Child pornography is inseparable from child sexual abuse. With the rise of ever cheaper technologies like the video camera and the video recorder, the production, multiplication and redistribution of child pornography has become very much easier and with less risk. Increasingly the Internet is being used as a way to exchange child pornography. Digitalized images don't loose quality through copying.

Child pornography can be defined as sexually explicit reproductions of a child's image - including sexually explicit photographs, negatives, slides, magazines, movies, videotapes and computer disks.
The Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (part of the Attorney General's office) provides a general description of publications which they consider may be deemed to be child pornography:

># Those that contain depictions of actual sexual activity involving persons under 16 years of age.
# Those that contain photographs of nude models under 16 years of age which have sexual overtones, for instance, by sexually suggestive poses.
# Those that are mainly devoted to nude children in a non sexual context.

# Generally speaking child pornography falls into two categories:
soft core which is not sexually explicit but involves naked and seductive images of children and hard core which relates to images of children engaged in sexual activity.

The collection of child pornography
According to Kenneth Lanning, in the definitive report 'Child Molesters - A Behavioural Analysis' paedophiles almost always collect child pornography.
Child pornography is treasured by the paedophile and represents their most cherished sexual fantasies. Many paedophiles compulsively and systematically save the collected material to validate their actions or as momentos and souvenirs.
They like to share their momentos to gain strong reinforcement from other like minded persons.
Collections of child pornography includes books, magazines, articles, newspapers, photographs, negatives, slides, movies, albums, drawings, audiotapes, videotapes and equipment, personal letters, diaries, clothing, sexual aids.