Here — at last — is the new IPCE Newsletter E2, the second electronic one.

Much of the last year has been spent by your secretary and his assistant in formulating and understanding the new electronic media. This text has passed between us and we hope that as a result it is more readable than hitherto.

It comes in several forms via the Internet, formatted in various word processing packages for one, as plain text for another. For others not yet netted, it comes by diskette and for yet others by old-fashioned snail-mail post. Please, tell your secretary if you have received it correctly. We have added HTML as this is possibly the most universal way in which most people on the Internet can receive it. If HTML is suitable for you, please let us know so that we can reduce the effort of formatting into a variety of word processors.

This Newsletter contains only the minutes of the eleventh IPCE Meeting in Munich at the end of July 1997, one short article and the documentation list. We have been able to produce this more rapidly than previous years (when the minutes of the meeting only arrived days before the next one!) We hope that, after our sabbatical year setting up and trying to understand the electronic world, we now have these in place, we will now be able to produce things even more rapidly.

The next edition of the Newsletter will come out in a few months — hopefully in Mid Winter. Number E3 shall contain articles and other matters of interest and if anybody has anything that they would like included, please send this to The Secretary as soon as possible - preferably either by e-mail or on disc as this avoids having to key in all the text.

You will see from the minutes that IPCE this year is trying to set up a private E-mail list with messages that could be of help for active groups and persons, especially in Europe. We feel that this is vital, as so much is happening to change legislation in the European Union (EU) and we must try to keep on top of this. For instance, it is believed that the new extension to the Maastricht Treaty which was discussed among the heads of Government in Amsterdam earlier this year, includes provision for the setting up of Euro-wide databases by police and other official organisations. Much of this legislation comes from the United States via the United Kingdom and the British delegates have been very good in posting all these new changes to their legislation. However, it is essential that we all know what is happening in the other Member States of the EU. So, although you might think that the events in your country are not of interest to anybody else this is just not the case. We all need to know what is happening - all over Europe. Of course, we realise that this will mean that someone will have to translate this into English, as this has to remain our universal language. But please do not be deterred if you feel that your English is inadequate. Ricky, the moderator of this list is most happy to communicate direct with the translators and 'Anglicise' (or even Americanize!) this in conjunction with you.

Meanwhile, we are not neglecting the remainder of our troubled planet. Isabel will moderate a world IPCE list.

The core of these messages can be put in the post edition of the next Newsletter, to avoid double sending. If, however, you have an E-mail connection, you will receive the messages far earlier and much cheaper. Thus, may we, the two moderators and the secretary, ask you to send us your E-mail address if you have one. We would suggest the receivers of the very expensive post edition try to get an E-mail connection or access to a computer to read the diskettes. By these means the messages are speedier, the work is simpler and the costs are much, much, lower.

E-mail and the Internet means many of us can now communicate quickly and efficiently. Thus, communication between the IPCE — both the groups and candidate members — can become more interactive. Several times, I have heard a complaint that IPCE 'did nothing but howl once a year'. Now it is up to the members to communicate more intensively, to send their messages to the moderator or the secretary.

Please, have a look at the documentation list at the end of the Newsletter. See, how many documents, articles etceteras have been gathered. This list is made to be used. So, please ask for documents, read them to gather the knowledge you need for thoughtful action.

Still your secretary, Frans and — hopefully – your (European) moderator, Ricky.

P.S. What shall we call the new European IPCE List? Any ideas? Ricky comes up with EUROPED (seen as EURO-ped by us and Europe-d by others)

At January 1 1997 controlled by the financial control commission of NVSH lwg JORis
At January 1 1998 again to be controlled by this commission
The Meeting 1997 has accepted this report.
The secretary signs it,

REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY, July 1997

Present were 15 to 25 persons from Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, New Zealand, U.S.A., Greece and The Netherlands. The meeting regretted that DPA and NAMBLA had no delegates present at the meeting.

NEW ZEALAND

AMBLA, the Australian Man Boy Love Association, has been reorganized as an ‘unorganized’ organization. There is no office, no official address, no members and no meetings. There are only individuals who may meet each other privately. Any legal action, publicity, letters to the press etc are taken by individuals. Thus, they hope that they avoid the laws on conspiracy.

Gerald has lost his court case. He had claimed against a TV station that used the word pedophilia as a synonym for a criminal act. However, the court accepted this use of the word (See documentation list, nr. 97-099).

Gerald also had an interview on TV (see documentation list, nr. 97-095). He was able to get his message across and was content about the interview. However, during the program he was a little astonished to see a policeman who was being interviewed flourish a copy of the IPCE Newsletter, Summer 1996, showing this to the public. The policeman told the public that ‘the pedophiles’ had strong international organizations and even E-mail connections and that New Zealand was well represented at our last conference. Paul, the NZ delegate reported that he has been intercepted by the NZ Customs on his return from IPCE last year and subjected to the most stringent of searches including a strip search. The Customs took all his papers - including his copy of the latest IPCE Newsletter - but returned them several days later. The NZ Customs must have made a copy of this private correspondence and handed this copy to police who then broadcast it on Television. Gerald wishes to prosecute but Paul can see no future in this. It is not known if New Zealand has any law protecting private correspondence similar to those in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The discussion pointed out that the laws and the situation differ greatly in each country. Thus, the way of organizing and working should also be different. For example, the German groups are officially organized and they work as open to the public as possible, for instance by publishing on the web. In New Zealand, this is not possible. Laws are vague and N.Z. (and U.K.) has no Constitution. Each strategy has it own advantages and disadvantages.

THE NETHERLANDS

General

Shortly after our meeting in Copenhagen, two events caused much publicity in all sections of the media: the case of Dutroux in Belgium and the international conference in Stockholm. Both events worked closely together to criminalize the word ‘pedophile’ completely. In the Dutroux case, the media did not speak of "the murder" or "the slave driver", but always about "the pedophile". So did the media about the Stockholm conference. They made no mention of the rich countries or the Multinationals exploiting cheap child labor, or the Captains of Industry, but only "the pedophiles" were characterized as the cause of the misery of the children in the poorer countries.

Standard articles came in every magazine, standard items in TV programs: standard appearances of a psychologist with a standard sermon - not about murders or slave drivers, no - always about "the pedophiles". Thus, the climate of pedophobia, already created in The Netherlands, could flourish as never before. Once we lived in a progressive, liberal and tolerant culture, now we live in an average country, like other IPCE members.

Nevertheless, one of the persons, who kept her head cool, was our Minister of Justice, Winifred Sorgdrager. At Stockholm and in the Dutch Parliament she refused to open a witch hunt against certain adults. She only would work to better the welfare of children. However, she had to answer the questions of the Members of the Parliament and she had to show some deeds. Therefore, some persons who violated the law in The Philippines were prosecuted and condemned in The Netherlands. She also started a ‘research’ project, given to quite a conservative institute, to evaluate the recent changes in our law about the ages of consent. As you will remember, this age is sixteen if not in care or custody, but between 12 and 16 years of age, prosecution will only be possible if there is an official complaint from the child, their parents or the Child Protection Agency. Police and others complain that it is difficult to combat child prostitution with this law. We can foresee the method of this ‘study’: many police officers and ‘Child Savers’ will be interviewed, but supposedly not any youngster nor his/her adult friend. Thus, we can foresee the outcome: the age of consent will go to fourteen and the complaint-rule will disappear.

Now the law on child pornography is changed and working, the hunt for it is opened. Here we see again our Minister with a cool head, but others are more hotheaded. The instructions for the prosecutors are not fanatic, but reasonable. Not so, however, with the Police searches, which are quite frantic, especially in Amsterdam. A Higher Court went further than the Minister did and the Parliament wanted. A person with a fairly large collection of photos was not condemned by the Lower Court because he had only one of each photo, thus not a stock to sell. However, the Higher Court condemned him because of the total amount of his collection was such that 'he must have had it for commercial reasons', despite there being absolutely no evidence of this. Thus, not the intention (only to collect, not to sell), but only the amount made him guilty.

The case against Ophelia Editions and Don Mader has not until now been made an official accusation. What the Amsterdam police did, led by the fanatic ‘Captain Hook’, was to intimidate and to show their supposed deeds to the public.

The NVSH as a whole

The NVSH is split almost 50/50 over their support of JORis. The general board is unanimously supportive – but this is because the anti-s have left the board. In Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, Mid-Netherlands, Eindhoven and Limburg the climate is against our workgroups. In Amsterdam, the group is only barely tolerated. Leiden and Eindhoven left the general NVSH association and started competitive associations in which a JORis group would have no place. Utrecht kicked its JORis-group out of the local association. The group can no longer use the office and the postal address. The general board is searching for ways now to re-create the unity in the association, maybe by some kind of compromise.

The NVSH lwg JORis

This is the national workgroup, which presently holds the IPCE Secretariat. Problems have arisen in this group over the past year. First, our Newsletter editorial published an anonymous letter in which a nephew complained against his uncle about some intimacy they had shared in the past. I, Frans, published a reaction to this letter in the next issue in which I concluded that is was better to avoid sexual contacts with minors. My reasoning for this is that, in the present climate of hysteria, one can foresee the possibility of a negative feeling years afterward the event, especially if the young person comes in contact with professional ‘helpers’.

The reactions to my article overwhelmed me, so emotional and eventually hateful were they. A heated meeting claimed an extra edition of the Newsletter to react as soon as possible to my humble opinion. The editor and the treasurer-secretary (both in my person) refused this. This resulted in a conflict within the board and between the board and the editorship. In the end, the general meeting had to decide on the conflict. After its decision, members of the board and of the editorial gave up their functions. In the meantime, a second version of my article is published in the next issue of our (Dutch) Newsletter. This version seems to give calmer reactions. I am considering including the nephew-letter and the last version of my article, in the next edition of the IPCE Newsletter, after translation.

The local groups

Once there were many groups, spread all over the country. Now the hitherto big groups in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht have fewer members and fewer visitors. Four groups had an undercover journalist as a visitor of their open meetings; a quite negative article followed in a popular magazine. The groups in Limburg, Nijmegen and Hengelo disappeared. In Groningen, Zwolle and Zutphen groups are yet active. Because of some problems, the latter two will probably amalgamate into one new group.

There has been a sharp decline in magazines featuring pedophilia during the past year.

Although KOINOS Magazine is doing well, PAIDIKA has now ceased publication. With the death of publisher Frank Torey last year, the Acolyte Press has been sold off and all publication has stopped. MARTIJN had problems because of the bad publicity caused by a former chairperson, who was prosecuted here for apparent crimes in The Philippines. A number of staff members of MARTIJN have left so that there are severe shortages both on the board and the editorial staff. They continue to publish the magazine O.K. but can do little else.

Much publicity followed the case of Martijn's former chairperson, along with ‘dirty long articles’ in the popular press. In these articles, Dr Brongersma was mentioned in very dirty ways. Windows in his house were smashed and he had to flee from his home. The magazine Penthouse libeled another Eminence, Dr Santfort. However, the University for which he works supported him in a court action against the publishers, in which he was successful. (The text of the court’s decision has been translated into English and can be obtained on demand from IPCE Secretary.). Penthouse on its turn has now appealed to the Higher Court and the final outcome is yet unsure. (Santfort won the case; Sept 1997.)

As is known, Ophelia Editions now has no address in The Netherlands.

GERMANY

Germany has never been a paradise for pedophiles. But since the discovery of the murdered children in Belgium, the Stockholm conference, and the murder of two small girls in Germany, the situation has become dramatically worse. Germany currently has three ages of consent, 14, 16 and 18, equal for homosexual and heterosexual contacts, but depending on the circumstances. All sexual contact with persons under 14 (i.e., the definition of a child in German law) is strictly forbidden. Child pornography is illegal to produce, trade and possess. The German police actively cooperate with foreign police to seek out German nationals who have been sexually involved with children abroad. In 1996 and 1997, three Berlin publishers were raided and closed down, the owners imprisoned. The Internet is under increasing police surveillance; pedophile computer owners have been raided throughout the country.

Pedophilia is discussed now in a very confrontational way. In 1995, Rüdiger Lautmann, professor of sociology at Bremen University, published his book "Die Lust am Kind". Since then he has been interviewed - and attacked - many times. Last year another Bremen sociologist, Rainer Hoffmann, published a scientific study of pedophile relationships "Die Lebenswelt der Paedophilen". Both books explored new views on the subject.

Until recently it seemed that pedophilia was accepted as a phenomenon unto itself and not just rigidly dismissed as child sexual abuse. This was so even in some television broadcasts. Now things have completely turned around. For nearly all the media, for all the political parties and for most social groups, pedophilia is seen exclusively as child sexual abuse. Only very few people openly dare to differentiate or to challenge this hoax. The pedophile support groups have, therefore, come under increasing pressure. In front of the gay center in Bremen, for instance, there were monthly demonstrations of so-called autonomous gays and lesbians against the pedophile group that has been meeting there for the past ten years. The leadership of the center was divided on this matter. After a hostile TV broadcast, the pedophiles were asked to leave the center. The Bremen pedophile group now meets privately.

In Ulm, police officer Manfred Paulus and police-psychologist Adolf Gallwitz published a book based on the legal prosecution in 1992 of Helmuth L. The book claims to "unravel the secret networks of pedophiles." Helmut L. was involved in illegal activities, and for a number of years was also a member of the Swiss pedophile association, SAP. As a result of this book, pedophile support groups are now openly denounced as "contact markets and strategy seminaries for child molesters." The circulation of this charge has put even more pressure on the pedophile groups: In May 97, the 14th national conference of the AG-Paedo was forbidden by the City of Frankfurt, and the pedophile activists had to meet elsewhere.

Situation of German Groups:

AG-Paedo: This is the umbrella organization for German pedophile activists and pedo-groups. There are two meetings per year. The AG-Paedo publishes information leaflets on different pedophile topics. Some members care for prisoners and inmates of psychiatric hospitals. The AG-Paedo is a special topic group within the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Humane Sexualität (AHS).

AHS (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Humane Sexualität): This is a national association of sexologists and lay persons who aim for a more humane sexuality. The AHS has existed since 1982. It deals with many kinds of sexual orientation. The AG-Paedo has been a sub-group of this society since 11 May 1997.

Regional groups with regular meetings:

Berlin: There are two groups in Berlin. One is a therapeutic self-help group, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. The other group holds open evenings. Both meet twice monthly.

Bremen: The group, consisting of about 6 regular members, does some public relations work. In May 97 they were asked to leave the gay center (see above). So, they now meet privately.

Frankfurt/Main: Because of recent pressure from municipal authorities, the groups in and around Frankfurt may no longer use the meeting room of the AIDS-Help Society (See Documentation list, nr. 97-060, -076 & -077). They meet monthly. The Mannheim group publishes a regularly issued magazine entitled "Aufklären statt Diskriminieren" and distributes it free (See Documentation list, nr. 97-067).

Munich: The Munich group has about 10 to 12 members and is well integrated into the local gay community. The gay association VSG hosts the group. (Because of this, the VSG [Verein für Sexuelle Gleichberechtigung - Association for Equality in Sexual Rights] was forced to leave the ILGA [International Lesbian and Gay Association] in 1995.) The Munich group maintains a home page on the World Wide Web in the German language. This page contains information about the pedophile movement and is frequently accessed. The address is:

[Address has changed]

Bielefeld, Hamburg, Köln and Nürnberg: Group activities have ceased.

Tübingen: This smaller group is about to lose its group leader and might soon stop working.

New groups are now being formed in Dortmund, Wiesbaden and Chemnitz.

There was another "group" called the Pedophile Mutual Support Group, the "Krumme 13" of Düsseldorf. The AG-Paedo maintains no contact with this group because its leader is considered untrustworthy. He is presently in prison outside of Germany.

For the addresses of the above groups, see the "Adressenliste" at the Munich group’s web site (above).

About the Internet-homepage die Paedo-Seite:

Since the middle of September 97, GermanyNet refuses to let us use their account any longer. They told us that they very well knew that there was nothing illegal on the Paedo-homepage but that they would loose their online-reputation if they had such contents on their provider.

The current address of the Paedo-Seite is:

But this address is not permanent, as we are still looking for a provider, who - after Compusserve and GermanyNet - would not throw us out again, because of fears for his image.

Discussion

In the past, the German groups were mostly hosted by the gay organizations. Now one group after the other is kicked out of the gay movement. As in USA and elsewhere lesbians are especially fanatic. In Bremen women demonstrated regularly against the Paedo-group. Gays and lesbians have won considerable acceptance in general society and have largely turned from campaigning to social activities; support for the pedo-movement is seen as jeopardizing this position. Now the Pedo-groups look for a place within the Human Rights movement, which wants to free all human sexuality. Thus, the Humantistische Union hosts the IPCE Meeting this year.

PAIDIKA was producing an English translation of Rüdiger Lautmann's book "Die Lust am Kind". But with the demise of PAIDIKA, this is now in doubt. The delegates from Bremen are in contact with the author and will try to find out what is happening to this important work.

AUSTRIA

This is a quite conservative country. Police have considerable power to gather data about persons who possibly could commit criminal acts in the future. Nobody knows what data are collected about whom. All kinds of data from all places can be gathered; the only exception is the church confessional.

In former times Austria & Germany produced good critical books, reports and articles about scientific aspects of Pedophilia, but the scientists seem to have made a complete U-turn. For example, a woman named Perna who has always been in opposition to the conservative thinking. Has now published an aggressive anti-pedophile book and all media praised her.

THE UNITED KINGDOM

Since July 1996 the UK has seen unprecedented legislation all intended to restrict pædophiles and much of it designed to be copied by other countries - especially those of Europe.

After the summer parliamentary recess Lord Hylton's Sex Tourism Bill was re-introduced by backbencher John Marshall and eventually passed without much alteration, although the then Labour opposition made sweeping proposals for even harsher restrictions. Thus, we had restrictions on advertising for or in any way 'promoting' sex tourism. It also makes a crime of conspiracy for anyone to suggest to another person that children might be available for sex somewhere in the world. This restriction does not appear to have any bar with regard to nationality and on the face of it, a person of any nationality could be arraigned once they came within the jurisdiction of the UK Courts. Even if the correspondence was between two other countries where it would not be illegal. If it could be read in UK (e.g. in a Newsgroup on the Internet), then this brought it into the ambit of UK law. Bearing in mind that Denmark extradited an American to stand trial in Germany for putting neo-nazi propaganda in the Internet this seems no idle threat.

The immediate result of the UK legislation was the arrest of a British tour organizer in The Philippines. The subsequent trial brought forth two other issues. First that he had been 'set up' by staff members of a Christian 'child protection' society when a senior member of the society gave evidence that he had contacted the person concerned and, whilst pretending to be a sex tourist, he had secretly filmed the tour operator making offers of tours where young girl prostitutes would be available. It is illegal for British undercover police to advocate that a person commits a crime and this would be enough to argue before a court that the case be withdrawn. No so, of course, if an ordinary citizen incites another; the agent provocateur can stand trial for complicity. On the other hand, the Crown prosecution may decide that "It is not in the public interest"… It is not uncommon for the police here to get a stool pigeon to do their dirty work for them. [Incidentally have you ever wondered why, when the Swedish police were setting up Bojn Bendt in Pattaya, they were accompanied by a Danish TV team and not a home-grown Swedish one? The Swedish court probably has powers to stop a local TV station broadcasting anything with would prejudice the defense in a forthcoming trial. But of course, they would have no such jurisdiction over Danish TV that can be received in Sweden! ]

The second thing that surfaced in this trial was that the prosecution was assisted by a senior police officer of the Australian police force - an 'expert in pædophilia'. He is permanently attached to the Australian Embassy in Manila. The tour organizer is now serving 14 years in a Filipino jail.

Members of the same team were used to secure the arrest of a person responsible for the murder of nine year old Daniel Handley in UK. Brett Tyler had fled to The Philippines. Here he was tracked down and kept under observation by agents of Shay Cullen's Prado organization before being arrested and deported back to UK where he stood trial alongside his accomplice Morss. The case had further revelations. It was featured on a current Crimewatch UK TV programme where it was seen by the wife of the senior psychiatrist responsible for the rehabilitation programme in Wormwood Scrubs which is one of Britain's ancient and notorious prisons. The psychiatrist (Dr Tony Barber - identified in court only as Dr B) was able to identify the two men as having been in his treatment programme where they spoke of their desire to seek out a blonde blue-eyed boy whom they would then sexually abuse and murder. The resulting trial received massive publicity and has been used ever since as a chimera for the need for the local community to be informed when convicted pædophiles are released into their community. (In fact, this case shows the futility of this notification. The two men trawled an area well away from their home in South London to find and snatch the boy). Nevertheless, of course, the public perception was that the abduction, rape and murder of young boys were typical actions of all pædophiles.

The possibility that the rehabilitation programme itself may have been responsible for the two men forming this fantasy was never mentioned either at the trial or subsequently. Rehabilitation programmes in British prisons are built around group therapy and the confession of crime and criminal fantasies. This case shows that the authorities are not above using this information and that doctors will not shrink from breaking their Hippocratic Oath. Of course, nobody - and especially pædophiles - would sanction the murder of young Daniel Handley but we cannot be certain that similar methods will not be used for lesser 'crimes'. A new Act passed in the final moments of the falling Tory Government has yet to be implemented. It will allow police to burgle and plant bugs in houses and other places where they think that 'serious crime' is being planned. This includes prison cells, the rooms where defence lawyers interview prisoners to prepare their defence, solicitors offices, even doctors surgeries may be legally bugged by police.

The United Kingdom has had the longest run up to a General Election in living memory. Prime Minister John Major called the election at the latest possible time and everybody of all political parties had been electioneering for most of the past two years. Both the Tory Government and the (then) Labour opposition vied with each other for much of this period as to who could be the most stringent on 'law'n order' and paedophilia was sure to be one of the principle election issues. At the Tory party conference in October 1996 Major and his Home Affairs Minister Michael Howard raised the temperature of the party faithful with cries against pædophiles just as they had in the preceding three annual conferences. A month later however, this was inexplicably missing from the Queen's speech (the method by which the Government announces forthcoming legislation). Anybody with half an eye to the way pædophilia has been used by the Tory party over the last few years to rally their faithful could see that pædophile legislation was being kept by the Tories for inclusion into their election manifesto. However, the leaders of the opposition parties pre-empted the Government by demanding that it be included and pledged their 'unequivocal support' for any measures which the government would introduce. In a move which is unprecedented in the history of the 'Mother of Parliaments' the Prime Minister capitulated and simply by turning to his cabinet colleagues and receiving a nod, the issue was added to the Government programme. Perhaps we are lucky as, no doubt, had it become an election issue we would have had all the parties fighting with each other to produce increasingly repressive legislation.

The Sex Offenders Bill passed through all stages in the UK House of Commons with almost unprecedented co-operation by the opposition parties. Hopes of some reasoned opposition from the more principled members of the Upper House which included such figures as the Law Lords were dashed when the announcement of the election was made and the House of Lords passed the bill 'on the nod' along with 26 others - mainly on issues of law'n order. It received Royal Assent and passed into law on the last day of the Tory Government. (However, it will not come into effect until some time in the future.)

Addendum 14^th September 1997:

The Sex Offenders Register came into being on 1^st September last. Those who were to register were notified of their requirement so to do. Newspaper reports talk of much confusion. The Police are reported to have said that they expected some 6,000 entries (presumably, this number is taken from their various other databases). However, the Probation Service who were responsible for telling people to register say that the number is nearer 2,200. In the event, less than half (800) have done so. Nobody knows what has happened to the others. Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly given the confusion) the police report that some 'offenders' who do not need to be on the register have attempted to enroll.

The TV and other media have had a hand in keeping the anti-pædophile pot boiling. Hardly a week goes by without them 'outing' some person who has just being released from a prison sentence and is alleged to have told someone (that treatment programme again?) that they want to kidnap/kill/rape/abuse/fondle/love children. More stuff comes churning out of the TV box. A 'documentary' tells that some British expats in Holland have made the odd 'snuff movie' and the bodies dumped in a polder in Hoofddorp. Of course, it barely mentions that the Amsterdam and Hoofddorp police have been investigating this allegation since 1991 without finding any evidence…. Now Nick Davies, the same reporter, is off making programmes about the plight of Romania's children. These guys know a good money earner when they see one.

Now, at long last, there is the glimmer of a backlash. Matthew Parris, a much-respected columnist for The Times, wrote a piece in February saying that the proposals for the 'Sex Offenders Bill' were blatant electioneering and that the proposed legislation "Demeaned everyone". Three TV documentaries are in the pipeline for C4 (not available on Euro-television unfortunately). Two are concentrating on the British attitude to the depiction of nudity and pictures in general whilst the third is an attempt to show a number of British pædophiles and a 'victim' as pretty ordinary, well-adjusted, individuals… Two of these programmes are scheduled be aired in the early autumn (fall) - the other in the New Year…

In February, Britain hosted a European conference on 'Controlling the Internet' which boiled down to attacks on 'kiddieporn'. Most of the speakers were anti- of course. These included German psychologist Monika Gerrstendorfer and Supt Karlheinz Moewes who has spent the last 15 years in various departments of the Munich police computer divisions. The only pro speaker on the panel was Nel van Dijk, a Dutch Green Party MEP, who pointed out the difficulties of producing Euro legislation of 'child pornography' when there was no universal definition of 'pornography' or even of 'child'. There were one or two interesting interventions from the floor. One from a Finnish woman MP who thought the Western World was going mad. Others from various UK civil liberties and anti-censorship groups and some very thoughtful questions from a psychologist from Queen's University, Belfast.

The main thrust of the conference was to introduce 'voluntary' censorship, which has been set up by the UK ISPs (Internet service providers) who have formed the British Internet Watch foundation. Following a letter from the Police Vice squad 'asking' that they pull the plug on 134 newsgroups which just might contain illegal material, the ISP Foundation agreed to set up a hotline where members of the public could call up if they found anything illegal on the net. The ISPs would then look at the material, take legal advice if necessary, and pull the offending items and - if it had originated in the UK - they would pass the information to the police so that they could prosecute. The scheme was started at the beginning of the year, by the time of the February conference relatively few items had been discovered. None had originated from UK.

Oddly the ISPs were conspicuous by their absence at the Conference the only one to be identified was the Dutch xs4all who had originated this scheme in Holland the previous year. Now (July 1997) it is announced that the USA is having trouble with the constitutionality of their 'Internet Decency Act' and they are likely to introduce similar 'voluntary' trade censorship (See the USA report below for happening on the US Internet circuit). The whole scheme looks therefore that it will go international. Still there are no single simple definitions of pornography however, though recently the director of a UK Children's Trust has suggested that mere nudity of children should be declared illegal: "because pædophiles use it".

The conference also turned up the fact that the Europarliament was preparing a resolution on the subject of illegal material (i.e. child porn) on the Internet (see documentation list nr. 97-024a & b). An example of the quality of this report comes from page 11 of their report: