Internet Watch Foundation

 

Baroness Howe of Idlicote asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they are satisfied that the present non-statutory Internet Watch arrangements are sufficient to deal with the trade in pornographic and paedophilic images; and, if not, what further action they intend to take.

 

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is an industry-funded body which allows anyone to report the presence of images of child abuse anywhere in the world. The foundation determine whether the reported website carries potentially illegal material, and pass details of illegal material to the relevant law enforcement agencies to initiate action against the originators. Where the site is hosted within the UK, law enforcement will seek its removal with the relevant Internet service provider (ISP) and this procedure has been extremely successful in practice.

 

The IWF is providing an invaluable service dealing with 21,341 reports in 2002, 9,602 of which contained potentially illegal content: it is significant that in 2002 only 2 per cent of sites reported to the IWF that contained indecent photographs of children were hosted within the UK, the bulk being hosted in the USA, Russia, and some other European states. In respect of adult pornography, we are confident in the ability of the IWF to identify material that is potentially in breach of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 in response to complaints, and to refer to the police any which is hosted within the UK. 

 

 Source: Hansard 23.2.4