Internet Watch Foundation

 

This is my 20th consecutive IWF quarterly Board meeting. 2005 will be my sixth and last year as independent chair of the organisation and, at the appropriate time, the Board will need to consider the succession issue.

 

 

As usual, in the course of the last quarter, I have kept in close contact with Peter through e-mails and meetings and made one of my regular visits to the office at Oakington.

 

 

As usual, I chaired a meeting of the Executive Committee to review matters and prepare for this Board meeting. For the past two meetings, Hamish MacLeod has stood in for Mark Gracey as the industry representative, as Mark builds up to his normal workload following a period of illness.

 

Somewhat later than I had originally intended, I have now started the process of meeting each Board meeting for a personal chat on their role and the Board more generally. This will be completed before the January Board meeting.

 

Meanwhile three Board members – Sonia Livingston, Jim Reynolds and Howard Lamb – are nearing the end of their initial term of appointment (1 January 2001 - 31 December 2004).

 

The IWF constitution states that: “The decision on whether to offer a non-industry Board member a further term of office will be taken by the Chair and the two Vice-Chairs”. Therefore I am now in consultation with the Vice-Chairs on the position of Sonia and Jim and hope to be in a position to report to the forthcoming Board meeting.

 

Since my last report, I have attended a Conservative Party Forum on the Internet addressed by Michael Howard, an Ofcom media literacy seminar when I chaired the open discussion, the launch of Sonia Livingstone’s report on children’s use of the Internet, and a conference on mobile & Internet safety addressed by Peter.

 

Also I had a meeting with Richard Collins, professor of media studies at the Open University.

 

In the next few days, I expect to attend a conference organised by the Oxford Internet Institute on ‘Internet Security, Technology And Governance’.

 

Following consultation with Board colleagues on a draft, I forwarded a submission to the Select Committee on Culture, Media & Sports addressing issues of Internet regulation in the context of the Committee’s inquiry into the BBC Charter renewal process.

 

 

 

ROGER DARLINGTON

4 October 2004