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Seven cases of child porn were traced to Irish servers last year

That is the highest number in a single year.

2013 SAW THE single highest number of child porn cases traced back to Irish servers, a new report has revealed.

Hotline.ie, a website founded by the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland, today released their 2013 report that showed that up to 2009, there had been no cases of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) traced back to Ireland.

In the four years from 2009-2012 Hotline.ie recorded 11 cases of CSAM. However, in 2013 alone there were seven cases, the highest number so far in one year.

Five out of the seven cases traced to Ireland in 2013 were cloud related.

These cases of abuse affected one operator’s cloud servers here which are managed from the USA. While not a member of ISPAI, Hotline.ie took action and succeeded, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, to have the content removed from the internet.

Hotline says that with the advent of Cloud services and the fact that these straddle jurisdictions, not just adjacent countries, the situation is becoming ever more complex.

Even so, they say, Ireland has an “excellent record” in comparison to most other developed European countries.

According to Paul Durrant, CEO of ISPAI and manager of Hotline.ie, another trend identified thorough analysis of the assessments conducted by Hotline.ie is that “paedophiles are constantly trying to find new ways to avoid detection”.

We are concerned that peer-to-peer services are increasingly being abused and I would like to use the opportunity to appeal to those using these services in a legitimate way to report, using the anonymous Hotline.ie service, if they encounter filenames suggesting or referring to images or videos of CSAM.

Throughout 2013, Hotline.ie assessed as CSAM, under Irish Law, 128 Cases which were traced and forwarded to the appropriate jurisdiction for action. The top 3 countries to which Hotline.ie forwarded CSAM reports for action and investigation were the USA (48), the Netherlands (18) and Russia (16).

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said that the results were ‘heartbreaking’, and called on the public be vigilant.

“It is heartbreaking to note that children in all categories are at risk in this vile online trade.

“On the positive side, it would seem from the report that Irish people are less likely to stumble across illegal material than they were in the past.

“On the negative side, this may mean that those who provide and those who seek out such material are getting better at concealing it.”

Read: Child pornography ring used social networks to lure 251 victims

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24 Comments
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    Mute Pat Lennon
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    May 28th 2014, 2:54 PM

    Sicko’s

    143
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    Mute Pat Lennon
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    May 28th 2014, 3:23 PM

    I take it that the people that red thumbed my sicko’s comment are KIDDY FIDDLERS.

    70
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    Mute Neal Ireland hello.
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    May 28th 2014, 3:30 PM

    Well as long as you’re not rushing to judgement or anything.

    79
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    Mute Willy Moon
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    May 28th 2014, 3:31 PM

    Pat well said in a nutshell, they should trace that a follow up on who was downloading this apaulin stuff, SICKOS

    26
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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    May 28th 2014, 3:45 PM

    I thumbed you down just because of the conclusion you automatically jumped to. There are many reasons why you might have received a thumbs-down, I’m pretty sure the Child Porn Alliance isn’t one of them.

    54
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    Mute Pat Lennon
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    May 28th 2014, 3:45 PM

    Something you’d like to tell us Neal?

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    Mute Paddy Mac
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    May 28th 2014, 4:00 PM

    I red thumbed you too Pat just as a form of protest towards your assumption.

    55
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    Mute Hippocrateeth
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    May 28th 2014, 7:39 PM

    Are people actually questioning whether the people who were involved in these child porn cases are sickos?

    It’s not an assumption. You’re dead right Pat.

    33
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    Mute family guy
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    May 29th 2014, 12:17 AM

    Hang them by their balls!

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    Mute JPS
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    May 28th 2014, 3:03 PM

    20years in jail per offence keep these sick b@stards away from decent society.

    103
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    Mute Thors Big Hammer
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    May 28th 2014, 3:17 PM

    20yrs or more but realistically they wouldn’t see quarter of that.

    40
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    Mute Fluich It
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    May 28th 2014, 3:55 PM

    1/4 of it? you don’t even get that for rape

    34
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    Mute Paddy Mac
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    May 28th 2014, 3:06 PM

    I think anybody who I’d caught using child porn should be named and shamed and have their picture displayed through the media to allow is to protect our kids from these sun humans.

    49
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    Mute Shane Hickey
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    May 28th 2014, 3:12 PM

    You’d have to be pretty careful, there have been innocent people murdered after being named incorrectly

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    Mute Neal Ireland hello.
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    May 28th 2014, 3:32 PM

    Remember the paediatrician who got exposed by thick vigilantes in England?

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    Mute Paddy Mac
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    May 28th 2014, 3:37 PM

    I think the “caught” bit explained a lot!

    10
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    Mute Paddy Mac
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    May 28th 2014, 3:39 PM

    After reading it back there, Jesus the grammar was shocking. I meant anyone who is caught using child porn should be named and shamed and have there photograph displayed through the media to protect our children.

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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    May 28th 2014, 3:42 PM

    It’s very easy to put the wrong picture in the news, that has happened before. It’s also very easy to put up a picture which looks very generic and could be many different people. Naming and shaming would likely do more damage than it’s worth to be fair.

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    Mute Qwerty
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    May 28th 2014, 3:50 PM

    I feel sorry for all the innocent John Smiths out there!

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    Mute Robert Linnane
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    May 28th 2014, 4:19 PM

    B*stards should be shot in the knees!

    34
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    Mute Dermot O'Reilly
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    May 28th 2014, 7:00 PM

    Trace them

    Arrest them.

    Imprison them!

    28
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    Mute Imso Ripped
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    May 28th 2014, 3:17 PM

    Wow 7

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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    May 28th 2014, 3:43 PM

    It is a low number, but anything more than 0 is already too much.

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    Mute Taxi Bill
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    May 31st 2014, 12:24 PM

    I wonder how many of the computers in the country, if tested properly would turn out to have ilegal material, whether downloaded by design or accident via popups etc, I suspect quite a lot!

    1
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