Pedocrime on the Net – There are still gaps in the fight against pedocriminals – News

The Clickandstop.ch registration office fights against pedophile criminals on the Internet. Federalism often stands in the way of the authorities.

A sad record: Never before has so much pedo-criminal content on the Internet been reported to the authorities as in the last year: the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) had to forward 1399 cases to the cantons – 17 percent more than in 2020 and even twice as many as in 2019 For a few weeks now there has been a new, private registration office that wants to take action against pedophile crime on the Internet: Clickandstop.cha joint project of Child Protection Switzerland and the Guido Fluri Foundation.

Many people would rather not have to deal with the authorities in a matter like this, says Regula Bernhard Hug. The head of Child Protection Switzerland is also responsible for the new Clickandstop.ch registration office and says: “We’ll pick up those who don’t want to go to the police.”

These can be IT specialists who come across pedo-criminal material in their work and do not want to rat out their employees or are afraid of the reaction of their superiors. It can also be parents who have discovered relevant material on their children’s smartphones.

Are the small cantons overwhelmed?

Clickandstop.ch anonymously forwards the reported material to the responsible authorities. However, the employees of the private registration office are not allowed to view it, otherwise they would be making themselves liable to prosecution. It’s different in the neighboring countries, says Regula Bernhard Hug, because there are exceptions for organizations like Clickandstop.

And otherwise one is often better positioned abroad than in Switzerland, where federalism makes it more difficult to effectively combat pedocrime on the Internet: “In the case of a crime that is so limitless, it is not expedient to transfer the competence to combat it to small territorial to deliver units.” The much-heard criticism: small cantons in particular are often overwhelmed with the fight against pedo-crime on the Internet.

Serdard Günal Rütsche heads the NEDIK network (see box) and, as head of cybercrime in the canton of Zurich, is also familiar with the work of the cantons. At least in Zurich there can be no question of being overwhelmed. And thanks to NEDIK, the exchange of information across Switzerland works very well.

But Günal Rütsche knows that the authorities in the fight against pedophile criminals on the Internet can never rest, the situation there would change too quickly, new possibilities and channels would arise too quickly to spread the relevant material.

Authorities have more options than private individuals

Serdar Günal Rütsche emphasizes that the authorities are already doing a great deal today – the Internet is not a legal vacuum in Switzerland, not even for pedophiles. But he still sees potential for improvement: “There is room for improvement. That’s why it’s our turn to improve our structures accordingly.”

Informally, it is said that NEDIK could develop in such a way that a private organization like Clickandstop.ch would eventually become superfluous. Director Regula Bernhard Hug would even be happy about that, because the authorities have completely different means and legal bases at their disposal than a private organization like Clickandstop.