The New Zealand Response to Internet Child Pornography

New Zealand’s approach to regulating illegal material on the Internet varies from other comparable countries. A single law governs the legal classification of Internet content, commercial films, printed material and a wide variety of other media and covers legal and illegal content. A Crown agency rather than the judiciary determines the legality of material. A specialist, non-police, enforcement agency deals those who possess or distribute illegal material, particularly child pornography. This agency actively seeks out child pornographers and has a high success rate in prosecuting them. This chapter describes the history, development and operation of the New Zealand censorship system, as it applies to Internet content. It is likely to be of interest to policy-makers, law enforcement officers and media regulators in other countries.