On Net predators' trail

The Washington Post's description of what goes on at the Cyber Crimes Center in Fairfax, Va., is not easy reading for a parent, but it's good to see what's being done to protect children around the world. The Center is a "state-of-the-art forensic computer lab run by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency [ICE]," the Post reports. Its investigators "are cracking the most sensational, horrifying, gut-wrenching criminal cases involving children, pornography, predators and the Internet." The Post quotes Ernie Allen, CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as saying that 10 years ago even he didn't think there was a significant market for this material, but what we all now know is that it's a "multibillion-dollar industry around the world." But progress is being made in fighting it, with law enforcement agencies using the very technology that predators use as a tool against them. In the two years since ICE launched Operation Predator, "more than 5,700 people have been arrested in more than 100 countries, with crucial support from the Cyber Crimes Center."