Internet Watch Foundation

Since its formation in late 1996, the IWF has run a 'notice and takedown' procedure in relation to individual items judged to be illegal and found to be hosted on a UK server, usually child pornography and usually in a newsgroup. This arrangement has worked very well indeed: over 40,000 items of child pornography have been removed and no UK Internet service provider has been prosecuted. However, the Board has now decided to tighten the net in two important respects.

 

First, we will now recommend to all UK ISPs that they do not carry newsgroups which IWF identifies as regularly hosting child pornography. We will use statistics from our own monitoring to identify the groups that fall into this category. Essentially we are saying that, if we find a newsgroup contains any illegal images on a series of occasions, then that newsgroup should not be carried. We are taking this stance because we now know that a small proportion of newsgroups - something like 30 out of around 40,000 - account for almost all the images of child abuse. Asking all ISPs to come into line with the good practice of IWF's subscribers is another big step in reducing the availability of such material on the UK Internet to a minimal level.

 

Second, we will now recommend to all UK ISPs that they do not carry newsgroups which have names that appear to advertise or advocate paedophile content or activity. We will select such groups carefully on the basis of thorough monitoring, reports from the public, and advice from expert groups including law enforcement agencies. Essentially, however, the groups to be effected will be those that have names that suggest they are concerned both with children under 16 and with sexual activity. Many ISPs already refuse to carry such groups, but this IWF operation will enable a more consistent and thorough approach to be adopted by the ISP community as a whole.

 

IWF Chief Executive David Kerr comments: "We will now have three ways to limit the availability of paedophile material in newsgroups: issuing take-down notices for removal of specific illegal images; identifying and recommending removal of groups which regularly host child pornography and groups whose names appear to condone paedophilia. This triple approach will make a major contribution to driving such material off the UK Internet and provide the best possible protection for children".