413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

A national or international nexus was common across cases in each jurisdiction as offenders often
network and trade videos and images with other offenders across state and country borders. Stakeholders
reported that as they have taken down child pornography websites, more are being hosted on servers
overseas, most commonly in Russia. As a result, domestic investigations may be able to identify
individuals that possess child pornography in the United States, but may be unsuccessful in shutting
down sites that produce or trade the child pornography internationally. As such, it was reported that
much of the commercial activity generated through child pornography consumed in the United States
goes to international entities operating these sites outside of US jurisdiction.
Though child pornography is easy to find, both law enforcement and offenders reported the bulk of
material to be widely shared and recirculated. To access new material, offenders would build relationships
with individuals who had access to private images and videos. Often, this would require an offender to
produce their own private material. Offenders built collections of child pornography, using trading
networks to expand their collection and create a sense of community. In addition to reinforcing and
normalizing offender behavior, these communities enabled offenders to quickly share information about
new sources of child pornography and strategies to evade detection by law enforcement.
While offenders possessed varying levels of technological sophistication, almost half were extremely tech
savvy, working in computer-related jobs. Of the six offenders who produced child pornography, the
majority was tech savvy and participated in private trading networks. These offenders, who use advanced
techniques to avoid detection, pose a challenge to law enforcement, as their methods are constantly
changing as new technology emerges.
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