Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Net-porn project bogged down

OTTAWA -- The RCMP's vaunted project to nab more Internet child-porn offenders has been bogged down by technological setbacks and a chronic shortage of officers, says a newly released report.

The Mounties have also failed, for four years running, to spend about 40 per cent of the money budgeted for the project, an internal evaluation has found. The RCMP was given $34.4 million, spread over five years.

Repeated delays in creating a Canada-wide database of child-porn images accounts for about half of those unspent funds. "There is currently no national standardized database," says the document prepared for the Public Safety Department. "This fact contributes to inconsistent categorization of images across different jurisdictions within Canada and overseas."

The findings raise questions about proposed child-porn legislation, introduced Tuesday by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, that would require Internet service providers to report tips about suspect websites, as well as to notify police and safeguard evidence.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 25, 2009 A10

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