Child pornography now exchanged via mobiles
It’s been a year since the Cybercrime Convention Committee updated this document to penalize the use of mobile phones to distribute child pornography. In recent days, the reason for this update has become more than evident in Spain, where police have detained nine individuals accused of exchanging child pornography through mobile phones. This is believed to be one of the first incidents of this kind in Europe, where a rise in child pornography on the Internet and the recent abductions of several youngsters have placed law enforcement authorities on high alert.
“Through this operation,” a statement reads, “the Spanish Police has uncovered a novel evolution in the way of acting of alleged pedophiles, who, feeling harassed on the Internet, have opted for this new form of exchange, which offers them more anonymity and immediacy, having even the possibility of remitting photographs and videos taken with their own phone cameras.”
In this case, the pornographic images were distributed through MMS messages. MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service, which allows users to add sound, pictures or graphics to their mobile phone text messages, and send these messages to other MMS handsets or email addresses. The use of MMS for advertising purposes and to exchange pictures, songs and videos with others is very common in Europe. What’s uncommon is to receive an MMS containing child pornography. And this is exactly what happened to an individual in Seville, Spain in February.
The individual received the pedophilic image from an unknown individual who had sent it from another phone. The person immediately reported the incident to the local police, which opened an investigation. The criminals’ modus operandi was the following: They would first send several text messages where they asked the recipient whether he or she wanted to see pictures of “girls.” Subsequently, the person was sent an image of a naked minor and requested similar images. The criminals also solicited pictures of “young women” in the chat sections of ads posted in local TV stations at dawn, providing mobile numbers for contact purposes.
It was difficult to break into this criminal organization, according to law enforcement officers, because its members requested those interested in becoming a part of the group to demonstrate they possessed “worthy material.” Criminals also changed mobile numbers constantly and used several phones at a time. Once a member was accepted into the group, the exchange of images began. Some of these disturbing photographs were taken by the individuals engaged in the exchange.
Once police officers obtained the necessary evidence, they simultaneously conducted searches and arrests to avoid evasions or destruction of evidence. Nine individuals, between the ages of 18 and 65 years old, were arrested in the Spanish provinces of Valladolid, Cáceres, Zaragoza, Jaén and Cádiz. Charges include prostitution and corruption of minors through the dissemination of photographs and videos through mobile phones.