Why is this headline news?

[slycat]

Evidence that it's a no news day today, all the newspapers, radio and TV news are saying how child porn has increased 1,500% since 1988 thanks to the net. Well that's not new news, the net didn't exist in 1988, at least it wasn't commonly available. Also they're now worried about mobile phones capable of playing video increasing the chance that dirty old men will get their hands on child porn through anonymous pay-as-you go schemes. Does anyone else think that this is all a bit over sensationalised? It's like the Brass Eye Paedophile Special all over again.

Comments

[caldach.livejournal.com]

I think this is symptomatic of the media based society in which we live...

[gerald_duck]

Well, let's see, now.

1988 is when the kiddy-porn offences first entered the statute book: a large part of the rise will simply be police forces learning to use a new piece of legislation.

The article does not say that the number of people interested in kiddy porn has increased, nor that the number of distinct offending images has increased.

It doesn't even say the number of people having images has increased, or that the number of images they each have has increased — though it seems plausible that each might be the case.

All it says is that the number of offenders charged or cautioned has increased 1500%. If one offers no further data, the default interpretation of that single piece of evidence has to be that the Internet has improved detection of child porn offences by 1500%. That's a good thing, surely? (-8

(I keep meaning to set up www.bogus-statistics.org, but am aware that if I did a good job it would become a higher-bandwidth site than I could handle.)

[budlite.livejournal.com]

Correction: The internet DID exist in 1998, but not really in the form we know it. What didn't exist was the World Wide Web, what with HTTP and HTML not having been invented, or at least revealed back then :)

[slycat.livejournal.com]

Well I certainly know about that and how the internet was born out of ARPAnet and stuff. You understood what I meant, you were just being pedantic ;)

[akira114.livejournal.com]

Compared to our current 'world leaders', and the Orwellian state we are heading to, Hitler was a Messiah.

[sphelx.livejournal.com]

I think the whole world should be forced to watch that Brass eye special really...

[slycat.livejournal.com]

Alas 90% of them wouldn't get it and get offended...

[sphelx.livejournal.com]

it'd be funny to watch that happen though wouldn't it? :)