How To Report Child Pornography

There isn't a more demented and diabolic act than to create or generate child pornography or worse, indulge in it. Prying on innocent children, who have no idea what they are being subject to; fantasizing erotica when viewing pictures of gullible and naive youngsters - not many things can get more spineless and inhumane. So, when you are witness to, or when you come across an incident of child pornography, you are no doubt livid with rage, shaken with concern and will want to do your bit to stop this intolerable menace. So what do you do to effectively make a report? 

To some or most of the people that indulge in child pornography, it is a serious business; one they conduct clandestinely and make a large sum of money from. So, expect retaliation if you risk causing serious damage to their business. Reporting anonymously enough to let authorities take your complaint seriously and then take over the investigation to bring these shameless perpetrators to justice is what you will have to bear in mind while going about reporting child pornography. Here are some tips to effectively report child pornography.

• Historically, child pornography has been around for many years and in many forms - most popular are pictures, illegally produced magazines and picture-books. This is one area technological developments could really have done well without. Unfortunately, with the advent of the Internet and cheaper publishing methods, dissemination of child pornography has become a tad easier.
• The US Department of Justice recommends that complaints be made at Web sites of some non-profit organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Then there is the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection. All these organizations run child assistance help - lines which you can call to report child pornography. An additional feature is to make a report online - every one of these agencies has a detailed form online for a complainant to fill. Information to be provided includes - time and date of incident, location with address details, if this is on the Internet, the universal resource locator or Web site address; if on a chat site - its details and so on. Provide as detailed information as possible to help authorities trace the perpetrators easily.
• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a cyber tip line which allows people to talk and report a sighting online. All you need is a computer, Internet connection a microphone and speakers. You need not fill out forms to provide this information. It is quite user-friendly. This, by the way, is the site that the Federal Bureau of Investigation points to for reporting incidents of child pornography. They also register reports on missing children.
• Every law enforcement agency in the United States of America have a list of sexual offenders which you can view to ascertain if a suspected person is on the list. Then, each of their local field offices has a separate division for cyber-crimes, for child pornography and Internet related crimes. Any of these divisions will be able to register a complaint or record a report relating to child pornography and take action.

Do not hesitate to report if you know of any such incidents.