Police are trying to track down a New Zealander who has, wittingly or unwittingly, distributed a pirated computer game CD-Rom with direct links to sites distributing child pornography.
The CD was offered widely in the weeks before Christmas at fleamarkets and car-boot sales and through magazine advertisements, according to Denise Ritchie,
of End Child Pornography and Trafficking (Ecpat).
"The CD has been identified as made and produced in New Zealand," she said, "but that person themselves may have downloaded it unwittingly.
"You can go to certain sites on the internet, find out where pirated material is and download it, without being careful about what else it is linked to.
"It's a matter for police to prove intent, whether someone deliberately set kids up to be enticed or shocked by child pornography links."
She would not name the game to prevent people from deliberately seeking out the CD-Rom.
It was one game in a compilation of games for children, she said.
Police knew the city where the disk had been made and were following leads.
"This particular one is a gold-coloured CD and it has a handwritten label, so it's ... clearly a pirate."
John Thackray, a police forensic expert in computerised child pornography, had confirmed that the CD was directly connected to a website containing thousands of severe and disturbing images of child pornography, Ms Ritchie said.
Local internet service providers had been told to deny all access to the site from within New Zealand.
"Nine out of 10 of these incidents would be accidental," Ms Ritchie said."One out of 10 would have been put on as a joke, or to entice or even to cultivate a victim or victims, with a malicious intent to desensitise children that sexual contact with others or with adults is quite acceptable."
Several internet sites which offered free downloads also had links to porn and child porn sites, Ms Ritchie said.
Natural curiosity might lead children to visit those sites if temptation was placed before them.
"They might think, and their parents are likely to think, it's the equivalent of 'Let's look inside this Playboy magazine cover,' but we're not even anywhere near the same league as Playboy when you look at what's on the net."
Ecpat advised parents to take an interest in what their children were doing online, said Ms Ritchie.
One practical piece of advice was for the computer to be in a family room such as the dining room or lounge, rather than in a bedroom.
- NZPA
