This Tunnel Vision Is Self-Defeating

August 6, 2013

Free to be damned – the hidden facts about illegal images

"Thousands of legal websites have been hacked to re-direct users to child pornography the Internet Watch Foundation has reported.

Whether or not there has been a surge in such activity over the past few weeks, the phenomenon is far from new, as the IWF knew or should have known.

Back in 2009 it was reported that a quarter of illegal child abuse images were found by the IWF on legal free to view sites. In a further third it was not clear whether the hosting sites were legitimate or not. Only a minority were clearly illegal sites.

That these facts are little publicised may be to do with the secretive nature of child pornography research. As viewing or searching for the material is strictly illegal only the police, CEOP and the voluntary IWF watchdog are legally empowered to conduct research.

But in fact free-to-view legal pornography sites are a hornet’s nest of indiscriminate menus and redirection, often without the user being aware. The reason for this may be to do with the dubious nature of many businesses dealing in ‘adult entertainment’. Free-to-view sites are a shop widow for commercial pornography, scammers and phishers with redirection part of the promotional package.

In a rare piece of available research carried out into legal pornography sites it was found that these problems were endemic to the subject matter – and used as a fraudulent means of skimming income on a massive scale by claiming a few cents off every ‘hit’ to a commercial site and maximising the receipts by circular means."

http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/free-to-be-damned-the-hidden-facts-about-illegal-images/

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Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:37 pm

Jim Bates’s comments on the Anna Raccoon Article

"I feel I’ve been quiet long enough. I am pleased to find a sensible discussion about the issues and I’m happy to contribute where I can ..."

http://forum.obu-investigators.com/viewtopic.php?t=1497&start=60

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Friday 20 September 2013 22.00 BST

Amazon service 'used for child abuse pictures'

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/20/amazon-service-child-abuse-pictures