Caught in the Web: Inside the Police Hunt to Rescue Children from Online Predators

Award-winning journalist Julian Sher goes behind the headlines about child pornography to describe how police officers, prosecutors, and high-tech analysts are fighting back against a tide of abuse to save victims. Granted extraordinary access by law enforcement agencies worldwide, Sher talks with FBI investigators, Department of Homeland Security, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Interpol, New Scotland Yard, and sex crimes units in Canada and Australia. Drawing on candid jailhouse interviews in penitentiaries, court Confessions, and hidden blogs, Sher exposes the dark underbelly of the Web to reveal how predators isolate and groom their victims; how they use secret Internet chat rooms to swap images of abuse and security tips and tricks to foil the police; and how shady entrepreneurs make millions from the trade of child exploitation material. In riveting detail, we see how clue-by-clue, and image-by-image, investigators use CSI-type techniques and old-fashioned hard detective work to track down the predators. From Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond to a global child protection center in London, England, a new generation of computer technology is being developed to make the web safer for children. Included are the latest tips and resources for parents, children, and teens wanting to ensure safety online.