The internet makes it easy to connect with people who you might not ever have met otherwise. For some people, this is a great opportunity to expand a business or find out about different cultures and places. Unfortunately, it also comes with a darker side. Some individuals use the internet for illegal purposes.
Sex-related offenses online are sometimes seen as victimless crimes because there might not be any physical contact between the two parties. Still, there are laws in place to help protect innocent people from being exploited.
One of the more problematic aspects of the online sex market has to do with juveniles who are being exploited. Child pornography is fully illegal in the United States. The same isn’t true for people in some other countries because many countries don’t have laws against it. Still, people in the U.S. can’t legally view any type of pornography that has to do with underage individuals, regardless of what country the movies, videos or files originate from.
A particular area of concern is child trafficking. Some worry that being able to connect with people online makes it far too easy for people to exploit children. While the information is a bit older, there was a report that showed that an increase in online sex offense cases came with a decline in broad violent crime, as well as a drop in child sex abuse reports.
Just because child pornography and child trafficking are illegal doesn’t mean that they aren’t present online. If you are facing criminal charges for viewing sexually explicit files of minors, you need to work on a defense quickly. These are serious charges that come with harsh penalties for people who are convicted.
