Crackdown on child porn expanded

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Sun, October 1, 2023 | 15:15

Crackdown on child porn expanded

"아동음란물 유통막자"…250개 웹하드 전수조사

Posted : 2012-09-07 18:56

Updated :

Investigators of Korea Coast Guard show illegal pornographic material they confiscated from five distributors, at its regional office in Busan, Friday. The five were caught illegally copying and distributing pornography, including material involving children and teenagers. Police have also expanded a crackdown on Internet file-sharing providers that distribute illegal pornographic material. / Yonhap

By Yun Suh-young

Police said Friday they have expanded their crackdown on Internet file-sharing sites that distribute child pornography.

They plan to work together with Interpol’s child pornography image database to identify regions producing the pornographic material.

The National Police Agency (NPA) is also considering participating in an international taskforce that fights against child pornography due to start work in December, and investing and dispatching personnel to the Digital Crime Center Interpol is constructing in Singapore.

The NPA’s Cyber Terror Response Center (NCTR) distributed the list of 250 file-sharing sites to police stations nationwide, as police announced they will investigate all activity, even indirectly related to child pornography.

Acts subject to inspection include sites operating without registering at the Korea Communications Commission; violating measures to delete or block pornography; and soliciting or encouraging the spread of pornography for money.

The NCTR also plans to investigate mobile messenger services, in cooperation with local industries and related organizations to halt the distribution of pornography via mobile messenger services.

“Until now, we’ve only conducted investigations on Internet file-sharing websites that were reported to us. But now we’re going after all file-sharing sites,” said an officer at the NCTR.

“We will root out all illegal activities related to pornography with the help of other related organizations including international ones.”

In June, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security launched a civic monitoring group to monitor the spread of pornography through smartphones as part of 10 measures the government came up with in March to block illicit material from reaching teenagers.

The 400-member group, an integration of 11 civic monitoring groups, was more effective than when the groups monitored separately, but was still limited.

Police also did little to catch “heavy uploaders” who uploaded hundreds to thousands of pornographic files online saying that it was difficult to detect them. However, the recent series of heinous sex crimes prompted inspection as many were committed after the suspects watched pornography.

Meanwhile, the South Regional Headquarters of the Korea Coast Guard said Friday it caught five people for selling pornography involving children.

Currently, the punishment for distributing pornography is light. In 2007, a notorious uploader of pornography, widely known as Kim “Bon-jwa” (king) as he called himself, was only given a prison sentence of 10 months with two years probation.

The Internet Law currently stipulates that people distributing illegal material online are punishable by up to one year in prison and/or a 10 million won fine.

"아동음란물 유통막자"…250개 웹하드 전수조사
경찰, 비등록 영업ㆍ음란물 유포 조장행위 등 점검 경찰이 아동·청소년 음란물의 주된 유통 경로 중 하나로 거론되는 인터넷 웹하드 업체를 상대로 전수조사에 나선다. 경찰청 사이버테러대응센터는 웹하드 업체 250곳의 목록을 일선 경찰에 내려 보내고 아동·청소년 음란물과 직·간접적으로 관련된 모든 불법행위를 단속한다고 7일 밝혔다. 단속 대상은 ▲방송통신위원회에 등록하지 않고 영업하는 행위 ▲아동음란물을 발견·삭제·차단하기 위한 기술적 조치 의무 위반 ▲음란물 유포 사실을 알면서 영리를 위해 공모·조장하는 행위 등이다. 경찰은 음란물 제작 지역을 추적하기 위해 인터폴의 아동음란물 이미지 데이터베이스 시스템에 가입하고 선진국이 주축이 된 아동음란물 국제 태스크포스에 참여하는 방안을 검토 중이다. 인터폴이 싱가포르에 구축 중인 디지털 범죄 센터(Digital Crime Center)에 인력과 예산을 투입하는 방안도 협의 중이다. 경찰은 업계 및 관계기관과 협조해 국내 인터넷·모바일 메신저를 통한 음란물 유통을 억제하는 방안 역시 마련 중이다. 경찰청 관계자는 "기존에는 신고된 웹하드만 수사했다면 이번에는 전수조사를 하는 것"이라면서 "업계 및 국제기관과 협조해 아동음란물과 관련된 모든 불법행위를 적발하겠다"고 말했다.

ysy@koreatimes.co.kr