Internet child pornography

Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, kiddie porn) is erotic material that depicts persons under the designated age of majority. The precise characteristics of what constitutes child pornography varies by criminal jurisdiction.

Child pornography is often produced through online solicitation, coercion and covert photographing. In some cases, sexual abuse (such as forcible rape) is involved during production. Pornographic pictures of minors are also often produced by children and teenagers themselves without the involvement of an adult. Images and videos are collected and shared by online sex offenders.

Laws regarding child pornography generally include sexual images involving prepubescents, pubescent, or post-pubescent minors and computer-generated images that appear to involve them. Most possessors of child pornography who are arrested are found to possess images of prepubescent children; possessors of pornographic images of post-pubescent minors are less likely to be prosecuted, even though those images also fall within the statutes.

Child pornography is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions in the world. Ninety-four of 187 Interpol member states had laws specifically addressing child pornography as of 2008, though this does not include nations that ban all pornography.