First, the materials produced are a permanent record of the children's exploitation and their circulation exacerbates the harm to the child. Second, the distribution network for child pornography must be closed if the production of material which sexually exploits children is to be effectively controlled. Today in the United Kingdom, commercially produced child pornography is no longer legally available, but the problem remains and has become more subtle, covert and organized. Those who deal in child pornography and paedophiles throughout the UK and overseas now distribute and exchange this illicit material, much of which is 'home-made' through the postal system, private courier firms and more recently by computer. This new computer technology allows for the electronic transfer of picture quality images to anywhere in the world at the touch of a button.
Child pornography exists primarily for consumption by paedophiles.
If there were no paedophiles, there would be no child pornography. Paedophiles are individuals with a preferred sexual interest in children, and they are the primary producers, distributors and users of this insidious material. As 'blackmail' to ensure that the child does not tell the 'secret' of the activity that he or she is being forced to endure. To preserve the child's 'youth' by maintaining a pictorial record of the child's appearance at the 'desirable' age even after he or she has grown older and matured. As a medium of exchange with other paedophiles to enlarge their child pornography collection and to gain access to other children.