Internet Watch Foundation

Following recent news items on Operation Ore it was noted that individuals convicted of paying to download images of child sex abuse were continuing to offend and again using their credit cards to pay to view these commercial websites.

 

Daily Telegraph Article

 

The IWF and the UK Banking Industry, assisted by the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) agreed a joint venture in June 2003 to tackle the growing problem of commercial websites that sell abusive images of children.

 

APACS is the umbrella body at the heart of the UK payments industry. It provides a forum for banks and building societies to discuss non-competitive issues relating to money transmission.

 

The uncovering of a pay per view website in the US where child abuse images could be purchased by credit card led to Operation Ore in the UK. This operation revealed that somewhere in the range of 7000 UK individuals were suspected of using their credit cards to buy indecent images of children and as a consequence many arrests have been made.

 

Discussions between the police, children's charities and the IWF led to the UK Banking industry reinforcing its condemnation of any use of its card payment services for illegal purposes and so it joined forces with the IWF in 2003 in a partnership, together with the police, to find methods to thwart such activity.

 

This innovative initiative is designed to disrupt the acquisition or transmission of illegal child images over the internet. Information provided by the public to the IWF about the availability of potentially illegal material being offered for payment on websites will be passed to the card schemes. The card schemes will then promptly advise the merchant's acquiring bank who will look to terminate its agreement with the merchant as well as reporting the merchant directly to the police.

 

This special scheme commenced on 1st July following a launch event hosted by Debra Shipley MP and attended by many representatives from financial institutions, charities, law enforcement, government, mobile and internet industries. Ministers from the Home Office and DTI also attended and spoke positively about the initiative.

 

Ms Shipley said, “This is an excellent example of how organisations working together can significantly impact on the commercial trading of abusive images of children around the world”

 

The National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) has a close working relationship with the IWF and Banking Industry and supports this initiative.