A UK-based Internet monitoring group said today it had received a record number of reports of online child pornography in the first six months of 2006, with half of all content traced back to the United States.
The Internet Watch Foundation said it had received 14,313 reports between January and June, up almost a quarter from the same period in 2005, involving 4,908 cases where investigators found potentially illegal content, an increase of nearly 50 per cent.
"2006 is proving our busiest year yet, with record reports processed and record number of Web sites confirmed to contain child abuse," said Peter Robbins, IWF chief executive.
The report said the increase did not necessarily mean there were more illegal Web sites being set up, saying it could reflect a greater public intolerance and knowledge of where to report such sites.
Just over half of all the child abuse content had been traced to the United States, with 15 per cent traced to Russia, 12 per cent to Japan and 9 per cent to Spain.
That compared to just 0.2 per cent in the United Kingdom.
"With a large proportion of the world's internet users, servers and ISPs in the US their Cybertipline, NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) and US law enforcement agencies have a considerable task in tackling the apparently high level of abuse of their hosting networks," the report said.
Despite warnings to relevant authorities around the world, some Web sites with child abuse remained accessible for up to five years, according to the IWF, the official UK body for the public and IT professionals to report suspicious content.
One Web site, first reported to the IWF in 1999 and which had been reported 96 times since, was still up and running despite 20 alerts to the relevant authorities.
"This new information underlines the need for unified international efforts, transcending borders and legal jurisdictions," the IWF report said.
The IWF also warned that new technology designed to allow Internet users to share their pictures and videos with friends was being abused by paedophiles.