Internet Watch Foundation

 

The British public has declared unflinching support for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the fight to eliminate the scourge of child pornography on the web.

 

New independent research from StreamShield Networks, one of the World’s leading Internet content security companies, reveals that 89% would support ISPs if they were to track the visits made to child abuse and paedophilic internet websites. In addition, an overwhelming 93% say they would back ISPs passing that data on to police to enable them to identify those who visit such sites.

 

 “The freedoms offered by the Internet should never extend to protecting those who derive pleasure from harming the most innocent section of our society,” comments Simon Gawne, CEO of StreamShield. “The British public recognises this and is united in its support for service providers that tackle this plague head-on. Our research demonstrates that the public firmly believe that those who access websites of a paedophilic nature should not be able to seek refuge behind claims of privacy violation.”

 

The study also shows that 90% of the country’s adult population would support the voluntary blocking by ISPs of access to child abuse and paedophilic web sites, and 89% said they would support the official monitoring of the content of such sites.

 

The first UK initiative designed to block access to child abuse websites was announced in June 2004 by BT. Their ‘cleanfeed’ project prevented BT Retail customers from accessing a list of sites containing illegal images of children which was provided by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).

The IWF is the only authorised organisation in the UK which provides an internet ‘hotline’ for the public to report their exposure to illegal content online and is funded by the UK internet industry & the EU. The IWF works in partnership with ISPs, CSP’s, mobile operators, software & hardware providers, the Police & Government to combat the availability of child abuse images on the web.

 

The IWF database is made up of URLs containing potentially illegal child abuse images which are identified by trained analysts following reports from the public via the internet hotline. The sites are assessed according to UK law, specifically the Protection of Children Act 1978. Any URL added to the database would contain potentially illegal child abuse content that would amount to an offence to download (‘make’) in the UK.

All IWF subscribing members are entitled to free access to the database subject to a legally binding contract. For a list of these members, please click here.

 

To read about other IWF members who have utilised the IWF database see the Media/News section on our website.

 

Streamshield became an IWF member in January 2005.

 

Peter Robbins, CEO, IWF said:
 “We believe that everyone is entitled to an abuse free online environment. Our child abuse image database contains details of websites, which if seen or accessed by UK consumers could lead to them committing criminal offences under UK law. By preventing access to that content, ISPs and other IWF members can protect their services and their customers.

We have an extremely supportive ISP industry in the UK, which advocates the work of the IWF & other initiatives developed to combat illegal images online. The UK remains a leader in self-regulation on the net and we continue to work in partnership for a safer internet.”

 

The research, commissioned by StreamShield and carried out by MORI, is particularly significant as children’s charity, NCH, identified earlier this month that the number of people cautioned or charged over internet child pornography offences has quadrupled between 2001 and 2003 to a record 2,234 cases - causing the organisation to state that, “…child pornography on the Internet is a modern curse and ISPs have a critical part to play in stamping it out.”

 

Gawne concludes: "One way or another, access to child porn on the net should end now. Our own data indicates that it would cost the UK ISP community less than 50p per child to block access to these sites. This research clearly indicates that the public want a clean and safe internet."