Child Pornography - Home | National Rapporteur on Trafficking in ...

262
<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
3.8.3.1 Private sector
The interests of the private sector differ greatly from those of the authorities and intermediate-level
social organisations. 793 Companies are primarily concerned with their own financial interests. 794 This
aspect also arises in public-private sector partnerships relating to child pornography: legislative proposals
concerning data retention not only give rise to criticism from digital civil rights movements,
but storing large quantities of data gives rise to resistance from ISPs (Internet service providers) for
commercial reasons. At the same time, offering safe (private) Internet environments can be a unique
selling point for companies, and can, in this way, result in an approach in which money can actually
be generated.
Social network sites and software developers
Millions of people in the Netherlands have accounts with Social Network Sites (SNSs), such as Hyves,
Facebook, Gosupermodels, Habbo and MSN (chat). Various SNSs employ strategies in order to safeguard
their Internet environment from child pornography (offenders). 795 A large number of sites are
working together with NGOs and authorities in this process. An example of an integrated publicprivate
sector partnership applied to SNSs is described in the ‘Police on Habbo’ box text. SNSs can
also work together with other companies (for example software developers) and/or the police in order
to clean up Internet environments. In this way, a partnership between Facebook, Microsoft and
the American <strong>National</strong> Center for Missing and Exploited <strong>Child</strong>ren (NCMEC) has resulted in the use of
PhotoDNA on this SNS, which is the largest in the world. Using known images from NCMEC’s database,
this system searches for child abuse material on Facebook profiles. 796 In the past, networks of
offenders have in fact been discovered on Facebook. 797 However, the number of images involving child
sexual abuse that have been discovered using PhotoDNA over the 550 million profiles on Facebook
is unknown. 798 Hyves, the Dutch social network site, provides advice to its members with regard to
Internet safety, and works together with NGOs 799 in this regard. Hyves also has an emergency button,
which users can use to warn community managers in the event that they discover offensive content.
This indicates that these online communities are based on a reasonable self-cleaning capacity and
that online communities that do not have a self-cleaning capacity 800 – such as the former boylover.
793 Taylor & Quayle, 2006, p.191.
794 Knibbe, 2002, p.36.
795 See for example www.nl.gosupermodel.com/support/safety.jsp (viewed 25 May 2011).
796 PhotoDNA links in with the theory of technological enforcement and CSR in the business sector. The
technology was developed by Microsoft and Dartmouth College and given to the <strong>National</strong> Centre for
Missing and Exploited <strong>Child</strong>ren. See www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/photodna/ (viewed 26
May 2011).
797 ‘International child porn ring on Facebook cracked by police’, The Huffington Post, 27 August 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/27/facebook-child-porn_n_696728.html (viewed 10 August
2011).
798 Previously, the same technology brought up 1000 and 1500 matches on Skydrive and Bing respectively
(neither of which are SNSs) blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2011/05/19/500-millionfriends-against-child-exploitation.aspx,
(viewed 26 August 2011).
799 www.hyves.nl/veilighyven/ (viewed 27 May 2011).
800 See Stol, 2010, pp.20-21 for responses to behaviour that transgresses moral standards in cyberspace.