No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Digital forensics: Understanding the development of criminal law in England and Wales on images depicting child sexual abuse
Abstract
In 2015, offences surrounding the possession, distributing, creation and publication of images depicting child sexual abuse (IDCSA) are prevalent. As a result, it is well publicised that law enforcement and associated digital forensic organisations are incurring substantial case backlogs in this area. As more investigations of this type are faced, it is becoming increasingly essential for practitioners to maintain an understanding of current legislative developments, as a digital forensic investigation of suspected offences surrounding IDCSA does not just involve the blanket recovery of all digital imagery on a device. Governed by this complex area of law, practitioners must appreciate the intricacies of these offences, ensuring any examination policies are correctly defined whilst recovering information that will support criminal justice processes. In addition, as triage strategies are increasingly employed in an effort to speed up investigations, it is crucial to recognise the types of evidence that are of use to a prosecuting authority in order to ensure these examination techniques are both efficient and effective. This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of legislative developments for offences surrounding IDCSA in the United Kingdom, bringing together the disciplines of law and digital forensics. Evidence of value to a prosecution for these offences is also considered taking into account existing case law precedents in line with contentious areas including the Internet cache and unallocated clusters.
Using anatomical feature comparison to consider potential matches from hand images to identify or eliminate suspects in an investigation, commonly relating to those involved in the production of images of child sexual abuse, is an emerging forensic methodology that has become increasingly utilized by police forces within the United Kingdom. This article gives an overview of the development of a process that is based on an understanding of anatomical variation and shows how new approaches can be introduced to forensic investigations. It describes the rationale that led to the development of the investigative methodology within the United Kingdom, and how it is implemented to ensure that comparisons and the subsequent reports are both methodologically sound and admissible in any of the courts within the UK legal jurisdictions.
This data article explores the landscape of digital forensics and criminal law research from 2012 to 2022 by analyzing scholarly works available on Lens.org. By applying various filters such as release year, document type, and field of study, we identified 23 relevant journal articles. The analysis revealed insights into the most active institutions, authors, and publishers in the field, as well as the most prolific countries/regions. These findings offer a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners interested in digital forensics and criminal law. Highlights: A decade-long analysis of digital forensics and criminal law research from 2012 to 2022. Identification of the most active institutions, authors, publishers, and countries/regions in the field. Valuable insights for researchers and practitioners interested in digital forensics and criminal law.
This work builds on existing research in streamed video reconstruction on the Android OS, which previously demonstrated that caching occurs in most cases for the Chrome and Firefox Web browsers. Prior work also outlined that streaming application caching behaviour is dependent on both the implementation of the service, as well as the actions taken by the user, with contrasting results between replaying videos and viewing live content. We conduct a forensic investigation for the Twitch, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Periscope Android applications, with a focus on the application specific folders in the/data/data directory. Applications were populated with data by creating accounts and viewing a mixture of live and replay (recorded) video streams, with a focus on attempting to recover video fragments or identifiers for particular streams/videos. As users may take action to hinder forensic endeavours, additional videos were viewed to identify baseline caching and overwriting behaviour on each application. Additionally, Android's ‘Cache clear’ operation was evaluated for its anti-forensic potential.
While Android seems to produce different behaviour for live and recorded streams, which is consistent with prior work, our findings suggest that Android applications typically retain few, or no, video artefacts, which contrasts with their browser based counterparts. Cache clearing also appears to be a powerful, and trivial, anti-forensics step for clearing locally cached media in each application. We suggest that, going forward, new applications should be tested on a variety of platforms, as it appears that they do not necessarily leave behind consistent forensic traces across versions.
In light of the advancements in computing technology, and an increase in the use of mobile devices, various forms of services have emerged in recent times. Particularly, audiovisual (AV) content-based services that stream broadcasts through personal channels or self-produced video content shared with friends has been gaining ground. It is evolving into a new platform category to share information or help people express themselves. Meanwhile, there have been instances across the globe where these services have been used to stream or share illegal content. So far, few systematic technical studies have been conducted to investigate crimes associated with online services. In the process of viewing, sharing, and distributing illegal videos, digital artifacts may be saved on digital devices such as a PC or smartphone. This paper explores the client-side caches generated as a consequence of ‘viewing’ visible content through AV content-based services, including Dailymotion, Instagram, LINE, Snapchat, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube, in various platforms including Windows, Android and iOS. Through analyzing caching mechanisms, this study categorizes and characterizes various AV caches observed during repeated experiments. This work also proposes algorithms (in combination with a developed open-source tool) for obtaining playable (visible) contents, by identifying and reassembling fragmented AV pieces.
In England and Wales, there are four main categories of offence surrounding images depicting child sexual abuse, those of making/taking, publishing, distributing and possession. Despite being in force for almost 40 years, it is argued that now, additional regulation is required. In response to technological provision such as private browsing, streaming and encryption which are providing investigative difficulties for digital forensic analysts, this article proposes the need to implement a fifth offence, one of ‘intentional accessing’ and debates the feasibility and justifications for doing so. This proposal coincides with the recent enactment of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which enforces new data retention requirements on Internet Service Providers allowing offender Internet connection records to be stored for up to 12 months and retrospectively investigated.
This study examines law enforcement dilemmas in child pornography possession investiga-tions in which no offender was arrested. A mail survey of US law enforcement agencies identified a sample of Internet child pornography possession cases where no arrest was made. Telephone surveys with law enforcement investigators were used to collect case-specific data and information on dilemmas in these investigations. Law enforcement inves-tigators reported that determining whether or not images fit within statutory limits and ascertaining the age of children in images impacted arrest outcomes in child pornography possession cases. January 1999 with concentrations in quantitative methods, women's health, and family violence. Dr Mitchell's research interests include youth Internet victimization, juvenile prostitution, and missing children.
The author challenges the assumption that the expansion of child pornography offenses can lead only to a decrease in harm to children and to society. He argues that Canadian child pornography law is incoherent. In some respects, child pornography law makes valuable contributions to the prevention of child sexual abuse by targeting the production, dissemination and use of material ("real" child pornography) that involved harm in production. It also improves the law by criminalizing written and visual material that advocates the commission of sexual crimes against children and youth. In other respects, the law causes harm to society by suppressing thoughts and expression concerning child and youth sexuality that involved no harm in production, fall short of advocating harm and that have at best a tenuous connection to the commission of harmful acts. The Canadian child pornography offense criminalizes a range of creative expression in the absence of any persuasive evidence of a risk of harm. Amendments to the offense since the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Sharpe (2001) have exacerbated its impact on civil liberties. A fundamental reconsideration of the design and scope of the child pornography offense is required to ensure it is focused on achieving its objectives in a constitutionally sound manner.
As yet, little is understood of the potential problems and benefits associated with Internet use, and the resulting social outcomes that may arise. This article examines issues that emerged out of a subset of nine interviews with social workers and probation officers, namely the feelings by such practitioners that they did not understand the function of the Internet for adults with a sexual interest in children. The analysis of these data is not examined in detail, rather an attempt is made to address the issues raised through a discussion of the role of child pornography, how it is accessed through the Internet and what implications this might have for assessment. The data are drawn from ongoing research by the COPINE (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe) Project.
The goal was to assess the extent of unwanted and wanted exposure to online pornography among youth Internet users and associated risk factors.
A telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 1500 youth Internet users aged 10 to 17 years was conducted between March and June 2005.
Forty-two percent of youth Internet users had been exposed to online pornography in the past year. Of those, 66% reported only unwanted exposure. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to compare youth with unwanted exposure only or any wanted exposure with those with no exposure. Unwanted exposure was related to only 1 Internet activity, namely, using file-sharing programs to download images. Filtering and blocking software reduced the risk of unwanted exposure, as did attending an Internet safety presentation by law enforcement personnel. Unwanted exposure rates were higher for teens, youth who reported being harassed or sexually solicited online or interpersonally victimized offline, and youth who scored in the borderline or clinically significant range on the Child Behavior Checklist subscale for depression. Wanted exposure rates were higher for teens, boys, and youth who used file-sharing programs to download images, talked online to unknown persons about sex, used the Internet at friends' homes, or scored in the borderline or clinically significant range on the Child Behavior Checklist subscale for rule-breaking. Depression also could be a risk factor for some youth. Youth who used filtering and blocking software had lower odds of wanted exposure.
More research concerning the potential impact of Internet pornography on youth is warranted, given the high rate of exposure, the fact that much exposure is unwanted, and the fact that youth with certain vulnerabilities, such as depression, interpersonal victimization, and delinquent tendencies, have more exposure.
The Internet has necessitated some changes in the way pornography is regulated. In the UK, there has been a demonstrable shift
of focus in the regulation of the end user. The traditional regulatory model, focussing on the producer and distributor of
content, has altered with the introduction of simple possession offences for pornography that makes the end user also liable
for illegal content. This article analyses the issue by considering the general teleological reasoning for the regulation
of pornography, and applies this to the legislation dealing with extreme adult pornography. The article points out that a
sound teleological basis is imperative for pornography regulation, and that legislative action that overlooks this is fundamentally
flawed and will ultimately fail in providing efficacious protection. The article argues that in order to restore confidence
in the regulatory system there should be a coherent teleology behind the regulation of pornography, and also that the focus
of legal regulation for extreme pornography should remain with producers and distributors rather than content recipients.
This article illuminates the possession element of the new offence under s. 62 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, which outlaws certain non-photographic images of child sexual abuse. To this end, the analysis draws upon the case law concerning the offence of possession of extreme pornographic images, with which the new offence shares many common features. The article also presents the latest figures relating to convictions obtained since s. 62 came into effect in April 2010. Lastly, it considers the proposed amendment to widen the provisions of the 2009 Act and argues that the already broad scope of the offence should be limited.
Recent decades have seen increased national and international efforts to prosecute child pornography offenses. This increasing criminalization has been given greater urgency by the advent of digital technology, which allows offenders to produce and distribute such material with relative ease and anonymity. The interconnected nature of the Internet means that this is a global problem, and many jurisdictions have moved to strengthen their laws to punish each link in the chain, from production and distribution to possession. Central to these offenses is the definition of ‘child’. While internationally ‘child’ is generally defined as a person under the age of eighteen, the age of consent to sexual activity varies considerably between jurisdictions. This article considers the legal consequences of defining ‘child’ for the purposes of child pornography law as being higher than the age of consent. Drawing upon the laws of Australia, Canada, England, Wales, and the U.S.; it begins with a discussion of the increasing criminalization of child pornography. The rationales behind the criminalization of child pornography will then be discussed, with a critical analysis of their application to images of minors over the age of consent, as well as adults who ‘appear to be’ under eighteen. Two options for reform are then proposed and discussed.
Literature to date has treated as distinct two issues (a) the influence of pornography on young people and (b) the growth of Internet child pornography, also called child exploitation material (CEM). This article discusses how young people might interact with, and be affected by, CEM. The article first considers the effect of CEM on young victims abused to generate the material. It then explains the paucity of data regarding the prevalence with which young people view CEM online, inadvertently or deliberately. New analyses are presented from a 2010 study of search terms entered on an internationally popular peer-to-peer website, isoHunt. Over 91 days, 162 persistent search terms were recorded. Most of these related to file sharing of popular movies, music, and so forth. Thirty-six search terms were categorized as specific to a youth market and perhaps a child market. Additionally, 4 deviant, and persistent search terms were found, 3 relating to CEM and the fourth to bestiality. The article discusses whether the existence of CEM on a mainstream website, combined with online subcultural influences, may normalize the material for some youth and increase the risk of onset (first deliberate viewing). Among other things, the article proposes that future research examines the relationship between onset and sex offending by youth.
The market for pornography acquired great economic relevance in the 1970s with diffusion of the videocassette recorder, and
went onto gain increasing relevance as from the 1990s, with the ICT revolution. Nonetheless, it has been totally ignored in
economic investigation. The present paper focuses on the demand side of this market, with the main aim of proposing a preliminary
theoretical assessment of the behaviour of pornography purchasers and its recent evolution in response to the Internet revolution.
In this respect, certain contributions on hedonic adaptation have proved particularly useful, whereas addiction models have
proved less useful than might have been expected.
KeywordsSex–Pornography–Escalation–Sexual addiction–Hedonic adaptation