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Calm the witch-hunt 

Even child porn suspects have rights 

Leader
Saturday January 18, 2003
The Guardian 

The first group of victims in the current police
investigation into child pornography on the internet
are easy to identify: the children being brutally
sexually abused in photographs or videos. Just one
title from the thousands of pornographic websites says
it all: Child Rape. The world's biggest criminal
investigation into pornography began after an FBI raid
on two internet membership sites in the US. They
provided access to 300 pay-to-view pornographic
websites, allowing the agents to collect the names of
75,000 repeat users, of whom 7,270 lived in the UK.
The British names were passed on to Scotland Yard and
have led to 1,300 search warrants and 1,200 arrests,
involving judges, barristers, celebrities, hospital
consultants, university lecturers, police officers,
civil servants and a deputy prison governor. 
But there is a second group of victims for whom there
will be less public sympathy, but who need some
protection: the suspects. Like the US, the UK is in
the middle of a moral panic over paedophiles. It is in
the nature of such panics that civil rights get
forgotten. A witch-hunt is under way. A succession of
names of repeat users of pornographic sites have been
leaked. They range from unknown civil servants to high
profile celebrities. The nefarious back-scratching
between tabloid reporters and police is in full swing.
One week ago the tabloid press splashed on a "rock
star bombshell", forcing Who guitarist Pete Townshend
to end the speculation by issuing a statement
admitting he had visited pornographic sites for a book
he was writing. There is no more vulnerable suspect
than someone accused of paedophilia. It is regarded as
the most heinous of crimes, by both the public and
prisoners alike. Many arrests never lead to trial, yet
once named, the suspect's life is ruined, even if
eventually he is found not guilty. Two suspects in the
current operation have already committed suicide. Even
now, the tabloids are searching for the identities of
two Labour MPs said to have been on the list. 

Not everyone who visits a child pornographic site is a
paedophile, but US research, which is disputed,
suggests that a third of them might be. The reason why
it is right to make visiting such sites illegal is not
because viewing such pornography can turn one into a
paedophile, but because people who use such sites
encourage the pornography producers to commit further
crimes against children in new films. Although the
police are committed to investigating all 7,270 names,
it looks as though they are being sensible about the
outcomes and issuing many of the offenders with a
caution. There have been few prosecutions to date. The
suspects have been put into three categories: people
with access to children or who are already on the sex
offender register; people in positions of authority;
low risk lookers. It is the first two categories that
require closest scrutiny. 

Ministers should pursue three reforms: stricter
confidentiality rules for all squads in the operation;
the recruitment of more technicians to end the long
waits before confiscated hard disks can be analysed;
and an urgent review of the Protection of Children
Act, passed in a rush in 1978 as a private member's
measure, that does not even include a definition of
obscenity. Meanwhile, the best news is the readiness
of credit card companies to help starve pornographic
sites of income. Visa is scanning thousands of sites a
day. Credit card officials are due to meet FBI
officials next week. Now the service providers must
follow. 


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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