Feeds

Dutch ban virtual kinderporno

Fake images, real depravity

  • alert
  • submit to reddit

Secure remote control for conventional and virtual desktops

Dutch legislators have made it a criminal offence to digitally create faked images of child pornography in a move that strengthens the country's existing laws against child abuse.

The Netherlands already has laws against paedophiles who create and distribute images of child abuse, but these measures require the "physical involvement of children" for such acts to be a criminal offence.

The latest legislation creates laws that target the creation of virtual child pornography, or 'Kinderporno', which now carries a sentence of up to four years in prison, or more in the most severe cases. For habitual offenders, or for those earning a living from the offence, the maximum sentence will be six years in jail.

Essentially the law closes a legal loophole. To effectively combat child pornography, particularly on the Internet, the authorities need the power to act against apparently real child porn, even if it doesn't depict actual physical abuse.

Lawmakers have recognised the need to protect children against their images being used in such a way as to suggest sexual abuse.

As part of the law, the Dutch have raised the age limit for pornography to be classed as child pornography from 16 to 18. This puts the country's laws in line with the International Labour Organisation treaty on the eradication of child labour, which it recently ratified.

The minimum legal age for prostitution in The Netherlands is already set at 18. ®

External links

Press release from the Dutch Ministry of Justice (in Dutch, thanks for reader David Emmett for the translation)

Related Stories

Police bust global Net pedo ring
Actors to teach kids about Net dangers
Govt launches pedo warning campaign

Security and trust: The backbone of doing business over the internet

More from The Register

next story
What a pity: Rollout of hated UK smart meters delayed again
Diddums. 'No feasible way to maintain time-scales' - Crapita
UK slaps 25 per cent 'Google Tax' on tech multinationals
Tell us, Chancellor, how you plan to tax 'profitless' firms
Give nerds their own PRIVATE TRAIN CARRIAGES, say boffins
The Thinkfluencers' Express will depart from platform 94 5/4...
Nothing illegal to see here: Tribunal says TEMPORA spying is OK
Rules mass surveillance is legal, in principle at least
VCs say Uber is worth $41bn... but don't worry, we're not in a bubble
Car service valued higher than two years of space exploration
Randall Munroe: The root nerd talks to The Register
XKCD creator on life, the universe and everything
DEAD STEVE JOBS accuses Real Networks of 'hacking' iPods
Fruity firm's co-founder testifies from BEYOND the GRAVE
UK national mobile roaming: A stupid idea that'll never work
Plus: Not spot rural mobile coverage sites each require NINETEEN signatures
prev story

Whitepapers

Virtual desktop cost analysis
The downward trend in desktop virtualization costs and how this trend is prompting organizations to evaluate their own physical PC costs.
Security management 2.0
It’s time to slay the sacred cow of your substantial SIEM investment, and figure out objectively what offers you the best fit moving forward.
The Escalating Threat of DDoS Attacks
With increasing frequency and scale, some of the world’s largest data center and network operators are suffering from crippling Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
Reg Reader Research: SaaS based Email and Office Productivity Tools
Read this Reg reader report which provides advice and guidance for SMBs towards the use of SaaS based email and Office productivity tools.
Assembling a next gen enterprise web infrastructure
Delivering the solution that both simplifies management of multiple sites and lowers their total cost of ownership.