The Internet has 2.1 billion publicly available pages, and is growing at a rate of more than 7 million pages each day. By 2005, it is estimated that 77 million people under the age of 18 will have Internet access. Recent surveys of young people have revealed that many of them are unconcerned about protecting their online privacy. International Internet trafficking of child pornography is proliferating at an alarming rate. Since January 2000, the U.S. Customs Cyber Smuggling Center in Fairfax, Virginia has reviewed more than 10,000 tips.
Child pornography is a form of digital contraband.
Digital contraband refers to merchandise that can be transmitted from point A to point B via a computer in a digital format. Internet related child exploitation is relatively new. Unfortunately, it has been the driving force behind the resurgence of child pornography. In the 1980s, the U.S. Customs Service virtually stamped out the traffic in hardcopy video and print child pornography. This meant that purveyors and consumers of child pornography had to find new ways to manufacture or possess it.