There are approximately 1500 people from around the world that participate in pre-teen erotica trading channels on the Internet Relay Chat's (IRC) Undernet everyday. They are there to trade sexually explicit photographs and movies of children. These photographs and movies usually depict children having intercourse or performing oral sex with adults. It is also common for these "users" to discuss their "conquests" in molestation.

IRC channels are very similar to what most of us call "chat rooms". They are accessible to anyone with an internet connection and the necessary, free software (shareware). They can "chat" in real time and can do so with all of the other users on the channel or have private conversations. They also have the ability to send and receive file attachments, be it a photo or a movie. This all makes it very easy for this type of material to be passed along, thus making it a bigger "industry". A lot of people will tell you that it is a harmless way to relieve pedophile urges. It is not. It is causing a larger demand for this type of material. It is allowing pedophiles to become more creative in the way they pass their material along. Making it more of a challenge for them. They will tell you that sex with children in not abusive, or that they cannot help feeling attracted to children. I will agree with the fact that you cannot always help the way that you feel about certain things. But you can control how you react to those feelings. If you see a pair of shoes that you want so bad but you cannot afford to buy them you do without. You do not steal them because that is the wrong thing to do. So those who claim that they cannot help but feel that way, fine you can feel anyway you want to. But you do not have to act on those feelings. It is cruel and selfish to hurt innocent children. In a lot of cases the damage done lies so deep within that for many years of their adult lives these survivors don't understand the feeling that they have. They feel as though something is wrong with them and they don't know how to fix it, if they even care enough about themselves to want to try.

People who have studied the effects of adult / child sex are nearly unanimous in their disagreement with the statement that it is not abusive. That sex with children is damaging to children. It can lead to feeling of guilt and betrayal in the victims. One of the common tactics of child molesters is to convince the child that they have done something bad, and that they cannot tell anyone, not mommy, not daddy, not anybody. That it is their fault, they have done something wrong and dirty. That if they tell, everyone will be mad at them and not like them anymore. That they will be taken away from their family and never see them again.

The IRC is supposed to be a medium for free speech and thought. There is minimal regulation. Because it is an international forum it is very difficult to implement and enforce laws. The result of that is the pedophiles have found a "safe" place for the discourse of otherwise socially unacceptable subject matter. When somebody cries out that this system need to change, they cry back that their freedom of speech is being violated. There is a fine line that is crossed. They hide behind something that we all take for granted. They use our constitution to hide behind and as a result lives are damaged.