With the advent of internet pornography, particularly child pornography is become a major problem faced by nations. Many countries have attempted legislative measures to control this problem for example Section 67 of the IT Act makes publishing of any obscene information online as a punishable offence. There is Section 67B in the ITAct,2000 to combat Child pornography that prescribes punishment of 5 years and fine of INR 10lacs. Certain technical measures also prove useful in this direction such as blocking of sites, filtering unethical conduct and child monitoring software. Substantiated cases of child sexual abuse in the US declined dramatically in number between 1992 and (at least) 1998[11]. A substantial decline also appears to have occurred in Australia[12] . The UK Children’s charity NCH once stated that demand for child pornography on the Internet could lead to an increase in sex abuse cases[13] , though this conflicts with the Office for National Statistics’s 2007 report on Child Protection Registers, which shows a decrease of approximately 27% in the number of sexually abused children between 2003 and 2007 on the register[14].

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[11]Jones, L., and Finkelhor, D. (2001). The Decline in Child Sexual Abuse Cases. Bulletin. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

[12] Dunne, Purdie, Cook, Boyle, & Najman (2003). “Is Child Sexual Abuse Declining? Evidence from a Population-Based Survey of Men and Women in Australia,” Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, 27(2):141-52

[13]“Internet porn ‘increasing child abuse”, Guardian Unlimited, Guardian News and Media Limited, 2004-01-12. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. (English) “Demand for child pornography on the internet has led to an increase in sex abuse cases.

[14]DCSF: Referrals, Assessments and Children and Young People who are the subject of a Child Protection Plan or are on Child Protection Registers, England – Year ending 31 March 2007. See also Government of Canada (1984). Report of the Committee on Sexual Offenses against Children and Youth, Vols. 1-11, and summary. Government of Canada, Department of Supply and Service as “Badgely Report; Cat. No. J2-50/1984/E, Vols. 1-11, H74-13/1984-1E, Summary