Identification of Objects Containing Child Pornography in the Virtual Space by Decrypting 235 Their Names and Tags

The article deals with the ways of labeling child pornography. In the field of forensic examination of pornography, various acts of a sexual nature, pedophilia, etc., the object of forensic analysis (or an expert study) is difficult to extract because, as a rule, the intention, purpose, means, methods, content, and other components of criminal intent implementation are coded or disguised. The identification of content related to child pornography (CP) in the virtual space is carried out by keywords. Keyword research can be of interest to both law enforcement agencies and experts. The tagging of files containing CP raises the problem of establishing the age of persons captured in CP. The meaning of tags in pornographic discourse is conventional: their use is not accidental and is aimed at the implementation of specific tasks. During file name analysis, the expert takes into account the fact that the person who originally started its distribution independently carried out the categorization of age of the participants taking part in sexual interaction. Thus, it becomes possible to give a categorical conclusion about the age of persons captured in the file based on probabilistic judgments. 3,000 tags from the Xvideos website and 678 names of files containing CP were used as research material. Two strategies of age labeling on porn sites were indicated: the age criterion is either explicitly reported or blurred. Explicit reporting can be arranged through alphanumeric hybrids, lexemes with direct indication of age (explicitly), or by using lexemes that have an age seme as part of the meaning, for example, by designating family and social status or place of work/study (implicitly). The tags blurring the age criterion present the age of participants within the framework of the dichotomy “young-old”, “young-mature”. The use of labeling to indicate the age of participants in sexual interactions or the blurring of the age criterion is intended to protect the owners of porn sites and producers of pornography from legal consequences. It should be noted that the age criterion is not blurred in file names of CP. Another way of labeling CP is abbreviations, code words, references to famous persons among CP distributors and consumers, to existing porn studios and websites containing CP. The authors assume that the data presented in the study will be useful in conducting operational-search activities and in the production of forensic psychological cultural and psychological linguistic examinations.

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