The Genesis Operation was an operation carried out by the Swiss Federal Office of Police ( Fedpol), the judiciary of the

canton of Zurich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

, and the

Cantonal Police The cantonal police (, , , ) are the law enforcement agencies for each of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. Law enforcement in Switzerland is mainly a responsibility of the cantons, each operating cantonal police agencies. Some cities also operate ...

of the other

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

of Switzerland between September 2002 and May 2004 against the possession of illegal child pornography in the form of digital images based on a United States tip to Interpol with information about the use of credit cards.

US investigation

Between 1999 and 2001, after a tip, a US investigation was conducted into Landslide Productions Inc., a

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

-based online pornography portal operated by Thomas and Janice Reedy. The portal was found to have provided access to child pornography, and the Reedys were both convicted of trafficking child pornography in August 2001. Following the investigation and conviction, "Operation Avalanche" was launched in the US to trace and prosecute child pornography users identified in the Landslide database. In addition, the website was run for a short time as part of a

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a rol ...

by the FBI to capture new suspects. The FBI also passed identities from the Landslide database to the police organisations of other countries, including 7,272 names to the UK.

Legality

Consumer advocates were concerned about the federal authorities' evaluation of credit card data because they had concerns about data protection.

Results

In 2002, over 1,300 suspicious people from all walks of life were checked in several

as part of this campaign. The number of house searches was 36. A total of 320 criminal charges were filed, but 191 cases were discontinued. In the canton of Zurich, 124 people were found guilty; almost all of them were issued a fine, only ten or less in addition to a conditional prison sentence of a maximum of three weeks. With a single exception, it was only possible to prove that the convicts possessed, but not forwarded, the illegal image files. In addition to child pornography, the illegal image files consisted largely of animals and violent pornography. In the future, the convicted will have a de facto professional ban imposed on them from working in education (as teachers, educators, etc.). Their teaching licenses will be withdrawn, and the information will be shared with the education departments of the other cantons, so that the convicted will not be able to get a job in other cantons either.

Country-specific results

*Australia 200 arrests (see

Operation Auxin Operation Auxin was an Australian Federal Police operation in September 2004, leading to the arrest of almost 200 people on charges of child pornography. These people were all accused of purchasing child pornography over the Internet, using the ...

) *Canada - Operation Snowball *Ireland (see

Operation Amethyst Operation Amethyst was a Garda Síochána (police) operation targeting child pornography in the Republic of Ireland. Involving simultaneous searches on May 27, 2002, of over 100 individuals suspected of downloading child pornography, it was one o ...

) *Germany (see

Operation Pecunia Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

) *Switzerland (see

Operation Genesis The Genesis Operation was an operation carried out by the Swiss Federal Office of Police ( Fedpol), the judiciary of the canton of Zurich, and the Cantonal Police of the other cantons of Switzerland between September 2002 and May 2004 against ...

aka Action Genesis) *United Kingdom (see

Operation Ore Operation Ore was a British police operation that commenced in 1999 following information received from US law enforcement, which was intended to prosecute thousands of users of a website reportedly featuring child pornography. It was the Unite ...

) *United States (see

Operation Avalanche Operation Avalanche was the codename for the Allied landings near the port of Salerno, executed on 9 September 1943, part of the Allied invasion of Italy during World War II. The Italians withdrew from the war the day before the invasion, but ...

)

Participating Law Enforcement Agencies

*Australia -

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

(AFP) *Canada *Italy *Switzerland: ** Federal Office of Police **

*United Kingdom -

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a Law enforcement agency#natlea, national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; Human trafficking, human, Arms trafficking, weapon and Illegal drug t ...

(NCA) *United States -

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI)

References

{{Law Enforcement Operation Avalanche navbox

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

Law enforcement operations against child pornography