From Their Own Online World, Pedophiles Extend Their Reach
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Pointers on ways to get close to children were frequent topics. One man posted an Internet "help wanted" advertisement from a single mother seeking an overnight baby sitter for her 4-year-old daughter; another recommended shopping at weekend estate sales, since plenty of bored minors showed up accompanying inattentive parents.
Some participants in these conversations claimed to have established charitable efforts that put them in contact with children. For example, an organization called BL Charity said it was seeking money to send Eastern European children to camp.
The charity's site, which recently closed, showed scores of images of children at camp and in their homes, supposedly taken by the men running the site. The effort was organized by pedophiles; BL is the online term for "boy-lover." It eventually shut down, largely from a lack of money, according to a posting from the site's operators. After the site closed, further details of BL Charity could not be learned. Not every organization and effort of the pedophiles is directly tied to trying to reach children. For example, pedophiles have created Internet radio stations for the purpose of providing support for one another and encouraging their perceived social movement.
It is not known how many such stations exist, nor the size of the audience. The most prominent station appears to be Sure Quality Radio, which on its home page proclaims, "From all levels of society you will find us, not as predators but as human beings, loving and caring for boys or girls or both." The site has a program schedule and an online store selling mainstream music and movies featuring children.
People who work with Sure Quality Radio did not respond to questions e-mailed to them from The Times, although one person with the online name of boystory replied by saying he was immediately severing all ties with the station.
There are also online podcasts, recorded talk shows of 60 to 90 minutes featuring discussions among pedophiles. The discussions, as described online, deal with topics like "benefits of age difference in sexual relationships"; "failure of sex offender registries"; "children's sexual autonomy, practices and consequences" and "the misrepresentation of pedophilia in the news media."
Some participants in these conversations claimed to have established charitable efforts that put them in contact with children. For example, an organization called BL Charity said it was seeking money to send Eastern European children to camp.
The charity's site, which recently closed, showed scores of images of children at camp and in their homes, supposedly taken by the men running the site. The effort was organized by pedophiles; BL is the online term for "boy-lover." It eventually shut down, largely from a lack of money, according to a posting from the site's operators. After the site closed, further details of BL Charity could not be learned. Not every organization and effort of the pedophiles is directly tied to trying to reach children. For example, pedophiles have created Internet radio stations for the purpose of providing support for one another and encouraging their perceived social movement.
It is not known how many such stations exist, nor the size of the audience. The most prominent station appears to be Sure Quality Radio, which on its home page proclaims, "From all levels of society you will find us, not as predators but as human beings, loving and caring for boys or girls or both." The site has a program schedule and an online store selling mainstream music and movies featuring children.
People who work with Sure Quality Radio did not respond to questions e-mailed to them from The Times, although one person with the online name of boystory replied by saying he was immediately severing all ties with the station.
There are also online podcasts, recorded talk shows of 60 to 90 minutes featuring discussions among pedophiles. The discussions, as described online, deal with topics like "benefits of age difference in sexual relationships"; "failure of sex offender registries"; "children's sexual autonomy, practices and consequences" and "the misrepresentation of pedophilia in the news media."
Copyright © (2006) by The New York Times Co. Reprinted
with permission.
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