Parents think their children are safe. At home, in their own bedrooms, with loving families around them, how could they possibly fall victim to sexual predators? 

But there is an open door into children’s lives. Criminals are reaching out and ensnaring their victims with nothing more than an internet connection. It can happen in any home.  

This new bonus episode of the Pixels from a Crime Scene podcast from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) throws a spotlight on the growing threat of “self-generated child sexual abuse material” where children have been groomed and coerced by adult perpetrators into performing sexually over webcams. This bonus episode takes a look at the phenomenon with interviews from police and investigators, experts, victims, and the analysts trying to get this material off the internet.

Police experts talk candidly about the investigation into King’s Lynn roofer David Wilson who was, last year, jailed after posing as teenage girls online to extort sexual images of victims and their friends and siblings.

The episode also delves into the motivations and psychology of perpetrators, as well as from a survivor of abuse who talks about the impact of this kind of coercion on victims.

The fight to get child sexual abuse material removed from the internet is a global one, and the podcast also looks at some of the technological breakthroughs which are helping in the fight to keep the internet safe.

If you haven't listened to the first six episodes of Pixels from a Crime Scene we strongly recommend starting at episode one.   

Find out more and donate at iwf.org.uk/donate 

A series of short podcasts, or shortcasts, from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) about our leading work tackling online child sexual abuse.  In our first episode, Encryption Vs. Privacy, we speak exclusively to Professor Hany Farid, image analysis expert at the University of California, Berkeley, who says privacy does not have to come at the expense of child protection.

Listen at iwf.org.uk/inconversation or search 'IWF In Conversation With' on your podcast platform of choice. 

You shut down the laptop and watch the screen go black. What we’ve learned together has been shocking. 

But the criminals haven’t won. Far from it. 

Where there are the worst crimes, there is also the strongest resolve. While we see appalling abuse, we know there is also hope.

In this, the final episode of Pixels from a Crime Scene, we set our sights on the future. 

A new, talented tech-savvy generation could hold the key to making the internet safe again for everyone, while an “army of digital detectives” could turn the tide against those who would exploit and abuse children. It is already happening.

The Internet Watch Foundation is leading the charge to rid the internet of child sexual abuse material, and it is not alone. We know we can only do this if governments, companies, charities, law enforcement, and people all work together. 

We know it is possible. We know we can do it.

Find out more and donate to the IWF at iwf.org.uk