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Project Spade, an international police investigation into child pornography, began in October 2010 in Toronto, Canada. The investigation started when Toronto Police Service officers made on-line contact with a man who was alleged to have been sharing pornographic videos via the Internet and by mail. The investigation eventually covered over 50 countries. Almost 350 people were arrested internationally, and 386 children were said to have been rescued. == Investigation == Following numerous complaints received by the website cybertip.ca about Azov Films, the investigation began in October 2010 when undercover police made online contact with Brian Way, a 42-year-old man from Toronto〔 and the owner of Toronto-based Azov Films, a firm that distributed DVDs and streaming videos of naked children which it marketed as "naturist." In May 2011 Way's home and office were raided, and he was arrested.〔 Toronto law enforcement authorities and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service recreated Way's customer records and shared them with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol. Investigations involved more than 50 countries.〔 Way is alleged to have earned more than $4 million from his website.〔 Apart from Canada, Australia and the United States, authorities in Hong Kong, South Africa, Spain and Sweden were involved.〔 Investigations also spread to Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Spain. The Canadian arm of the operation was "Project Spade", in Australia it was "Operation Thunderer".〔 Up to 45 terabytes of images and videos were seized.〔 Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, of the TPS' Sex Crimes Unit, said, "It's a first for the magnitude of the victims saved" and "the amount of arrests internationally, also a first."〔 Beaven-Desjardins also spoke about materials seized from Way's home: "Officers located hundreds of thousands of images and videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst that they have ever viewed."〔 The materials distributed commercially by Azov Films featured nude athletic and recreational scenes, but not explicit sexual acts. The nudity-only nature of the Azov Films material caused it to be classified in the UK as level 1 on the COPINE scale for rating images of children, ''i.e.'', generally beneath the threshold of legal interest. This standardized rating caused controversy, as politicians and members of the UK press later accused the National Crime Agency of negligence. The investigation was officially made public in November 2013.〔 Alternative news sources had disclosed its existence as early as December. 2012 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2013 International child pornography investigation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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