4 Barriers to Cooperation
An Analysis of the Origins of International Efforts to Protect Children
Online
Nart Villeneuve
Introduction
While providing an innovative platform for global communications and economic
transactions, the Internet brings some of society’s worst ailments, such as the proliferation of images of child abuse, into the public sphere. Every day, children are sexually
abused, and graphic images of this exploitation are transferred over the Internet to a
global audience. 1 Despite a near worldwide consensus on the illegality of the trafficking
of images of child abuse (often referred to as child pornography) on the Internet, effective international cooperation on this issue remains elusive. 2 Instead, an increasing
number of countries are simply hiding online child sexual abuse through the cosmetic
practice of Internet filtering—the technical blocking of Internet content within a
country’s territorial boundaries—rather than cooperating internationally to remove
such content at its (foreign) source and subsequently prosecuting those who produce
and traffic in images of the sexual abuse of children.
However, there was an early recognition among diverse international actors that
tackling the problems posed by new information communication technologies (ICT)
would require potentially new forms of cooperation. These forms of cooperation emphasize sustained communication and interaction among a community of diverse
actors spanning supranational institutions such as the European Union, national governments, law enforcement, private industry including Internet service providers
(ISPs), and nongovernmental organizations. This concept of ‘‘dynamic cooperation’’
constitutes not just the outcome of an agreement reached through bargaining, but
the ongoing practice of cooperation in which actors must rely on each others’ capabilities for continual implementation in situations where compliance cannot be achieved
solely through unilateral means.
While the prospect of dynamic cooperation was consistently raised in international
deliberations concerning the challenges of combating child pornography and ICTs, it
is not reflected in official outcomes such as declarations and conventions. Moreover,
An Analysis of the Origins of International Efforts to Protect Children
Online
Nart Villeneuve
Introduction
While providing an innovative platform for global communications and economic
transactions, the Internet brings some of society’s worst ailments, such as the proliferation of images of child abuse, into the public sphere. Every day, children are sexually
abused, and graphic images of this exploitation are transferred over the Internet to a
global audience. 1 Despite a near worldwide consensus on the illegality of the trafficking
of images of child abuse (often referred to as child pornography) on the Internet, effective international cooperation on this issue remains elusive. 2 Instead, an increasing
number of countries are simply hiding online child sexual abuse through the cosmetic
practice of Internet filtering—the technical blocking of Internet content within a
country’s territorial boundaries—rather than cooperating internationally to remove
such content at its (foreign) source and subsequently prosecuting those who produce
and traffic in images of the sexual abuse of children.
However, there was an early recognition among diverse international actors that
tackling the problems posed by new information communication technologies (ICT)
would require potentially new forms of cooperation. These forms of cooperation emphasize sustained communication and interaction among a community of diverse
actors spanning supranational institutions such as the European Union, national governments, law enforcement, private industry including Internet service providers
(ISPs), and nongovernmental organizations. This concept of ‘‘dynamic cooperation’’
constitutes not just the outcome of an agreement reached through bargaining, but
the ongoing practice of cooperation in which actors must rely on each others’ capabilities for continual implementation in situations where compliance cannot be achieved
solely through unilateral means.
While the prospect of dynamic cooperation was consistently raised in international
deliberations concerning the challenges of combating child pornography and ICTs, it
is not reflected in official outcomes such as declarations and conventions. Moreover,