Internet Watch Foundation

The IWF started with just 6 members in 1997 and in 2008 had over 90 members.

 

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IWF Chief Executive, Peter Robbins QPM, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Years Honours list for services to children and families.

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The IWF provided evidence for a UK prosecution which resulted in the offender being sentenced to 33 months imprisonment in January 2008 for distributing indecent images of children, by posting them on a website.

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IWF Chief Executive, Peter Robbins OBE, QPM, was awarded the 2008 ISPA Internet Hero award.

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IWF’s 2007 Annual Report was successfully launched on 17 April 2008 and resulted in over 300 pieces of TV, radio, newspaper and online coverage, both nationally and internationally, highlighting our key trends and recommendations.
 
The Report was also presented during a reception at the European Parliament in Brussels in April 2008, kindly hosted by Jonathan Evans MEP, to an audience of Members of the European Parliament (MEP), representatives of the European Commission and other relevant international specialists.

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Our ‘Hotline’ systems, assessment, security and processes were independently audited and IWF was found to be compliant with best practice standards.

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IWF was awarded a 15 month EU grant from the Safer Internet Plus programme for the continuing provision of a public ‘Hotline’, awareness raising work, contributing to INHOPE partnerships and the sharing of good practice.

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We were awarded the 2008 Nominet Best Practice Challenge award for raising industry standards. Click here for more information

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IWF Chief Executive, Peter Robbins OBE, QPM accepted an invitation, on behalf of the IWF, to take a seat on the Executive Board of the new UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS). UKCCIS is a key recommendation by Dr Tanya Byron in her independent review into the risks to children from exposure to potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games.

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The IWF was shortlisted for the British Computer Society’s IT Awards 2008.

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Following a comprehensive surveillance audit, we were pleased to announce that the IWF has been certified as ISO27001 compliant for another year. The ISO27001 standard is designed to help establish and maintain an effective information management system, using a continual improvement approach.

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This was a significant month for the IWF as we held our second Awareness Day on 24 October.
 
The aim of IWF Awareness Day is to reach out to the UK’s vast online population to publicise the existence of the IWF’s internet hotline so all UK internet users know what to do if they inadvertently stumble across online images of child sexual abuse and let them know that IWF is dedicated to getting potentially illegal online content removed.
 
To help raise awareness of the IWF national reporting service, 47 major online brands, 6 government departments, law enforcement and charities joined forces to publicise the IWF 'Hotline' on 24 October. The IWF underlined the importance of its Awareness Day with the release of new research indicating that over three quarters of UK adult internet users who have stumbled across online child sexual abuse content are unsure how to report it. In addition, 71% of those surveyed ranked the availability of this content as their top concern about the internet.
 
To promote parliamentary recognition of IWF’s work and Awareness Day, an Early Day Motion (EDM) was kindly tabled by the Rt. Hon. Alun Michael MP and Ian Taylor MP inviting parliamentary support for the IWF’s work and stakeholders. The EDM received almost 60 signatures, confirming cross-party support for the IWF.
 
We are grateful to all the organisations and individuals who supported our Awareness Day. Their efforts led to a big increase in IWF website visitors and a similar increase in reports to our Hotline from those concerned they had stumbled across potentially illegal online content.

 

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The IWF started with just 6 members in 1997 and in 2007 had over 80 members.

 

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IWF celebrated the first IWF Awareness Day on 24 October which resulted in nearly 300 pieces of media coverage, including 70 radio and TV broadcast features and a 320% increase in visitors to the website on the day of IWF Awareness Day and the day after.

 

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The IWF received a Nominet’s Best Practice Challenge Special Award for multi-stakeholder cooperation for their exemplary co-operative approach involving industry, charities, police and Government and the outcomes achieved.

 

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Following a very comprehensive inspection the IWF were ISO27001 accredited in September. The ISO27001 standard is designed to help establish and maintain an effective information management system, using a continual improvement approach. It implements organisation for economic cooperation and development (OECD) principles, governing security of information and network systems.

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The IWF was a finalist in the 2007 National Business Awards, Better Regulation category, a leading programme in recognising excellence in business achievement, innovation and success in the UK.

 

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IWF’s Ten Year Anniversary Campaign was a finalist in the Marketing Society Awards for Excellence 2007, nominated in the Marketing A Cause (Not For Profit) category.

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IWF Hotline Manager was elected as Vice President of INHOPE, the association of Hotline providers.

 

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IWF addressed numerous national and international audiences on combating online child sexual abuse content.

 

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IWF’s model of self regulation and notice and take-down service is seen as best practice in many countries.

 

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IWF carried out five specific campaigns including a library campaign; a police campaign; an IT professionals campaign; IWF Awareness Day; and ended the Ten Year Anniversary Campaign with conferences in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. 

 

14,313 reports processed by the IWF in first 6 months

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IWF reveals 10 year statistics on child abuse content online

 

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IWF holds ten year anniversary conferences around the country. Nearly 1000 delegates attend the events and hundreds of media articles are generated as a result

 

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25 Hotlines now operating around the world

 

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NCMEC, the US Hotline, announces plans to emulate IWF mechanisms by facilitating the blocking of websites containing child abuse content in order minimise the continual re-victimisation of the child victims featured on these websites 

 

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In 1997, the first year the IWF came into operation, 18% of the potentially illegal content assessed by the IWF - almost exclusively child abuse images - was hosted in the UK. At the end of 2005, that figure was just 0.4%.

 

The reasons for that success are:

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The skilled assessment work of the IWF Internet Content Analysts who receive reports via the internet hotline, has contributed to several police investigations and arrests.

 

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Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker MP, visits IWF

 

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IWF in first global 'blogathon' for Safer Internet Day

 

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The IWF started with just 6 members in 1997 and in 2006 has over 70 members.

 

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Roger Darlington, former IWF Chair, is a finalist for the ISPA award for Internet Hero

 

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IWF addresses international Forum on blocking child abuse content online

 

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23,658 reports processed by the IWF

 

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Internet Watch Foundation hosts a visit for Home Office and DTI Officials

 

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Reports processed by IWF reach 100,000

 

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IWF hosts an Achievements & Champions Online lunch reception in the House of Commons. Over 100 attend

 

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Week long IWF Corridor Exhibition held in the House of Commons, sponsored by Minister Mike O’Brien and Brian White MP

 

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IWF launches the Wipe it Out campaign aimed at IT professionals. The ‘Wipe it Out’ campaign was designed to measure and raise awareness of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) 2003 and the role of the IWF

 

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IWF Operations Manager elected to Vice-President of INHOPE

 

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64 Members

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The BT 'Cleanfeed' intiative  is launched in June 2004. The project has been developed to prevent BT's UK internet retail customers from accessing websites containing illegal images of child abuse, accidentally or deliberately.

 

BT only blocks access to URLs listed in the IWF database. These URLs have been confirmed as online areas containing indecent images of children which would be illegal to view in the UK.

 

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Peter Robbins, CEO, IWF is a member of the Home Office Task Force for the Protection of Children on the Internet. IWF Management team are members of several of the sub-groups of this Task Force.

 

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The Sex Offences Act 2003 came into force in May 2004 and includes the IWF as the only named relevant authority outside of UK Law Enforcement Agencies, able to receive and assess potentially illegal images.

 

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The Internet Watch Foundation worked with all the UK Mobile Operators on safety and responsibility issues over the future development of 3rd generation mobile services to develop a 'Code of Practice' recommendations and guidelines for dealing with mobile content services, which was finalised in January 2004.

 

The IWF provides the same notice and take down procedures for mobile services as we advocate and promote for child abuse and illegal images downloaded via PC’s.

 

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53 members

 

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19,553 reports processed by the IWF

 

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At a special event in June 2003, chaired by Debra Shipley MP, the Association of Payment Clearing Services, formed a new alliance with the IWF and discussed developing initiatives designed to condemn the use of card payment services for the acquisition or transmission of illegal child abuse images over the internet.

 

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36 Members

 

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17,868 reports processed by the IWF

 

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22 members

 

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11,357 reports processed by the IWF

 

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On behalf of the Home Office and the Internet Crime Forum, IWF hosts a major conference on the dangers to children using chat rooms

 

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At the Annual Dinner of the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA), the IWF wins the award for the most “Positive Contribution to the Internet Industry”

 

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At a conference on telecommunications regulation organised by BT, the IWF wins the award for “the organisation or government department which has implemented regulation in the best interest of the consumer”

 

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16 members

 

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8,942 reports processed by the IWF.

Of those reports, websites judged to be potentially illegal and hosted in the UK decreased by 75% on the previous year

 

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11 Members

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4,297 reports processed the IWF

 

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IWF is one of the founding organisations of the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) which promotes the self-labeling of websites

 

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IWF is one of the founding organisations of INHOPE, the association of hotlines throughout Europe

 

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9 Members

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1,991 reports processed by the IWF

 

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Online reporting is introduced

 

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7 members

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1,291 reports processed by the IWF

 

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The Internet Watch Foundation is launched