Politicians, Police, and Pedophilia

Most are unaware of the extent to which digital tracks exist on the Internet

A former district mayor of Budapest was accused Friday (January 7, 2000) of posting pedophilia to the Internet. Levente Levay, a member of the center-left Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), is being investigated by police for uploading pictures featuring four and five year olds.

Levay, who is presently a councilman in the Kispest municipality of Budapest, refutes the accusations. He sees himself as either embroiled in some kind of political provocation or the unfortunate victim of a malevolent hacker. He sees the former explanation as the most likely.

According to his lawyer, the accusations against Levay are spurious. She contends that there is no evidence of wrongdoing against her client, and that he is being made to fit the crime.

The police think otherwise. They claim that they have substantial evidence against Levay, including the phone number from where he uploaded the material in question. This would be especially damaging if it happens to be his home number. Also, in raiding his home and seizing his computer equipment, they have allegedly found various samples of pedophilia featuring children under the age of eleven.

Apparently the police have been tracking Levay for some time. The Hungarian authorities were first notified last summer by German authorities via Interpol about pedophilia being uploaded from Hungary. If the police actually have been watching Levay all this time, then it will be hard for the former mayor to disprove the allegations.

Unfortunately, most are unaware of the extent to which digital tracks exist on the Internet. Because of the seeming unacknowledged manner in which information is accessed, many fall into a false sense of security. Hence, the simplistic view that nothing can be proved since everything appears ephemeral.

Pedophiles, especially, are lulled into this false sense of security. Because many usually trade pictures among themselves within a closed circle, they feel that their activities are unmonitored by the authorities.

Yet it's not only pedophiles that are lured into this false sense of security. Many still can't envision that on the other side of the computer screen lurks the shadow of the police. In one incident a couple of years ago, six hackers were arrested accused of trading in stolen cellular phone codes. Apparently, those arrested felt at ease discussing their activities on a BBS dedicated to the subjects of phone and credit card fraud -- a BBS that the police had set up themselves.

In Hungary, the pedophilia incident involving the former mayor once again raises the issue of the Internet and public security. Some analysts have noted that Hungary still doesn't have a permanent Internet Police Force, unlike Germany and the US, insinuating that perhaps it's time to establish one. Ironically, this comes hard on the heels of plans by the Budapest police to set up a five person team to monitor Hungarian web pages for illicit material, namely pedophilia and bomb-making recipes.

For the Hungarian online community, meanwhile, users are becoming increasingly aware of how much they are being watched. Although ISPs maintain that they don't monitor traffic unless specifically requested by the police, Hungary's largest ISPs nevertheless do provide authorities with a list of their subscribers on a quarterly basis.

At the end of the day, the importance of the Levay case is not in the revelation of a pedophile, if indeed that turns out to be the case. Instead, it should help debunk the myth that computer networks are anarchic environments in which the police would not dare venture. Therefore, the average user should be aware that the digital tracks they leave behind can be followed by ghosts in the machine -- if and when it serves their purpose to do so.