IWF in Parliament - increased awareness of issues
Below are some of the questions currently being raised in Parliament. We believe such questions reinforce the role and remit of the IWF and the importance of the work we do, as well as continuing to highlight the issues we have been presenting to Government.
Such issues and questions at this level reiterate the significance of this debate, nationally and internationally.
5th March 2004
Commons Written Questions
Ms Debra Shipley (Stourbridge)
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance he has issued to the (a) police and (b) Crown Prosecution Service on the investigation of individuals suspected of (i) making and (ii) possessing illegal images of children.
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of individuals suspected of (a) making and (b) possessing internet child pornography due to investigations carried out under Operation Ore have been (i) cautioned, (ii) prosecuted and (iii) convicted.
4th March 2004
Commons Written Questions
Ms Debra Shipley (Stourbridge)
Commons Written Questions
Ms Debra Shipley (Stourbridge)
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make a statement on plans to establish regional centres dedicated to high technology investigation of on-line child abuse.
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance he gives to chief constables on the secondment of police officers who specialise in (a) internet and (b) non internet child abuse to other types of police activity.
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will list the police forces in England and Wales which do not specialise in combating internet child abuse.
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has undertaken with his US counterparts on increasing US detection of internet child pornography crime.
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what percentage of internet child pornography detected in the UK has been hosted on websites in the USA.
- To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make a statement on the training that police who are not part of specialist units receive on how on-line paedophiles operate.
2nd March 2004
Lords Written Questions
Lords Written Questions
The Lord Hylton
- To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking in conjunction with internet service providers to limit access to child pornography.
- To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress is being made in investigating and prosecuting internet child pornography; how many persons have been (a) charged; and (b) convicted, as a result of the police "Operation Ore"; and how many more they expect will be prosecuted in the coming 12 months.
- To ask Her Majesty's Government what correlations they have found between individuals with access to child pornography and offences of sexual abuse of children, whether in the United Kingdom or overseas.
1st March 2004
Lords Written Questions
Answers published
Lords Written Questions
Answers published
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Asked Her Majesty's Government whether Ofcom has been given any statutory duties or powers under the Communications Act 2003 to receive or act upon complaints about pornographic and paedophilic images shown on the internet.
Lord Sainsbury of Turville
Ofcom has no direct duties or powers to receive or act on complaints about images of child abuse or other pornographic images shown on the Internet. However, Ofcom has responsibility for approving the industry code for premium rate services, which is administered and enforced by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS).
Ofcom also has the power to enforce breaches of the approved code by imposing fines or ultimately suspending the right to provide services.
Ofcom has no direct duties or powers to receive or act on complaints about images of child abuse or other pornographic images shown on the Internet. However, Ofcom has responsibility for approving the industry code for premium rate services, which is administered and enforced by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS).
Ofcom also has the power to enforce breaches of the approved code by imposing fines or ultimately suspending the right to provide services.
The Government believe that co- and self-regulation are more appropriate than statutory regulation of content specific to the Internet. We support the role of the Internet Watch Foundation, which was established by the Internet industry in consultation with the Government.
The Internet Watch Foundation works in partnership with Internet service providers, telecommunications companies, mobile operators, software providers, police and Government, to minimise the availability of illegal Internet content, particularly child abuse images.
Their Internet hotline deals with reports of potentially illegal Internet content, such as websites, newsgroups and online groups that contain images of child abuse anywhere in the world; adult material that potentially breaches the Obscene Publications Act in the UK; and criminally racist material in the UK.
One measure of the success of this self-regulatory approach is that less than 2 per cent of the illegal content reported to the IWF relates to material hosted in the UK.
Created: Fri, March 5th, 2004 | Last Modified: Thu, September 30th, 2004
