According to authorities, access to digital technology has made child pornography easier than ever to create and distribute, but it also has made it easier for police to track down and prosecute offenders. Investigators piece together mostly visual clues from confiscated photographs, using services like Google and Mapquest to locate child abusers. This article from BBCNews includes two interesting items:


First, there is a movement to change the term "child pornography" to "child abuse images," mainly because pornography has become ubiquitous and, to some degree, acceptable. This rhetorical move is prompted by the desire to "eliminate the commercial connotation" suggested by "pornography." Even though the article compares the efforts against child pornography to efforts against the narcotics trade, it makes sense because the networks child pornographers form rarely have commercial goals.

Second, the article mentions how online communities can "normalize" any behavior if one is allowed to pursue it in a "safe and unchallenged way." Surely, the internet makes it likely that one can find support for any interest you might have, and there may be a concurrent loss of local community in areas. I'm not even sure though that online communities have not already become the "norm" in some parts of the world. I guess the question is in what ways will online communities continue to form that eschew or indulge in this "permissive" model.