New technologies are fuelling child abuse, Barnardo's has warned

The global spread of the internet has created new opportunities for paedophiles to commit crimes that know no geographical boundaries, they say.

And now children's charity Barnardo's has raised fears that developments in camera phone technology could fuel the rise in the abuse of children, through the swapping of images between paedophiles.

The Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Acpo) said forces recognised that new technologies would always be exploited for sex abuse and other crimes.

Stuart Hyde, Acpo's spokesman on combating child abuse on the internet, told BBC News Online: "We want the country to benefit from and be at the leading edge of technology.

"But we need to promote the fact there is a risk in that technology, address the risk and have some way of managing it."

Mr Hyde, who is also assistant chief constable of West Midlands police, said camera phone technology was creating a lot of revenue for the UK, but Acpo did not feel enough was being spent yet on making sure the phones provided a safe and secure environment for children.

New technologies

He was speaking on Tuesday after Barnardo's also warned the phones enabled children to access web sites and services paedophiles might be using, away from the supervision of their carers.

Advances in mobile phones are presenting new policing issues

Mr Hyde said much good work was being done, through a multi-agency approach, on tackling the problem of abuse through new technologies in the UK, but police were not complacent.

He said: "If the Americans had the same level of partnerships as within the UK, 50% of the most serious porn sites and images would be being tackled.

"We have the skills and the people to do the work, but we need to have greater investment and that includes providing proper forensic services."

He also admitted it was impossible to quantify exactly how many children were being abused via the internet as it was a crime that was greatly under-reported.

Mobile phone operators Hutchison, Vodafone, Virgin, T Mobile, Orange and O2 have recently published a code of practice that covers various aspects of safety for camera and internet phones, including filtration software, education and registration of users.

Vodafone spokeswoman Caroline Dewing said: "As an industry we recognise the responsibilities connected to the new technology and want to address the concerns.

"The industry is going to rate all content available on mobile phones and we are going to set up an independent body to monitor it."