Crime: Blow against child pornography: Reul calls for more powers

Published on October 9, 2024

Following the successful investigation into a huge online platform for child pornography images and videos, NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) is calling for more powers for investigators. "In the foreseeable future, we will no longer be able to deal with the huge amounts of data that are pouring in on us," Reul told the German Press Agency. "We need more powers instead of ideologically driven data protection debates."

Investigators from North Rhine-Westphalia reported a major success against child pornography on the Internet on Tuesday. They tracked down the alleged leading backers of a platform on which hundreds of thousands of users are said to have exchanged child pornography material on the darknet. The site was able to be shut down. The case is "staggeringly large," emphasized Reul.

"Find out more quickly who is sitting behind the computer where"

In order to track down perpetrators in a timely manner, for example in cases of child abuse or anti-terror investigations, Reul again called for the retention of telecommunications data. "The darknet must never become a comfort zone for criminals. No criminal should feel safe there either," he said. "We need to get hold of these people's IP addresses. I've been preaching that since I became a minister. We need to know more quickly who is sitting behind the computer where."

Data retention, in which telecommunications data is stored for a certain period of time without reason, has been politically hotly debated for years. "We need to consider what is more important to us: protecting data or protecting human lives. I am in favor of the latter," argued Reul.

The police union (GdP) also called for more technical support for investigators. It is not only in the current case that investigators are "confronted with an incredible amount of images and videos that can only be handled with artificial intelligence," said GdP board member Ernst Herget. "Significant investments are needed here, which we have not seen in the NRW budget so far."

Data storage devices fill 94 moving boxes

As part of the investigation into the darknet platform, searches were carried out in six federal states in September. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the police struck in Minden and Neuss, according to information from security circles. According to investigators, a total of 1,517 items of evidence such as laptops and cell phones were found. The seized data storage devices alone filled 94 moving boxes. The total amount of data cannot yet be estimated at this time. 13.5 terabytes are to be evaluated on the computer of a single accused - that corresponds to around 3.4 million photos, said Reul.

The suspects are two 45 and 56-year-old men from North Rhine-Westphalia, a 43-year-old from Schleswig-Holstein, a 61-year-old from Baden-Württemberg, a 62-year-old from Lower Saxony, a 69-year-old from Rhineland-Palatinate and a 45-year-old from Bavaria. Six suspects are in custody. They are being investigated for gang-related distribution of child pornography.

Appeal to users: show remorse and get help

The investigators now want to identify as many ordinary users of the site as possible. Head of investigation Kai-Arne Gailer appealed to consumers of child pornography to "get help and show remorse". When the police are at the door, it is too late. Anyone who consumes photos and videos of the sexual abuse of minors is creating the market for children to be actively abused again and again. "They are destroying these children's souls," Gailer stressed.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:241009-930-255438/1

Source: Die Zeit