° °
  • Firstline - TV3 New Zealand

    Firstline

    Weekdays 6am

  • 3 News - TV3 New Zealand

    3 News

    Nightly 6pm

  • Campbell Live - TV3 New Zealand

    Campbell Live

    Weekdays 7pm

  • 3rd Degree - TV3 New Zealand

    3rd Degree

    Wednesdays 8.30pm

  • The Paul Henry Show - TV3 New Zealand

    The Paul Henry Show

    Weekdays 10.30pm

  • Three 60 - TV3 New Zealand

    Three 60

    Sundays 9.30am

  • The Nation - TV3 New Zealand

    The Nation

    Sat 9:30am / Sun 10am

Search for child pornography becoming 'normalised'

Sunday 13 Nov 2011 5:47 p.m.

By Brook Sabin

Some may find elements of this story disturbing

3 News can reveal that a controversial internet filter has blocked more than 13 million New Zealand based attempts to access hardcore child pornography.

Officials also say they are noticing an increasing trend of people trying to access the material from mobile devices, like smart phones, music players and even Playstation’s.

Seven thousand of the world's worst child porn sites are blocked in New Zealand by the child exploitation filter.

It has been running since February last year and blocks some horrific content, as Denise Ritchie from Stop Demand explains.

“Children are being sexually abused, violated and sometimes tortured and raped,” says Ms Ritchie. “Sometimes raped by multiple perpetrators and there's been a trend now for some years of even babies being raped.”

Since the system went live it has blocked a significant number of requests. 13,515,639 to be exact.

That number is not individual users; rather one person can register a large number of blocks through things like pop-ups or repeatedly seeking the material.

“Some people have a very compulsive relationship with child pornography, and they'll look for it for many numbers of hours, a lot of my clients will look for eight to 10 hours a day," says cyber psychologist Nathan Gaunt.

Officials are also concerned by an increasing number of attempts to view child pornography on mobile devices, with 16,000 attempts registered.

Smartphones, like iPhones and androids make up roughly half that number. iPod music players make up 30 percent, iPads 10 percent and Playstation 3's 10 percent.

And a small number of blocks were even recorded against Nintendo Wii interactive gaming consoles.

Ms Ritchie says that shows the issue is being increasingly normalised.

Fity-seven members of the public have tried to access the material by appealing against the blocks.

All were unsuccessful, but some of the reasons given include;

"I need to look at kids getting ******"

"At 70 years old I should be able to see this"

"Just peeking so I can report it for blocking"

"I fantasise about my aunt"

"I don't have children"

Mr Gaunt says we know that sex and a sexual interest in children does motivate a large number of people.

“But not all people. Some people seek it for other reasons to do with power, sometimes to do with wanting to be deviant, sometimes to do with working out their own sexual abuse issues.”

The Department of Internal Affairs now offers counselling advice on the blocking page and they are currently investigating whether more people are seeking professional help as a result.

3 News

Others Are Watching

comments powered by Disqus

Trending

>
;