E/CN.15/2014/CRP.1 connects organizers, victims and consumers of child sexual exploitation and abuse, thus reducing the need for producers and distributors to be physically present at transactions, which in turn serves to better insulate them from detection.94 Whereas encryption measures were previously not widespread amongst child sexual abuse material producers, distributors and consumers – due to fears of being inadvertently locked out of their collections – many offenders now use both local and remote storage services that include built-in encryption technology to evade detection and complicate the work of law enforcement agencies.95 Providers and consumers of child sexual abuse material may also have access to new technologies that reduce permanent digital evidence. Applications such as “SnapChat” and “Wickr”, for example, enable users to distribute temporary images that disappear within seconds following receipt.96 Increased levels of harm for victims The use of new ICTs in the abuse and exploitation of children has also served to increase levels of harm suffered by victims. Technologies such as peer2peer file sharing have escalated the distribution of child sexual abuse material to such an extent that collections consisting of millions of images are commonplace. Cloud-computing technology similarly enables private access to storage that can host massive collections at a very low cost.97 With regard to contact sexual abuse, experts have found that a “layering of harms” can occur when images or video of abuse have been distributed online. The contact sexual abuse constitutes the first layer of harm, and the production of an image or video – which exacerbates the negative effects of the abuse – represents a separate, second layer of harm. Each subsequent viewing or distribution of that material serves to re-victimize and thus further exacerbate the psychological damage to the abused.98 Ever-increasing levels of violence and a continuously decreasing age of victims in child sexual abuse material have also been observed. Between 2011 and 2012, it is estimated that there was a 70 per cent increase in child sexual abuse material focused on girls under the age of 10, with abuse material involving toddlers or babies not being uncommon.99 Moreover, a significant number of online forums and channels openly advertise videos of brutal sexual assault.100 The increasingly large amounts of readily available online child sexual abuse material also serve to desensitize viewers, resulting in a demand for ever more extreme material.101 In comparative research on persons possessing child sexual abuse material in the United States between 2000 and 2005, the 2005 group of child sexual abuse material-users had larger quantities of videos than still images, as well as more materials depicting victims under the age of three. The same research noted that in 2005, more consumers used peer2peer file sharing than had done so in 2000. In fact, the use of peer2peer in the context of child sexual abuse material has been identified as one driving factor behind the trend towards __________________ 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 Shared Hope International, 2007. Bose, A., 2013. Commentary at the Informal Expert Group Meeting on the Effects of Information and Communication Technologies on the Abuse and Exploitation of Children. Vienna. September 23, 2013 through September 26, 2013. Henn, S., 2013. Teens Dig Digital Privacy if SnapChat is any Indication. Available at http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/12/10/249731334/teens-dig-digital-privacy-if-snapchat-is-any-indication. Bose, A., 2013. Hamilton, M. Amicus Brief of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in Support of Respondent Amy Unknown in Doyle Randall Paroline v. Amy Unknown and United States, U.S. Supreme Court Case No. 12-8561. Available at http://sol-reform.com/12-8561-bsac-APSAC.pdf; see also Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D., Mitchell, K., 2011. Child Pornography Possessors: Trends in Offender Case Characteristics. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment. 23:22-42 (Noting the increase in Child Pornography possessors increased collection of materials depicting children under years between 2000 and 2006). CEOP, 2013; Bose, A., 2013. Commentary at the Informal Expert Group Meeting on the Effects of Information and Communication Technologies on the Abuse and Exploitation of Children. Vienna. September 23, 2013 through September 26, 2013. See e.g. Timberg, C., 2013., How violent porn site operators disappear behind Internet privacy protections. The Washington Post December 6, 2013. Available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/how-violent-porn-sites-manage-tohide-information-that-should-be-public/2013/12/06/e0861378-3773-11e3-ae46-e4248e75c8ea_story.html. Beech, A., et al. 2008.The Internet and Child Sexual Offending: A Criminological Review. Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 13:216-228. V.14-03040 19