Child pornography crimes continue to grow due to the expansion of the Internet, but new technologies also increase the possibility of prosecuting and convicting them. The new software used by the police and the Civil Guard make it possible to track more and more effectively the files with pornographic content that circulate in file-sharing networks (Peer to peer, or P2P) on the Internet. One such system is the NordicMule, developed by Norway's National Criminal Investigation Service and used for the first time by the National Police in the operation made public yesterday. The software allows agents to track who and where a certain file is being downloaded, whatever name it has been given.
Pedophile videos circulating on the Internet are often given a seemingly innocuous title so as not to arouse the suspicions of the police. For example: The 10 best beatles songs. When the one who searches for his favorite John Lennon song downloads it, he finds images of sex with minors. Much of the complaints that reach the police come from these discoveries of anonymous citizens.
The NordicMule makes a measurement of the video and finds a kind of DNA that allows you to locate it with its different names – usually there is always an original denomination that does indicate the pedophile content – and see who (which computer, according to the IP address) is downloading them.
With this system, the police found in the first phase of the operation 20,000 connections related to 857 P2P links to child pornography videos that had been found. From there, downloads of images whose title is not sexual are discarded first – because they could have been accidental, like the guy who found "the 10 best songs of The Beatles".
The second screening removes downloads made abroad. The third removes from the middle those citizens who have not completed the download. And there is a fourth selection: for the arrest to take place it is necessary that the citizen has downloaded between three and five files; if it's just one or two, the police consider it to have been casual.
Through all these discards, of the 20,000 connections analyzed, the police focused on 157, which finally led to requesting 97 entry and search warrants to check the computers; to arrest 57 persons and to present evidence to the judges in respect of 47 others.
"When the detainee lives with his family, there are very hard situations in the records," police sources say. "It is a crime that leads to family ruin, social (because neighbors see the police arrive and end up finding out what has happened) and work if the files have been downloaded to the office computer and the search is made there."
Police are investigating whether one of the detainees may also be an image producer. He is a 31-year-old gardener from Madrid whose computer found photos of his two nieces, aged 7 and 14, in a sexual attitude. The agents are now studying whether he distributed this or other material created by him.
Child pornography offences discovered by the National Police and the Civil Guard increased from 45 in 2000 to 392 in 2006. In 2008 and 2009 they exceeded a thousand. During the first six months of 2010, there have already been 932. The BIT has arrested 280 people this year. Possession of child pornography is punishable by imprisonment from three months to one year or a fine; and distribution, with imprisonment of one to four years.
Author: Mónica Ceberio Belaza
Source: El Pais.com
Authors: Computer Security News
