IP: Germany's cybercops search for Internet crime

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Germany's cybercops search for Internet crime


BY ANDREW GRAY


MUNICH, Germany (Reuter) - Two young men in jeans and sweatshirts surf the
Internet, looking for anything they can find in the way of child
pornography.


They are not perverts or criminals. They are officers from a Germany police
department dedicated to Internet crime.


Dozens of confiscated monitors, hard disks and printers are piled up in a
storeroom next door to the Munich office where the unit, under Commissioner
Karlheinz Moewes, patrols the worldwide computer network.


The equipment was seized in raids prompted by research on the Internet from
Moewes and his five-strong team. It provides the officers with their other
main task -- trawling through the bits and bytes for illegal material to
secure convictions.


``We had 110 cases of suspected child pornography in 1996,'' said Moewes, a
burly, bearded Bavarian whose unit is on the lookout for Internet crime of
all sorts.


``We find evidence of fraud, banned gambling, right- and left-wing
extremism, pornography -- sadly, child pornography and even child
pornography with animals,'' he said.


Bavaria, traditionally Germany's most conservative regional state but also
a center for hi-tech industry, has been at the forefront of efforts to
clean up the Internet.


Munich prosecutors last month indicted the head of the German unit of U.S.
online service CompuServe, accusing him of allowing users access to
pornography, neo-Nazi material and games which glorify violence.


GLOBAL NETWORK POSES LEGAL PROBLEMS


The Bavarian police set up a working group on hi-tech crime under Moewes in
1995, and the group was upgraded to a department in its own right at the
beginning of this year.


While other German police forces have officers who search the Net for crime
when time allows, the Munich unit is the only one which is devoted
full-time to the task.


But the global nature of the Internet often makes it difficult for Munich's
cyberpolice to act on what they find.


Differing national laws on what constitutes pornography, on when a young
person is no longer classed as a child, and on who is legally responsible
for what is on the Internet all mean that securing convictions is no easy
task for Moewes and his team.


``When it comes to hardcore pornography, the difficulty for us is that much
of what's illegal here in Germany is legal and normal in Scandinavia,''
Moewes said.


Although they pass on their research to the relevant authorities if the
trail leads them abroad, the Munich police have had no word back on any
resulting convictions.


``We've had reports from America where searches have taken place, but we
have no information on any concrete results,'' said Else Diesing, head of
the police department which carries out raids on suspects pinpointed by
Moewes and his team.


Even in Germany, the law moves slowly. No convictions have yet been secured
from last year's child pornography cases, although Moewes is hopeful he
will soon have a few to show for his efforts.


UNDERCOVER ON THE INTERNET


The unit's job is also influenced by the normal constraints of how
undercover police officers are allowed to operate.


The cyberpolice can hang around electronic ``chat rooms'' where computer
users trade information and swap material, for example, but they cannot
incite anyone to commit a crime. They must hope the users offer illegal
material of their own accord.


``To take one example, we got to know someone via the Internet who offered
us child pornography,'' Moewes recalled. The unit agreed on a rendezvous to
pick up the material, then called in the undercover officers from Diesing's
department.


``Our colleagues went to the meeting point, where floppy disks with child
pornography were handed over. They briefly viewed the disks, then searched
the suspect's apartment and seized his computer,'' Moewes said.


In addition to ``virtual stake-outs'' of chat rooms, the team also uses
keyword searches of the Internet to try to track down web sites containing
illegal material.


During one such search, the team came across a web page which hit two of
their main areas of investigation at once -- a site plastered with
swastikas and pornographic pictures.


END TO INTERNET ANONYMITY?


Moewes has little time for the argument that his officers should not be
snooping around cyberspace and that their investigations into the likes
of child pornography infringe the basic right to freedom of expression.


``In each one of our cases, a child has been abused,'' he said. ``No one
talks about the rights of the children.''


Moewes would also like to see an end to the anonymity which rules in large
parts of the Internet, allowing people to post items on electronic bulletin
boards or web sites and trade information without revealing their identity.


He declined to talk about the CompuServe case in particular, but disputes
the claims by online services that they only provide a gateway to
cyberspace and cannot influence what people do once they have passed
through it.


He maintains the companies are already choosing not to allow customers
access to certain areas of >>Usenet<< -- the part of the Internet where
forums and newsgroups are found.


``They're already exerting influence, whether they say so or not,'' he
said.