Web-Based Child Pornography: Quantification and Qualification of Demand

While the supply of child pornography through the World Wide Web has been frequently speculated upon, the demand has not adequately been explored. Quantification and qualification of the demand provides forensic examiners a behavioral basis for determining the sophistication of an individual seeking child pornography. Additionally, the research assists an examiner in searching for and presenting the evidence of child pornography browsing. The overall search engine demand for child pornography is bounded as being between .19 and .49%, depending on the inclusion of ambiguous phrases, with the top search for child pornography being “lolita bbs”. Unlike peer-to-peer networks, however, the top child pornography related query ranks only as the 198th most popular query overall. The queries on search engines appear to be decreasing as well, and the techniques employed are becoming less reliant direct links to content. DOI: 10.4018/jdcf.2009062405 IGI PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, International Journal of Digital Crime and Forensics, Volume 1, Issue 4 edited by Chang-Tsun Li © 2009, IGI Global 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com ITJ 5312 International Journal of Digital Crime and Forensics, 1(4), 58-69, October-December 2009 59 Copyright © 2009, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Secondarily, the top search terms used by child pornographers were identified and quantified. The terms showed a distinct dichotomy between sophisticated searchers who are fluent in the language and nature of the subculture and unsophisticated users. This dichotomy can be exploited by forensic examiners to focus their searches based on user classification. In terms of trends, the overall demand for child pornography using web-based searches appears to be declining and not increasing. While this does not mean that the actual demand for all child pornography is on the decline, it does show a potential shift toward other methods of acquisition. Other areas that are frequently linked to child pornography were also explored – specifically the linkage between the terms associated with naturism/nudism and child pornography and that between bbs-associated searches and child pornography. Many naturism/nudism– related searches were found to focus on visual depictions, but not necessarily of children. On the other hand, the now antiquated term “bbs” was found to be strongly associated with child pornography.