Computer-generated preteen girl with webcam helps identify 1,000 pedophiles

[Playinghardball]

A Dutch rights group said Monday it had identified over 1,000 paedophiles around the world by offering online sex with a computer-generated 10-year-old Filipina girl called Sweetie.

Terre des Hommes Netherlands has now handed over to police the identities of those who were willing to pay children in developing countries for online sex, a growing phenomenon, it said.

“They were ready to pay Sweetie for sexual acts in front of her webcam,” the rights group’s head Albert Jaap van Santbrink told journalists in The Hague.

The group said it wanted to raise the alarm about a largely unknown but quickly spreading new form of child exploitation that has tens of thousands of victims in the Philippines alone, known as webcam child sex tourism.

Sweetie was created by the child rights group and deployed in Internet chat rooms from a remote building in Amsterdam.

Within a 10-week period, over 20,000 predators from 71 countries approached Sweetie, asking for webcam sex performances.

In one exchange, a man named “Older4young”, identified as a 35-year-old father of two from Atlanta in the United States, asks Sweetie to undress for $10.

Turn on your cam. I’m horny,” the man wrote.

While they were chatting with the “girl”, researchers gathered information about her customers through social media.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/04/computer-generated-preteen-girl-with-webcam-helps-identify-1000-pedophiles/

[gopiscrap]

1. excellent

[MineralMan]

2. There are 20,000 people who should now be in prison.

For me, it is that simple.

[Buddha_of_Wisdom]

7. Interestingly enough, this kind of shit is legal.

Digital child pornography has been argued in 2001, decided in 2002, I believe.

Let me check the case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcroft_v._Free_Speech_Coalition

[MineralMan]

9. That may be, but I still feel the same about those 20,000 people.

They did not know that this supposed girl was a digital creation. They wanted a real girl to do things.

Lock 'em all up.

[Buddha_of_Wisdom]

13. And I agree.

It's still digital child pornography, which is legal.

Tell that to the Congresscritters now. Pretty soon we will not be able to tell the difference between a digital and real life person.

It's already getting hard with today's technology - soon enough it will be impossible.

[GreenStormCloud]

14. Very difficult.

With the movie "Beawulf" it is easy to forget that the entire movie is CGI.

[MineralMan]

15. Here's the thing. Apparently this is going on, using live children.

Now, how would someone find this decoy in the first place. Clearly, it's not just popping up on people's monitors. They're looking for it actively, somehow. And they're not searching for "digital filipina girls" either. They're searching for the real thing, or they're not seeing any of this at all.

That's the thing for me. This kind of stuff doesn't just pop up for people. It has to be hunted for, I'm sure. So, here are 20,000 people who searched for that very thing and then attempted to get some "action" on that website. They're not guilty of digital child pornography. They're guilty of searching for the real thing, and I'm sure they're finding it. For each of those 20,000, this is unlikely to be the only thing they have found, so it's likely that they've committed child pornography crimes. At the very least, someone should be digging into the depths of their PCs.

Child pornography is one of the things for which I have zero tolerance.

[Orrex]

26. If I took a stack of money that you left on your car's hood, what is my crime?

Next question:
If I took a stack of money that you left on your car's hood, what is my crime if the money is counterfeit?

Is the viewing of a digitally rendered image of an artificial child the same as the crime of viewing an image of an actual child?


It's not a perfect analogy, I admit, but it highlights the difference between intent and action. Of course, intent can be a crime, such as "possession with intent to sell" drugs, but that's not a great analogy, either.

Might it not be reasonably argued that a pedophile who can satisfy his urges with a digital rendering of a child is less of a threat than a pedophile who can't? What if some of the 20,000 suspects claim that they went to this site because it was a digital portrayal of a child, rather than a real child? How would we prove their intent beyond a reasonable doubt?

We can certainly attack the vile behavior of pedophiles, but if we're talking about the legal framework for addressing their crimes, then it's vital that we act objectively if only to make sure that convictions aren't later thrown out due to ill-considered laws.

[MindPilot]

30. All very good points.

This is clearly a problem that needs more than a "lock 'em up and throw away the key" solution.

I wish I was smart enough to know the answer.

[99th_Monkey]

3. But is it "abuse" when it's merely an animated image, not a real person?

who is being abused or exploited sexually?

Yes, it is gross and disgusting that pedophiles tried to pay money
for online sex with a "10 year old"; but Sweetie was not a real
10 yo, and therefore suffered no harm from this activity.

[shraby]

6. The perp didn't know that. He thought he was talking to a real human being..his intent was against a

real human as far as he knew.

[99th_Monkey]

10. That does not constitute any real abuse or injury to anyone,

how is it not a victimless "crime".

[99th_Monkey]

18. I suppose. But your premise is a bit shaky.

to me at least, because I don't condone or agree with cops posing as hookers either.

but you have a point about "intent to solicit", in that it may not require an actual
human victim.

What I worry about is the whole "entrapment" mentality in police departments, which
I think leads to abuse BY the police, as in planting evidence, etc. You put this together
with the rampant militarization of the police, and you've got a very toxic brew.

[99th_Monkey]

19. Well, I'm not "in favor" of adult-on-child sex, if that's what you're asking

Rather, I have grave issues with the whole "entrapment" mentality that has become
the M.O. of so many police/FBI/CIA agents. <- THIS + MILITARIZATION = FASCISM

Next they'll be using police plainclothes undercover officers to stage "protests" so
when others join in, they are then arrested for "creating a disturbance" .

[99th_Monkey]

24. agreed! nt

[JI7]

23. how is it entrapment ? it's not like they are telling people the girls are of legal age

and then bringing underage girls to meet them and they were misled in some way.

[CoffeeCat]

4. I don't care how you catch these sick predators...

...just catch them, name names, give them a public trial and put them in prison for a long, long time.

Glad to see this is happening.

Technology has led to the increased exploitation of children. We can use the technology to fight back against these disgusting criminals who prey on children.

It's about time.

[TeamPooka]

5. that is awesome!

K&R!

[GreenStormCloud]

8. In the U.S. that would make for an interesting court case.

Our Constitution bars entrapment. Since the gov't was providing the temptation, the case could be made that it was entrapment.

The case could also be argued that no laws were broken as there was no child at the other end.

(On edit: I am happy to say that post #7's link had educated me that the anti-child porno act cover the cases where there was only the artist's imagination too.)

The internet is creating some very interesting cases.

I hope they find some legal way to bust, charge, try, convict, sentence, and jail the ones who thought they were looking at a real kid.

[trumad]

11. I agree

I mean technically the victim is a cartoon.

[Jim Lane]

32. Just to clarify the Supreme Court decision....

The statute enacted by Congress prohibited porn that was made by filming real children, but it also prohibited porn that appeared to involve children, but didn't really (including computer-generated images). The Supreme Court held that the latter aspect of the statute was unconstitutional. It appears to me from the Free Speech Coalition decision that, under U.S. law, no one could be convicted of a crime of viewing simulated child porn. Whether you could convict them on a charge of attempt to view actual child porn is another question. (If such a prosecution might be successful, then I guess there's a market niche for a site that uses only CGI images and discloses that. I'll bet a lot of the pedophiles would still enjoy the images and would appreciate being safe from prosecution.)

[Orrex]

12. Amazing!

That's 2000 per week from this one sting alone. Horrifying, but amazing!

[Dash87]

20. 20,000!?

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

[Xithras]

28. Using the strictest definition, there are an estimated 70 million pedophiles on Earth.

Most modern researchers now say that about 1% of the human population is exclusively sexually attracted to prepubescent children. On a planet with 7 billion people, that's 70 million hardcore pedophiles.

Expand the definition by eliminating the "exclusively" filter, to catch predators who are sexually attracted to prepubescent children while also being attracted to adults, and that number climbs to around 5%, or 350 million people. There are as many pedophiles in this world as there are Americans.

Expand that definition again to people who are attracted to young pubescents (10-13 generally), and that number may triple according to some studies.

And most damning of all, according to a few studies, expand it even further by including the people who aren't really attracted to children, but who have no moral objection to adult/child sex and wouldn't pass up an opportunity if they were reasonably confident that they wouldn't get caught (so called "non predatory situational offenders&quot , that number may climb as high as 20% of the human population...nearly one and a half billion people.

Think about that the next time you're walking through a crowd with your kid or grandkid.

[MindPilot]

29. Those are some astonishing numbers!

Clearly something that is not going to get fixed by simply throwing more law enforcement at it. This is a fundamental thing in the human psychology that has to be figured out and fixed. Sexual drives are stronger than addictions, and the threat of a harsh punishment is meaningless. The question is why do so many have this particular one, and how can it be stopped, mitigated and re-directed?

[Xithras]

31. Research suggests that it's biological, and possibly genetic.

I have to admit that it's a subject that's been a bit of a morbid fascination for me for years. As children, my sister and I were both repeatedly molested by a predator over several years. While I understood that it was "bad thing" even when I was little, the gravity of it all didn't fully sink in until I became a parent myself and began to get paranoid about someone molesting my own kids. An initial attempt to figure out how to recognize them turned into a longstanding interest in research trying to figure out what makes these guys tick.

Most research today tends to suggest that pedophilia is simply a deviant sexual orientation, and that pedophiles have no more or less choice over their preference than straight or LGBT people do. It emerges during puberty and remains present over the course of their lifetimes. You can't cure pedophilia any more than you can "cure" gayness. Research has also largely dispelled the folk wisdom saying that most pedophiles were molested themselves...it turns out that the rate of pedophilia among molestation victims is largely the same as among the general population.

On the upside, there is also a lot of research suggesting that the majority of biological pedophiles don't actually ever molest anyone. Making the jump from attraction to victimizing appears to require some other sociopathy. In other words, a pedophile who empathizes with children (the way most normal people will) is substantially less likely to molest than a pedophile who doesn't care about his victims, or who has narcissistic tendencies. Couple that with a fear of social ostracization and prison time, and most never go beyond fantasy.

This is a good thing, because it means that many potential predators can be redirected to the "non-molesting" group if their mental illness can be detected early enough and they can get into proper counseling. An improved mental healthcare system could save a lot of children from a lot of suffering.

By the way, some have posited that this may actually be the reason why convicted child molesters tend to skew conservative in their political leanings as well. There hasn't been a lot of research on the subject for obvious political reasons, but the same lack of empathy that drives someone to NOT CARE if a "brown child" starves or gets bombed makes it more likely for them to act on pedophilic urges. I'm not saying that more conservatives are pedophiles (there is no biological connection between politics and sexuality), and I'm sure that the percentages of pedophile liberals and pedophile conservatives are about the same, but the lack of empathy often seen on the right may make their pedophiles more likely to act on those urges. I'd really like to see more research on this subject, but I'm not holding my breath on anyone getting funded for THAT project anytime soon!

As for the cause, I tend to think that it's they are just outliers in the normal range of human variability. I don't think it can be stopped any more than "shortness" or "red hair" can be stopped. Hopefully it CAN be detected someday though, so they can be treated BEFORE they become a danger to others.

[pipi_k]

25. Whatever

they have to do to snag those guys, I'm all for it.

Although I can see the point about "entrapment", but just to make it more fair, maybe any site like that could give people a couple of chances to back out before fully committing.

Example: "Are you over 18 and are you sure you want to want to view child sexual acts?" or however they want to word it.

That should take care of anyone who might have "accidentally" stumbled upon the site.

If people are given the chance to back out and they don't, I don't give a shit what happens to them after that.

[Rex]

27. Interesting that they thought it was a real person.

Sick mofos. I hope they catch every last one of them!