Child abuse and safety online
Online child abuse includes:
- making and downloading images of children being sexually abused; and
- approaching a child online for sex. This could be sex online (e.g. sexual activity via text or webcam) or sex offline (e.g. grooming a child online for the purpose of meeting up for sex in the "real" world).
Due to the nature of child abuse, it is difficult to assess the full extent of online child abuse. It has, however, been estimated that there are over 100,000 websites worldwide containing images of children being abused. It has also been estimated that 1 in 5 young Internet users have received unwanted sexual solicitation through the Internet. Estimates regarding the number of young Internet users who have been exposed to sexual material on the Internet vary from 25-35%.
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Related stories
As part of a youth project, you have volunteered to give advice to other young people by email. Someone emails you to tell you about their drunken, violent father.
It turns out that an uncle of yours is suspected of accessing child pornography. His email and phone records have been examined by the police. Your details are on those records.
You believe your Dad when he says he wasn't looking at child pornography. Someone - he says - stole his credit card and used it with one of those sites.
