Internet Watch Foundation

Ensuring the protection of children remains high on the international agenda was the overwhelming consensus at a summit which concluded in London today, Wednesday.

 

International law enforcement agencies from England and Wales, America, Australia, Canada, and Interpol met with representatives from professional bodies such as the Internet Watch Foundation and childrens’ charities to reinforce commitment to that aim.

Jim Gamble, National Crime Squad Assistant Chief Constable and Chair of the VGTF, said; “This summit has been a fantastic opportunity for us to bring together collective thinking with the common aim of protecting children. Around 20 delegates met to discuss the progress of the Virtual Global Task Force over the last six months, to share ideas and best practice, and develop a way forward to keep the issue high on the public agenda.

 

“We hope to have regular sessions to ensure this partnership continues to grow and develop. The Task Force is a key international weapon in the fight against online paedophile activity and we want to build on the launch of Operation Pin and develop new initiatives which disrupt this kind of activity and seriously undermine the confidence of those who think the internet is anonymous.

 

“We have come away from this summit with many news ideas to consider and progress to ensure that the fight against exploitation of children and the abuse of the internet is something at which we all work together to eliminate.

 

“Law enforcement agencies working with support groups, childrens’ charities and other organisations such as internet service providers, must continue to campaign for this issue to be high on the political agenda and ensure that funds are no obstacle in doing so. “We all need to keep thinking of new ways to tackle offenders and ensure that no-one profits from this evil trade.”

Yves Rolland, Interpol said; “Interpol supports all international initiatives focusing on reducing the distribution of images of children who have been sexually abused. This initiative has the added value of not only acting as a deterrent to dissuade people from searching images of children being abused, but providing law enforcement agencies with important information on who these individuals are. Interpol’s role is to ensure that countries unable to participate are provided with any information that partners to this initiative obtained which may lead to identification of individuals having a sexual interest in children. Interpol works very closely with all the partners involved in Operation PIN”.

Edward Gibson, Assistant Legal Attache, FBI, US Embassy, London, said; “The FBI supports all efforts to identify those people who use the internet to promote the violation of our children. The VGT is all about protecting our children.”

Dave Meadows, Assistant Attache, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE), stated; “ICE is pleased to participate in this global law enforcement partnership with the shared goal of protecting children who are victimised by predators using the internet. This international partnership is a perfect complement to our national initiative, Operation Predator, which brings to bear the broadest range of law enforcement authorities in the US government to target those who exploit children.”

Federal Agent Glen Fisher,Australian Hi- Tech Crime Centre added; “The Australian Hi- Tech Crime Centre and the Australian Federal Police recognise the need for Australian Law enforcement to work collaboratively to tackle cybercrime. It is critical that we put measures in place to deter individuals who use the internet to abuse children.”

Jennifer Strachan from The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said; “The RCMP acknowledges that reducing internet-based sexual exploitation of children will take a concerted, co-operative effort on the part of police agencies around the world. The RCMP’s commitment is not limited only to Operation PIN but also to the long-term strategy of the VGT.”

Organised by the National Crime Squad, the event followed the launch of the International Virtual Global Task Force in December 2003, aimed at targeting those who search for images of child abuse on the Internet.

 

Peter Robbins, CEO, Internet Watch Foundation said of the summit: "It is very encouraging to see international collaboration on such serious issues as internet crimes against children. It is very important that global resources and efforts are in place to tackle these problems and the IWF is delighted to contribute and be part of the Virtual Global Summit."

Operation Pin is a web-based crime reduction initiative that uses a website which purports to contain images of child abuse. Anyone choosing this site is led through a series of pages, whilst prompted continually to withdraw from the process. If they chose to continue they will ultimately be taken to a page informing them they have entered a law enforcement website; that their actions constitute an offence, and that their details have been captured.

 

One of the highlights of the summit was the discussion around international police agencies acting as 'virtual' moderators for chat rooms to prevent potential 'groomers' approaching children over the internet. Further details have yet to be released from the National Crime Squad.

 

You can see this story at:
Police will listen to Net Chats

For further information:
Please contact
Jackie Bennett
pager no. 07659 174030
press.office@ncs.police.uk.

 

The National Crime Squad is a ‘can-do’ investigative organisation which achieves continued and significant success in its attack on national and international serious and organised crime. Since 1998, it has seized drugs worth over £866 million, disrupted over 1,300 criminal networks and identified for confiscation through the courts over £139 million of convicted criminals’ illegally-gained assets. As well as predominantly focusing on drug trafficking, the Squad now also features organised human trafficking and hi-tech criminality amongst its top priorities. It works closely with police forces and many other agencies both in the UK and abroad in its mission to tackle the top tier of criminality and their networks.