SOA Research Overview
IWF SOA 2003/IT PROFESSIONALS RESEARCH
Objective
To provide some factual research upon which to base and tailor a marketing campaign designed to promote awareness of the IWF, the SOA 2003 and the implications of the MoU for IT Professionals.
Brief
To establish current levels of awareness of the SOA 2003, with specific reference to S.45 & s. 46, amongst UK IT professionals in a range of organisations.
Methodology
The research was based around 10 multi-choice questions.
1) Are you responsible for the integrity and security of your organisations internet use? 2) Does your organisation have an acceptable internet use policy in place? 3) Do you understand what constitutes potentially illegal internet content? 4) Do you have specific policies for dealing with potentially illegal internet content found on your servers or on user desktops? 5) Are you aware of the recent amendment to the Sexual Offences Act and how this legislation relates to you and your organisation in terms of internet content? 6) Do you or your systems staff view internet sites or content for internal monitoring/regulation purposes? 7) Are you aware of the personal implications to you, your staff and your organisation for improper handling of potentially illegal internet content? 8) What action would be taken if you found potentially illegal internet content on an employee’s PC or mobile?
9) Have you heard of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
If yes, do you think IWF is a: Public service hotline Industry watchdog Internet Safety organisation: Other: (please list) ………………………………………………………. 10) How important do you think ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is to your organisation? (That is; How important is it that your organisation is seen to act responsibly and in the interest of it’s employees, stakeholders, customers & clients, the wider environment etc)?
The raw target data came from the VNU publication; IT Week and we bought in a list of 5,000 IT Week subscribers (approx 50,000 in total).
IT Week was the most appropriate trade publication for our target audience and would provide valid and up-to-date raw data.
This list was created on the basis of job descriptions:
Overall Head of IT
CIO
CTO
IT Management
Systems Development Management
Network Management
Technical/User Support Management
Security Management
Other: System Administrator
And cross referenced with size of company:
5000+
2000-4999
1000-1999
500-999
200-499
100-199
50-99
1-49
From this data, we commissioned 1,000 completed surveys.
It was decided that this was a suitably sized sample which would give some weight to the figures and provide a reasonable cross-section of IT Professionals in terms of job role and size of company.
Telemarketing was judged to be the most appropriate method to collect this information; based on the nature and topic of the questions and should more information and/or reassurance be required.
The company we used to conduct the research was Blue Donkey
http://www.bluedonkey.co.uk/
We received the results in a spreadsheet matrix in order to apply our own filters/assessment.
We currently have the basic set of results from the survey. This will be developed and refined over the coming weeks.
Results
1) Are you responsible for the integrity and security of your organisations
internet use?
Yes: 84%
No: 1.5%
Some of it: 14.5%
2) Does your organisation have an acceptable internet use policy in place?
Yes: 90%
No: 7%
Currently under review: 2%
Don’t know: Less than 1%
3) Do you understand what constitutes a potentially illegal indecent image of child online?
Yes: 68%
No: 30%
I could probably recognise
some type of illegal content but not all: 2%
4) Do you have specific policies for dealing with potentially illegal indecent images of children found on your servers or on user desktops?
Yes: 65%
No: 30%
Currently under review: 3%
Don’t know: 2%
5) Do you or your systems staff view internet sites or content for internal monitoring/regulation purposes?
Yes: 63%
No: 27%
Sporadically : 10%
6) What action would be taken if you found potentially illegal internet content on an employee’s PC or mobile?
Discipline or dismiss the employee 70%
Copy/store the images as evidence 1.5%
Report it to the police 27% Don’t know 6%
(more than one answer allowed)
7) Are you aware of the recent amendment to the Sexual Offences Act and how this legislation relates to you and your organisation in terms of internet content?
Yes: 13%
No: 87%
8) Are you aware of the personal implications to you, your staff and your organisation for improper handling of potentially illegal internet content?
Yes: 57%
No: 43%
9) Have you heard of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
Yes: 21%
No: 79%
If yes, do you think IWF is a:
Public service hotline 8%
Industry watchdog 4%
Internet Safety organisation: 29%
Don’t know 42%
Misc 17%
10) How important do you think ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is to your organisation?
(That is; How important is it that your organisation is seen to act responsibly and in the interest of it’s employees, stakeholders, customers & clients, the wider environment etc)?
Very important: 86%
Quite important: 11.5%
Not very important: 0.8%
Don’t understand what it is: 1.7%
Overview
�� Acceptable Internet Use policies are widespread
�� Specific policies on child abuse images are fairly prevalent, but not as widespread
�� There is a substantial level of monitoring internet content by IT staff
�� There is some understanding around what constitutes an illegal image of a child, but lack of awareness around change in age (S.45)
�� Disciplinary action on finding potentially illegal images of children on company servers/desktops remains predominantly internal; at the discretion of the company, not the police
�� Extremely poor awareness of SOA 2003 although, somewhat confusingly, a fairly strong belief that the implications for improper handling of potentially illegal images are known and understood
�� Very poor awareness of IWF
�� The majority of participants who had heard of the IWF believed it to be an internet safety organisation
�� Very large percentage believe Corporate Social Responsibility to be ‘very important’ to their company
Conclusion
�� The majority of Senior IT Management personnel in the UK are aware of the need to have an Acceptable Internet Use policy in place, but some do not appear to believe it is as necessary to have specific policies and procedures in place to deal with child abuse images which might be found on their networks. This could be due to the fact that, until now, there have not been any clear guidelines on how to handle such images legitimately or perhaps because they feel an overall policy, in addition to internal filters, blocks, or restrictions on internet use, is enough to combat this type of misuse.
�� The majority are not up-to-date or familiar with the law around this type of illegal content and therefore the criminality attached to it is diminished. This is especially apparent looking at the numbers of participants in the survey who would report such an incident to the police – less than 30%. This may be due to the stigma attached to such content and the perceived potential risks of association, to the entire company; brand, reputation etc.
�� This research clearly demonstrates a lack of awareness and understanding around many issues of child abuse content online, including what constitutes potentially illegal images, what the relevant legislation is, whose responsibility it is to manage and oversee such content, how to handle such content, the penalties for inappropriate handling or condoning intentional viewing in the workplace and leaving it unreported.
�� The nature of such online content remains controversial, unpleasant and disagreeable to many. Whilst not reported in this survey, it is probably fair to conclude that no company wishes to have, or acknowledge, any association with such images in any shape or form. This can create barriers to effective communication and interaction regarding recommendations for appropriate company policies and procedures.
�� However, the majority of organisations do want to promote the fact or at least the perception, that they are responsible. That they are concerned about the impact their activities have on their staff, customers and the environment around them. Corporate Social Responsibility was regarding as ‘very important’ to 90% of survey participant companies.
�� Until now, there has been no specific reason (other than through IWF Member companies) for the IWF to communicate directly to this audience. No marketing or promotional efforts or campaigns have been assigned in order to convey general or focused information.
�� The release of the MoU is imminent and will provide clear guidelines for IT Managers, Systems Administrators, CIO’s, CTO’s etc to enable them to develop and implement appropriate internal procedures for handling this type of content. In addition to the LEA’s, the IWF is the named authority in place to accept reports of this nature.
�� If presented and used effectively, this research, with the backing of the Home Office, CPS, ACPO, IWF members and IWF partners, provides an excellent opportunity and leverage to:
- Promote & reiterate the precise role & remit of the IWF
- Position the IWF in relevant terms, for any organisation offering internet use to its employees
- Position the IWF alongside relevant Law Enforcement Agencies in the context of corporate commercial organisations
- Promote awareness & understanding of the SOA 2003 and the MoU
- Communicate to new audiences through the development of appropriate & tailored marketing & promotional materials
- Raise the profile of member companies and promote their CSR strategy through their association and support of the IWF. This could be via sponsorship for specific campaigns, events & materials
Recommendations
- Publication of research in relevant publications, Trade Publications in the main, but national press and similar, where appropriate.
If we are able to secure sponsorship for the next stages of the marketing campaign (see below), we hope to commission further research to revaluate the levels of awareness and establish how effective the marketing and promotions were.
Advertising in relevant publications- online and offline
Advertising is not something the IWF has previously indulged in due to budget restrictions.
It is usually very difficult to determine the effectiveness and success of an advert, but it does have the potential to reach a large audience.
We ran a full page advert in IT Week this week (27th Sept ’04) the same edition as the front page story about the research.
The advert was designed to be eye catching and to motivate people to find out more. It asks questions around the new legislation and lists an IWF email address in order to find out more. It features the Home Office, ACPO, CPS and ISPA logos. Disappointingly, no-one took up the sponsorship for this advert, however to move forward with the campaign, we used IWF Communications/Marketing budget to cover the associated costs. The advert reinforces the editorial and gives a sense of size, weight & importance to the IWF as an organisation. It’s certainly feasible to run more adverts or ‘advertorials’ in appropriate publications. For example, I was approached today by a company who produces the 200 page hard copy of the British Computer Society’s annual publication which is distributed to 10,000 working members in the private and public sector. This message is relevant to IT, Legal & HR personnel, as well as CEO’s, Directors and other senior decision makers. Publications directed at these professionals, as well as sector-focus journals and magazines suddenly have very relevant audiences. Fact Sheet/Reference Document for further information. This is currently under development and will bullet point the key facts for IT personnel relating to SOA 2003 and the MoU. Potentially, it will include references to other links, organisations and relevant reading, training opportunities and so on.
- Direct Marketing is an effective way of communicating to this audience following publication of such research.
I have designed a direct marketing plan which would distribute IWF branded merchandise to 2,500 Senior IT Professionals (the survey participants and 1,500 others – from the IT Week lists). This distribution will also include an actual copy of the MoU and an IWF leaflet.
I would like to be able to co-brand this merchandise and include an additional piece of literature/leaflet from a generous IWF member willing to sponsor this activity.
Further Press Releases from the research means we can make effective use of the raw data gathered and emphasize different messages to the same or different audiences.
Expanded presence through external partners and channels: online and offline
If all the IWF members & Board member companies featured the research press release on their website and promoted their support and membership of the IWF, this message would reach thousands more members of the general public and would also promote company responsibility.
If any IWF member or Board member company wished to promote their services or product as an effective tool in line with UK legislation around indecent images of children, co-branded IWF leaflets and packaging could be produced and distributed.
If anyone would like to discuss the research or any of the related marketing activities suggested further, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Fay MacDonald
Communications Co-ordinator, IWF
e: fay@iwf.org.uk
m: 07966 464 281
t: 01223 237 700
Page Created: Tue, November 2nd, 2004
Page Modified: Thu, November 4th, 2004
