Sex abuse investigations cost British police

Herald Globe Wednesday 21st January, 2009

The BBC has learnt that Internet firms have been charging UK police for information on users of child sex abuse networks.

The unit set up to tackle child sex abuse has had to pay tens of thousand of pounds to Internet service providers which charge for their data.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre has spent more than £170,000 since 2006 in trying to tackle the sexual abuse of children.

Police often trawl the Internet as an intelligence gathering method to trace offenders.

ISPs hold the information about the identity of their customers and the location of computers they use.

The Internet Service Providers' Association has responded to the report by saying: "Taxpayers' money has always gone to the police whether it's to purchase vehicles or uniforms or any other equipment. ISPs charge a certain amount to recover their costs.”