Internet Watch Foundation

IWF child abuse website database – BT project.

 

The UK Internet Industry founded the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in 1996.

 

The IWF is uniquely placed in that it is the only authorised organisation in the UK that provides an internet ‘Hotline’ for the public to report their exposure to potentially illegal images online e.g. child abuse images originating anywhere in the world and criminally racist and obscene content hosted in the UK.

 

After the IWF traces the child abuse content complained of it judges its potential illegality according to British law. If it is hosted in the UK then it issues a ‘notice and takedown’ to the UK CSP and advises the National Crime Squads Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT). If the content is hosted abroad then it passes that information to the relevant hotline in that country if one exists and in any event to the National Police Intelligence Service for onward transmission to Interpol.

 

One of the services the IWF offers its members is access to a database of child abuse website URLs so they can help protect children and the public from inadvertent exposure to abusive images of children online. These URLS are for websites which contain child abuse images and are collated from the reports we receive via our internet hotline.
(URL: Uniform Resource Locator or website name and coding).

 

As seen in our 2003 Annual Report, we add around 3,000 to 3,500 potentially illegal child abuse websites a year to this database.

Any UK internet user that knowingly visits any of the sites listed in the database would commit a criminal offence of ‘making’ (downloading) in the UK, irrespective of where the website is hosted in the world.

 

BT intends to install the database within their internet services, to protect their retail customers. This initiative is launched at a time when existing and emerging internet services & technologies are often believed to pose potential risks to internet users, because of the availability of certain types of content online.

 

Peter Robbins, CEO, IWF:
“We believe that everyone is entitled to an abuse free online environment. Our child abuse image database contains details of websites, which if knowingly accessed by UK consumers could lead to them committing criminal offences under UK law. By preventing access to that content, BT are protecting their services and their customers.”

 

S.1 (1) Protection of Children Act 1978 prohibits the “taking or making” of an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child. Making includes the situation where a person downloads an image from the internet, or otherwise creates an electronic copy of a file containing such a photograph or pseudo-photograph. To be an offence such “making” must be a deliberate and intentional act, with knowledge that the image made was, or was likely to be, an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child (R v Smith and Jayson, 7th March 2002)

 

S.46 Sexual Offences Act 2003 made an amendment to the POCA 1978 by creating a defence to a charge of “making”. A defence is available where a person “making” such a photograph or pseudo-photograph can prove that it was necessary to do so for the purposes of the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, or for the purposes of criminal proceedings. A person accidentally finding such an image also has a defence to that act of making.

 

 

Further information about the IWF
The IWF is a not for profit company and is governed by a Board. It is strongly supported by the Government and Police to minimise the availability of illegal content on the internet with particular reference to child abuse images originating anywhere in the world and criminally racist and obscene content hosted in the UK. The IWF supplies information about these websites to the National Criminal Intelligence Service as part of their role in the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) and to hotlines in other countries where they exist.

 

Every year it publishes an annual report of its activities. In its most recent report it drew attention to the fact that 55% of potentially illegal child abuse websites were hosted in the US and 23% in Russia. Less that 1% of potentially illegal content is now hosted in the UK, down from 18% in 1997.

 

The major part of financial support for the IWF comes from organisations commonly associated with the internet, such as ISP’s, Telco’s, content providers, mobile operators and manufacturers and other relevant organisations. The European Union and the Association for Payment Clearing Services also help fund our operation.

 

The IWF, in partnership with many other organisations, has an education and awareness role so that, as more and more people make more and more use of the internet, some of the problems of Internet use - particularly the risks to children - and the mechanisms for dealing with these problems are better known and understood.

 

For more information contact:

Fay MacDonald
Communications Co-ordinator
Internet Watch Foundation
fay@iwf.org.uk
Tel: 01223 237700