Australian warning over Facebook paedophile ring

Australian police warned social networking sites on Friday to be alert to illegal child sex activity, after cracking an alleged paedophile porn ring operating on Facebook.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Facebook had been integral in helping international law enforcement agencies dismantle an alleged child pornography syndicate, resulted in 11 arrests in Australia, Britain and Canada.

"The investigation should serve as a warning to both social networking providers and users," AFP high-tech crime operations manager Neil Gaughan said.

"In this case, Facebook deactivated the online accounts of the initial suspects but there were indications that, within hours, the groups were reforming again under new accounts.

"It is important that content service providers including Facebook constantly scan for child exploitation material, and then inform law enforcement of their findings."

In a joint statement with the AFP, Facebook's chief security officer Joe Sullivan said the popular networking site immediately took action once alerted to the offensive activity and was working with police.

Australian police said six arrests had been made in Britain, including of the alleged head of the network, three in Australia and two in Canada but that inquiries, including those by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), were continuing.

They said the investigation began in March when an officer established an online identity on Facebook and was approached by one member of the network, which was allegedly using Facebook to exchange graphic material.

The chief executive of the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre in the UK, Jim Gamble, said offenders should be aware they could be tracked around the world.

"Everything you do leaves a digital footprint and, working together, we will stop at nothing to protect children suffering abuse," he said in a separate AFP statement. "This network was made up of people who share an interest in viewing extremely disturbing images of children suffering horrific abuse.”