Online children's safety organization: Threats, Stakes on sexually explicit online images and videos uploaded by children

Guespost from Sophos

A new study from an online children's safety organization has found that 88% of sexually explicit online images and videos uploaded by children and young people are being harvested from legitimate sites such as Facebook and YouTube, as well as being lifted from stolen or lost phones or other devices.

The research, from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), took a look at how many self-generated, sexually explicit images and videos of young people there are online, as well as how much of it was copied from its original source and disseminated elsewhere.

In less than 48 working hours spread over four weeks, IWF analysts found and analysed a shocking 12,224 images and videos spread over 68 sites.

Most 10,776, or 88% were on parasite websites. Analysts couldn't determine whether the site was a parasite website in only 14 instances.

These are lifeless numbers, but they're attached to real-life tragedies when explicit content leads to bullying and ruined lives.

A recent example was Amanda Todd, a young woman who was viciously bullied on Facebook, after a hate page was started that featured Amanda's topless photos.

The bullying led Amanda to anxiety, depression, unproductive moves to new homes and new schools, drug and alcohol abuse, and, ultimately, the horrific posting of her tale to YouTube before she then took her own life.