Shrewd pedophiles need not produce their own child pornography because increasingly, children are unwittingly doing the work for them, police say.

York Regional Police say they've noticed an alarming trend — more child pornography produced by children.

'Everything on the internet is accessible by someone.'-Sarah Riddell of York Region police

Teens post racy photos to their personal websites or send them to friends while privately conversing using instant messaging programs such as MSN Messenger, without realizing how public those pictures can become.

Among the types of pictures ending up online are ones featuring teenage girls showing off thong underwear, said Sarah Riddell of the regional police force.

"[The girls] say, 'I transmitted it over MSN to my boyfriend. That's the end of it. It's private between the two of us,'" said Riddell, who speaks at schools about the problem.

"Well, it's not. Everything on the internet is accessible by someone."

York officers have been going to schools to speak about the growing problem, to educate students and parents.

At a recent parents' night at Dr. G. W. Williams Secondary School in Aurora, police gave a presentation about the disturbing trend and advice on how to prevent it.

The best thing to do, the officers say, is to disconnect a child's webcam and move computers to a common area.

Officers say it can be difficult for parents to take news that photos of their children could be used by pedophiles.

"It's devastating to say to parents that this is the type of behaviour that was going on while this perpetrator was looking at a video or picture of your child," said Const. Debra Shoniker, who is in charge of school safety programs.