@akareilly It is a massively complex issue and I am not sure prevention is entirely possible. Murder, you'll recall, along with robbery and burglary and speeding on the highway, are illegal, too.

There are some steps we can take that, because they are obvious and sensible, almost certainly won't happen - Here are some high level ideas, all mine and no one else's, none of which are speaking for any agency or anyone other than me, YMMV, IANAL, wear a hat when it's cold, etc., etc.:

* Normalize digital literacy among the law enforcement workforce. This would mean better education starting in the academy for the average flatfoot on all digital crimes, so that CSAM fighting is not considered some elite unit outside normal policing. CSAM is simply criminal activity, and cops should know how to approach a basic investigation.

* Step up funding for technology. Despite all the bullshit you'll see on CSI, most cops globally have 11 thumbs and can't type anything on a computer. In the US, NCMEC is handicapped by its ability to send leads using a decade+ old system that creates dumb PDF files of sometimes hundreds of pages of IP addresses as opposed to an intelligence online platform that allows cops to truly dig in to where what is coming from.

* Stop allowing our lawmakers to be so utterly clueless about the online world, and stop allowing the populace to just let idiot lawmakers conflate crime, crimefighting, and (especially) politics. There are maybe 20 lawmakers in the House and Senate who actually understand this stuff, and that is criminal.

* Move from the impulse to "do something: and towards a data-driven approach that allows cops to have the tools they need without allowing them to sink into the highly tempting morass of abusing that same technology.

All the above requires adult conversations between cops (who simply must admit that better safeguards are needed) and civil liberty groups (who immediately cry foul as soon as the cops get any ability to do anything in the name of preventing civil liberties abuses) must admit that society needs police to have some technologies and none are “bad” but all must be sanely managed.

The current morass is very akin to that of the gun control debate - everyone is in their own corner, shouting talking points at one another and no one is actually listening enough to make small moves to meet challenges and solve problems.

Just my opinion