Internet Watch Foundation

22 September 2008: Optenet, a global IT security company and a provider of intelligent, integrated content security solutions, has become a member of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), joining over 80 member companies from a variety of organisations in their battle against illegal content online. With its web filtering expertise, Optenet aims to support the IWF’s efforts to eliminate illegal internet content, specifically, child sexual abuse images hosted anywhere in the world, as well as criminally obscene content and incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK.

 

The IWF works in partnership with the online industry, including companies like Optenet, and with the UK Government to influence initiatives developed to combat online abuse. This dialogue goes beyond the UK and Europe to ensure greater awareness of global issues, trends and responsibilities. They work internationally with relevant authorities and organisations to encourage wider adoption of good practice in combating online child sexual abuse content and to promote inclusive and united global responses to this dynamic, cross-border criminality.

Peter Robbins OBE, QPM, Chief Executive, IWF said: “We are delighted to welcome Optenet as a member of the IWF. The dedicated support and efforts of our members have enabled our effective self-regulatory approach to be recognised as a model of good practice in combating illegal online content, particularly, minimising the availability of child sexual abuse content hosted on UK networks and worldwide. In partnership, we work to foster trust and reassurance in the internet for current and future users and look forward to working with Optenet.”

Ana Luisa Rotta Soares, European Projects Director, Optenet said: “Optenet was founded on the belief that filtering illegal content online can create a safer internet environment and that the technology community shares the responsibility of protecting the internet for all users. The IWF has made great strides toward raising the profile of online protection and fighting against online content abuses, and we are thrilled to add our support to these efforts and to make a contribution to the ongoing success of the IWF and the eradication of illegal content.”

Since its founding in 1997, Optenet has been firmly committed to eliminating the digital divide through effective education and safe usage of the internet, especially for children. For this reason, Optenet has helped create a number of child safety initiatives, including Securenet, a European network of child sexual abuse hotlines, as well as NetProtect II, Sift and Infonet, programs that aid in the production of filtering and online classification systems. All of these efforts have been endorsed by the European Commission’s Safer Internet Program. In addition, Optenet’s latest project, Selecta, uses language analysis techniques and tools to automatically classify internet content.

Optenet is also affiliated with NGO Protégeles and the International Association of Internet Hotlines, INHOPE.

 

- ends-

About Optenet
Optenet provides intelligent, integrated content security solutions to service providers and large enterprises. Optenet’s technology protects 75 million end users worldwide, including the customers of many of the world’s leading ISPs and mobile operators, including Orange, O2 and Telefonica, as well as global enterprise organisations such as McDonalds, Daimler AG and Hilton. For more information, visit www.optenet.com.

About the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
The IWF is the only recognised organisation in the UK operating an internet ‘Hotline’ for the public and IT professionals to report their inadvertent exposure to potentially illegal content online. Our aim is to minimise the availability of potentially illegal content, specifically: child sexual abuse images hosted anywhere in the world; criminally obscene content hosted in the UK; incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK.

 

We are a self-regulatory body, funded by the EU and the wider online industry. This includes internet service providers (ISPs) mobile operators and manufacturers, content service providers, telecommunications and filtering companies, search providers and the financial sector as well as blue-chip and other organisations who support us for corporate social responsibility reasons.

Through the ‘Hotline’ reporting system, we help ISPs to combat abuse of their services through a ‘notice and take-down’ service by alerting them to any potentially illegal content within our remit on their systems and simultaneously inviting the police to investigate the publisher.

 

As a result, less than 1% of potentially illegal content has apparently been hosted in the UK since 2003, down from 18% in 1997.

Please note that "child pornography", "child porn" or "kiddie porn" are not acceptable terms. The use of such language acts to legitimise images which are not pornography, rather, they are permanent records of children being sexually abused and as such should be referred to as child sexual abuse images.

 

For more information visit www.iwf.org.uk