Swiss turn up the heat on cybercrime

Tracking web-based crime has kept police busy around the world in recent months Keystone Archive

Swiss efforts to combat cybercrime appear to be bearing fruit six months after the government set up a special unit to police the Internet.

Since January the Swiss Coordination Unit for Cybercrime Control (Cyco) has handled around 2,500 complaints about websites – 20 of which are under police investigation.

“A lot of our complaints are related to illegal pornography – involving children, animals or violence. About 20 per cent of all the complaints concern hardcore pornography,” Marc Henauer, a criminal analyst for Cyco, told swissinfo.

However, Cyco’s brief extends beyond illegal pornography. The unit was also set up to stamp out extremist or racist content, track down hackers and prevent the violation of copyright.

Henauer said that while the unit had so far failed to shut down any offending websites, he was confident success lay just around the corner.

“We are only six months old and prosecution in most cases is still ongoing. However, we have been able to take off certain content from some sites,” he said.

Henauer added that Cyco was intent on making its presence felt as a force to be reckoned with on the Internet.

“We also want to act in a preventive way and give the people the feeling that they cannot not just do what they want and break all the rules and not get caught,” he said.

Pornography ring

The launch of Cyco came just four months after the Swiss authorities launched their biggest-ever investigation into child pornography on the Internet.

More than 800 people were arrested in a nationwide sweep after the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations identified more than 1,100 suspects including local officials, schoolteachers and high-ranking civil servants.

“Operation Genesis” saw illegal pornographic material recovered from the homes of more than half the suspects.

In canton Basel alone, almost one million pornographic images and 19,500 videos were seized.

More than a quarter of the photographs and more than half the videos featured sex acts involving children or animals.

Under Swiss law, the possession or downloading of hardcore pornography from the Internet carries heavy fines or a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

However, viewing child pornography on the Internet is not a criminal offence.

swissinfo, Billi Bierling and Karin Kamp

Key facts

Cyco was set up in January 2003 to fight cyber crime.
So far Cyco has received more than 2,500 complaints.
Last year more than 800 people were arrested in connection with cyber crime in Switzerland.