The popularity of the Internet and the advent of digital photos have boosted child pornography into a $20 billion-a-year black-market business. Now the FBI and the Department of Justice have come under congressional scrutiny over the handling of child pornography and exploitation.
Last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House committee that the government is losing the fight against child porn.
“I’m not sure that anywhere around the globe have we conquered this problem," FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. "We see a fair amount of activity on the Internet involving exploitation of children.
“We have police representatives from 21 countries that work with us to help solve this problem.”
Mueller told the House Committee the FBI has nearly 300 agents working on the Innocent Images Program.
Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality at Focus on the Family Action, said the FBI needs to attack the root of the problem.
“The Justice Department and the FBI can’t claim that they’re doing all they can when they refuse to tackle a large segment of the problem, which is adult obscenity," he said. "There are increasing reports of people who are getting into child exploitation because they’ve run the gamut on adult pornography.”
