Italy investigating 186 over child torture site

Yahoo! News | Reuters ^ | 5/24/05

[LibWhacker]

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police are investigating 186 people including three priests after uncovering an Internet pornography site for pedophiles that showed young children being tortured, an official said Tuesday.

Police said the anonymous web site had been protected by a password and was only accessible for nine days last year in an apparent effort to avoid detection.

But a tip-off to a child-abuse telephone helpline allowed computer experts to track down the users. Besides the Roman Catholic priests, police also believe a mayor, a teacher and a doctor downloaded illegal videos.

"The children on the films were aged between 4 and 8 at most. Some were abused, others were even tortured," said Domenico Di Somma, coordinator for the police computer investigation taskforce.

Police have confiscated computers across Italy, but have not yet pressed charges as they continue with their investigation.

The head of an Italian child protection organization said the case, which was centered on the Mediterranean island of Sicily, was just the tip of an iceberg.

"Dismay turns to uncontrollable rage when you are confronted by these images which not even the most hardened maker of horror films could bear to watch," Antonio Marziale of the Observatory of Child Rights was quoted as saying by Ansa news agency.

"Pedophilia has assumed emergency proportions and should be top of the government's agenda."

[1FASTGLOCK45]

Sickening, according to this, it goes from teachers up the line to mayors and priests.

[Finger Monkey]

Pedophilia has assumed emergency proportions

It's always been here. More people, more pedofiles. More information is available, and faster, therefore we hear more about it.

All pedofiles should be destroyed. There is no fixing them, they cannot be trusted. The cannot be undone.

[TheMightyQuinn]

I wonder if this story will get as much attention as terrorists with panties on their heads.

[itsamelman]

Sounds like these bastards could use some advanced, first-person lessons in torture...

[SkyPilot]

There is a man at my church who used to be a homosexual. He left that "lifestyle", gave his life to God, and is now married with 2 children of his own.

He told us that at first, sex with other men excited him beyond belief. After that, he needed something more shocking, so he turned to S&M.

After that got old, he said he and his friends began to fantasize about younger and younger men. That was the turning point for him, because he realized he was on the verge of becoming a pedophile.

Homosexuality and pornography are as much as an addiction as heroine and compulsive gambling.

[MarineBrat]

[TrailofTears]

At some point we are going to have to get rid of this disconnect we have as a nation. We have continued to lower "consent" for children and sex, and then act surprised at the willingness of certain people to engage in the acts we allow.

In my state of VA. the age of consent is 15 if you are no more than 5 years older than the person with whom you are having sex. Now, that doesn't mean that the government will prosecute those having sex with 14 year old children, it merely means that they could be prosecuted.

One industry that has brought about such lowering of "consenting" age is the PLANNED PARENTHOOD,& SIECUS CIRCLE PEOPLE (SIECUS= SEX INFORMATION COUNSEL OF THE US). We also see dramatic use of the abortion industry to hide and cover what amounts to child rape. There is a "hide it from daddy and mommy" thing going on, and a "don't report the offender in a childhood pregnancy" issue going on.

Until we demand to know the offender in cases of minors having abortions, and as long as we leave it up to the "school system, and others with vested interests," to report abuse we will continue to have such abuse taking place.

Another area of abuse that is tolerated is among the immigrant community, specifically among the Hispanic community. In Fairfax County you will be hard pressed to get into court and stop an adult (someone even 10 or more years older) from having a sexual relationship with a minor. Unless it is forcible rape (I don't know what happened to our understanding that underage rape is statutory rape) then you will probably not get the officials to intervene. They view it as tolerable because it is tolerable in the culture that the immigrants come from.

As a counselor I have dealt with several of these things and the governing authorities aren't the slightest bit interested in dealing with any of it. This is one way that we have lost our standard which can be eliminated immediately. We need to enforce the statutory rape laws straight across the board and disregard the dysfunction of the nation the offender comes from.

We need to raise the age of consent back to something reasonable. Mostly there are no enforcements of statutory rape other than as a contribution to the diligence of a minor charges. We need to put the foot down and take charge of protecting our children, both here and abroad.

[Blood of Tyrants]

And pornography has nothing to do with this, either.

[TrailofTears]

make that word diligence into delinquency

[Tx Angel]

Are you insinuating he doesn't have a valid point?

I guess I'm w/ "bitch boy".

[Admin Moderator]

Knock it off!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yes, sir.

[onevoter]

Just wondering how many judges, psychiatrists, politicians, etc., fall into the pedophile range. There has to be a reason that this type of thing has been allowed to go on as long as it has. It doesn't take the average Joe long to figure out that these people should be locked up forever with no chance of getting out and yet we have bleeding-heart judges who sentence these people to what amounts to an over-night stay in prison for this type of thing, only to let them out so that they can (and almost invariably do) attack and abuse more children.

Just watching what has occured in Florida over the past six months should create an outrage. If these instances had been something that occurred due to our troops similarly torturing and killing Iraqis, the press would refuse to shut up about it until something was done, but the same press seems to lose interest in the crimes against children as soon as each perp is found.

[squarebarb]

Ditto that!

And as for 'pedophilia has always been with us, we just hear about it more,' I disagree. There is an empidemic of attacks on children that is unprecedented and the MSM is studiously ignoring it, while ordinary citizens can tell from one horrific report after another, that it is growing and fed by the amazing prevalence of porn via Internet.

[sgtbono2002]

Every male homosexual is a latent pedophile. Anyone who tells you different is full of crap .

[mc6809e]

At some point we are going to have to get rid of this disconnect we have as a nation. We have continued to lower "consent" for children and sex, and then act surprised at the willingness of certain people to engage in the acts we allow.

Actually the age of consent has drifted upwards since the 19th century where it had been between 10 and 13 years. So I think you're way off the mark.

Try another theory.

[mc6809e]

And as for 'pedophilia has always been with us, we just hear about it more,' I disagree. There is an empidemic of attacks on children

You hear about it more because attacks have increased, not because pedophilia has increased.

In the 19th century, 10 to 13 years old was considered acceptable. Do you really think with attitudes like that in the 19th century that the rate of pedophilia since then has increased?

A better question to ask is, why now have attacks increased? Why are so many girls ending up dead or in landfills?

[Modernman]

There is an empidemic of attacks on children that is unprecedented

Other than your opinion, do you have any evidence that the incidence of pedophilia is increasing?