JACKSON, Miss.–If you go online to download child pornography in Mississippi, you should be worried that the Attorney General’s Cyber Crime Task Force could be coming to get you. That’s because they know when someone is downloading it and they can easily find out who you are.
Thanks to software that was installed at the AG’s office in 2009, the number of people downloading child pornography in the state has dropped.
“In 2009 the top downloader was downloading about 350 images in the previous 30-day period,” said Atty. Gen. Jim Hood. “Since we began using this technology and making it public every time somebody is arrested, that number is down to less than 50, is the top downloader in Mississippi right now.”
Hood said Mississippi is on the leading edge when it comes to catching internet pedophiles electronically.
“Once these pictures are identified as being a child then a hash tag is placed on these photos or videos. When they go through the pipeline and you download it, we know it. We know your IP address. All we have to do is subpoena the internet service provider and that’s when we tap on your door.”
Hood said that most judges are at least giving the pornographers the minimum five-year sentence. The max is 40 years for one image.
He said the Task Force is constantly on the watch and has a good arrest record, with someone arrested nearly every week on the charge.
He also said his office is out in the public training teachers and students about sexting.
“They’ll send a picture nude of themselves to a young boy and that’s a crime,” he said. “It’s the same crime that we prosecute the perverts on, transmission an image of anybody under the age of 18.”
Hood’s office has not only been educating parents about sexting, but he says there are efforts to stop hacking and cyber bullying as well.
