ago, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are really signaling to online child porn crims that they WILL be caught, sooner or later.
Senator Conroy said: “The AFP should be congratulated for its efforts clamping down on these insidious crimes.
“The Rudd Government is committed to supporting the AFP to help create a safer online environment through operations such as these.”
The Minister’s press release explains that the AFP announced earlier today the identification of 22 Australian men following a 12-month investigation into an online child abuse image and video-sharing network.
Shockingly, the AFP’s Child Protection Operations Teams seized more than 15,000 videos and 500,000 images of child abuse.
The Minister’s statement reminds us all that “in the 2008-09 Budget the Rudd Government committed $49 million to increased law enforcement, including funding for 91 additional AFP members dedicated to online child protection by 2011.”
So, will this otherwise successful case be used as an excuse to implement an Australia-wide ISP filter to stop “child porn”, despite the fact that catching child pornographers is to be soundly congratulated? Please read on to page 2.
