Role and Remit
Remit
To minimise the availability of potentially illegal internet content specifically;
- images of child sexual abuse* hosted anywhere in the world
- criminally obscene content hosted in the UK
- incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK
If your query relates to an issue outside the three points in IWF's remit please click here.
Role
To foster trust and confidence in the Internet among current and future fixed and mobile internet users by:
- Operating a hotline to enable the public to report instances of potentially illegal child sexual abuse images hosted anywhere in the world and criminally obscene and incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK, for example via websites, newsgroups, mobile services or other on-line services.
- promoting wider education and awareness of its functions and role and those of other key players such as government departments, law enforcement and consumer bodies.
To assist service providers to combat the abuse of their systems for the dissemination of criminal content by:
- Operating a 'notice and take-down' service to alert hosting service providers of criminal content found on their servers.
- Recommending that internet service providers should not carry certain newsgroups in accordance with policy guidelines adopted by the IWF Board.
- Acting as a relevant authority in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding concerning Section 46 Sexual Offences Act 2003.
To assist law enforcement in the fight against criminal content on the Internet by;
- Combating the dissemination on the Internet of potentially illegal content i.e. sexually abusive images of children and criminally obscene and incitement to racial hatred content.
- Passing details of reports relating to potentially illegal child sexual abuse images hosted on servers outside the UK to the relevant national hotline or appropriate UK law enforcement agency.
- Working closely with the police, lending its expertise to help trace the individuals responsible for such criminal activity online.
*Please note the IWF use the term child sexual abuse images to accurately reflect the gravity of the images we deal with. They are also commonly referred to as: Child Pornography, Child Porn, Child Porno and Kiddie Porn. If you see such images online please report them.
Page Created: Fri, September 10th, 2004
Page Modified: Tue, July 10th, 2007
