Garda probe into camera phone pornography
Thursday, 22 January 2004 18:09
The Minister for Justice says the garda investigation into the circulation of a pornographic picture of a schoolgirl is an extremely serious issue.
Michael McDowell said officials from his Department are to raise the matter with members of the Internet advisory board next week. He declined to discuss the details of the case.
Earlier today, a garda investigation was launched after a pornographic picture of a schoolgirl, sent via camera phones, was circulated among hundreds of people in Cork, Limerick and Kerry.
The picture depicts a teenage girl dressed in a school uniform jumper in a sexually explicit position. The jumper appears to bear a school crest.
Gardaí began an investigation under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act because the girl is a minor. They have warned that anybody found in possession of the image or distributing it could be prosecuted and jailed.
The investigation began when a complaint was made to gardaí in the Cork suburb of Glanmire that a local teenage girl was the person featured in the pornographic image.
Gardaí spoke to the teenager and to her parents and are satisfied that the girl was not the person in the image. They are continuing to investigate reports that the image originated in Cork and are attempting to identify the girl from the crest on the school uniform.
They believe people who receive or send the picture are unaware that they are committing a serious criminal offence which carries a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.
The Copine research project, which is based at University College Cork and investigates the exchange of information among paedophiles, and the British children's charity, NCH, have both expressed concern about the use of camera phones in the spread of Internet child pornography.
- Morning Ireland: Paschal Sheehy, Southern Editor, reports on the garda investigation into the circulation of the pornographic picture of a schoolgirl in parts of Cork, Kerry and Limerick
- Morning Ireland: Barbara Johnson of the Congress of Catholic School Parents' Association, says parents should be checking their children's camera phones
- News At One: Alan Corbett of Children At Risk in Ireland Foundation says he is calling for the establishment of a camera phone user registration system to help prevent the dissemination of child pornography
- News At One: Michael Gillan, spokesperson, Irish Cellular Industry Association, says that the technology exists to locate the users of these phones, but that civil liberties must also be considered
- 1.00 News: Paschal Sheehy, Southern Editor, reports on the garda investigation into the circulation of a pornographic image of a schoolgirl via camera phones in the Munster region
- 6.01 News: Paschal Sheehy, Southern Editor, reports on the investigation into a pornographic image that was sent to hundreds of people in Cork
- 9.00 News: Eileen Whelan reports on the circulation of the explicit image of a schoolgirl in Cork, Kerry and Limerick
- Prime Time: Eithne O'Brien reports on the problems with regulating camera phones
- Prime Time: School Principal Derek West, O2 CEO Danuta Grey and student representative Emer Ní Chuagáin discuss the issue in light of the news of the circulation of a pornographic image of a school girl via camera phones
