Child Sexual AbuSe ImageS - Canadian Centre for Child Protection

cybertip.ca
See the ImagefSelectionfandfAnalysis
section on page 32 for more information on
how images are chosen for analysis.
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4 | methodology aNd defiNitioNS
4.2 Limitations
This report is limited to the information received and analyzed by the tipline.
Content analysts only review and assess material that is submitted by the public;
they do not actively search out content or investigate beyond what is reported. With
respect to websites, it is Cybertip.ca’s policy to visit the exact Uniform Resource
Locator (URL) provided by the reporting person. If that URL does not contain
material in contravention of the Criminal Code (Canada), analysts will click on a
maximum of two additional links if available. Analysts stop their research when
they encounter a first page that contains child abuse material, and forward that
information to law enforcement.
Additionally, while we have no way of knowing for certain, it is possible that what
is reported to Cybertip.ca is not as severe as the worst material available due to the
fact that it is reported by people who come across it accidentally. Due to its illegal
nature, the most severe material may be hosted in locations that are more secure or
hidden, or that require individuals to commit a child abuse-related offence to gain
access to the online location (e.g. sending an illegal image to receive a password).
Online communities focused on child sexual abuse have been shown to not only
allow trading of illegal material, but may also encourage mental distortions or
provide social validation or support for offenders (Ellerby, 2008).
Policy considerations:
ff Analysts do not save or otherwise store images, videos, or other child
pornography material. There is no opportunity to go back and review or further
analyze material that has been removed from its original location or upon law
enforcement request.
ff Analysts do not actively download, even temporarily, files containing potentially
illegal material unless the file is automatically rendered in a browser window.
Consequently, they may not always review the most severe content. Additionally,
files shared through peer-to-peer or BitTorrent programs are never downloaded
for analysis.
ff Analysts do not purchase memberships or other material from commercial child
pornography websites, which often claim to provide access to more egregious
material.
Analysts do not save or otherwise store images, videos, or other child sexual
abuse material.
image assessment considerations:
ff When selecting images to assess, analysts first choose the image that depicts the
most severe abuse against the youngest child.
ff Child pornography websites can contain hundreds of unique images. However,
given time and resource constraints, analysts describe approximately two
potentially illegal images on each page. While they tend to choose images that
have not been seen previously, during busy periods, analysts may opt to assess
a known image rather than analyzing a new one to ensure rapid and timely
forwarding of potentially illegal reports.
Technical considerations:
ff The public may report URLs that are password-protected, or otherwise
inaccessible. These are forwarded to law enforcement but were not analyzed for
the purposes of this report.
ff Assessment only occurs at a particular time, when the analyst accesses the
reported URL. We recognize that content on a child pornography website can
change regularly; however, that fluidity is not tracked by Cybertip.ca.
ff Similarly, the host country(ies) of images and websites is recorded at the time of
analysis. Movement is not tracked.
ff It is possible that websites hosting child sexual abuse images are masking their
host locations, using anonymous proxies, or hi-jacking servers. We have no way
of knowing or tracking this.
Other considerations:
ff The dynamic and responsive nature of Cybertip.ca's data collection means that
changes are continuously being made to the database, making it difficult to make
comparisons or follow trends in certain areas.
ff Numerous technical solutions have been put in place to ensure analyst accuracy
(data import instead of data entry, lookup tables, data entry constraints, etc.);
however, this does not eliminate the possibility of human error.
ff Due to rounding errors, totals may not add up to exactly 100%.
Numerous technical solutions have been put in place to ensure Cybertip.ca
analyst accuracy: data import instead of data entry, lookup tables, data entry
constraints, etc.
mEThOdOLOgY ANd dEFiNiTiONS
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