Proceedings [PDF] - Measurement and Analysis of P2P Activity ...

International Conference Advances in the Analysis of Online Paedophile Activity Paris, France; 2-3 June, 2009
Sex Offender Online Behaviour
There is, however, increasing evidence that the Internet is used by some
adults to access children and young people in order to groom them for the
purposes of sexual abuse. MySpace have recently expelled 29,000 suspected
sex offenders and are being sued in the United States by parents who claim
that their children were contacted by sex offenders on the site and
consequently abused. The Internet also plays a role in facilitating the
production and distribution of indecent illegal images of children, which may
encourage and complement online grooming.
Davidson and Martellozzo (2008: 277) suggest that Internet sex offender
behaviour can include: "the construction of sites to be used for the exchange
of information, experiences, and indecent images of children; the organization
of criminal activities that seek to use children for prostitution purposes and
that produce indecent images of children at a professional level; the
organization of criminal activities that promote sexual tourism". Child
grooming is a process that commences with sexual predators choosing a
target area that is likely to attract children. In the physical world, this could be
venues visited by children such as schools, shopping malls or playgrounds. A
process of grooming then commences when offenders take a particular
interest in the child and make them feel special with the intention of forming a
bond. The Internet has greatly facilitated this process in the virtual world.
Offenders can now seek out their victims via online games and social
networking sites. According to Wolak et al. (2008), most Internet-initiated sex
crimes involve adult men who use the Internet to meet and seduce underage
adolescents into sexual encounters. The offenders use Internet
communications such as instant messages, e-mail, and chat rooms to
organize meetings and develop intimate relationships with victims.
Child sex offenders are forming online communities and bonds using the
Internet. They are openly uniting against legal authorities and discussing ways
to influence public thinking and legislation on child exploitation. While
paedophile web sites are being tracked down and removed from Internet
servers in countries all over the world, they are popping up again at a higher
pace in most parts of the world.
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