( RIA Novosti ) - A total of 247 child pornography web-sites in Runet, the Russian Internet domain, have been shut down in the first six months of the year, a spokesman for Russia's Interior Ministry said.
Speaking in Vienna at an Organization for Security and Cooperation conference on combating the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, the spokesman said that the number of crimes linked to child pornography totaled 46 in the same period of time, a 50% decrease, year-on-year.
In 2006 the number of such crimes in Russia was estimated at 248.
He said that Russia's Interior Ministry has made amendments to the current legislation toughening punishments for child pornography crimes.
Over the past few decades, the pornographic industry has skyrocketed due to the widespread use of VHS and DVD and, in particular, the rise of the Internet. It has also proven more lucrative than the income of the top technology companies combined.