FBI Limits Pursuit of Online Child Porn

Many potential cases of child pornography online are neither pursued nor prosecuted because federal guidelines generally require that a suspect be shown to have committed the offense at least three times, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said Tuesday.

Investigators have identified 3,978 people as engaging or attempting to engage in child pornography or solicitation crimes online, but only 455 of those cases “are actively being worked as current investigations,” Freeh told a Senate panel.

FBI Deputy Director William J. Esposito said in an interview Tuesday night that the guidelines are intended to focus investigation on distributors, rather than people who are merely “curious.”

Justice Department spokesman John Russell said the department would not discuss its criteria for pursuing investigations or prosecutions. Russell said there are “a number of factors involved,” including a suspect’s “past practices in dealing with child pornography” and “if he’s had previous arrests.”

Once relegated largely to illicit books and mailings, child pornography has shown up on the Internet and computer online services. The medium can enable pedophiles to contact each other, strike up anonymous electronic conversations with potential victims and exchange electronic images.

Since 1994, the FBI has been conducting an undercover investigation called “Innocent Images” through the global computer network and commercial online services, Freeh told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.