Record breaking 6 months for Internet Watch Foundation
Bi-annual figures released today show statistics and trends from the first 6 months of 2005
12,000 reports processed in the first half of 2005
34% increase on same period last year
3,300 ‘actionable’ reports
This is the equivalent to the whole of last year’s potentially illegal content reports, in just six months
Other highlights from the first six months of 2005 include:
- Double the amount of reports referring to child abuse images on the same period last year
- Less than 1% of potentially illegal content hosted in the UK
- A third of all reports resulted in relevant information being passed to foreign hotlines and law enforcement agencies around the world
- Evidence that inadvertent exposure to child abuse images was as a result of concealed links behind legitimate adult material
- Anonymous payment mechanisms overtaking credit cards as the preferred method for paying to view child abuse content online
- Continuing drift of child abuse content apparently hosted in Russia and the USA
- Increase in the use of bulletin boards to host child abuse content. 80% of child abuse content on bulletin boards was traced to two Japanese Content Service Provider’s
The reason for the increase in reports could be accredited to:
- Better awareness of the IWF and its role due to a new website, newsletters, events, additional partnerships and endorsements.
- A clear message of ‘Don’t Ignore it, Report it’ has been reiterated via IWF branded materials and information through a variety of channels.
- Specific promotions such as the recent ‘Wipe it Out’ awareness raising campaigns have contributed to an increase in understanding and a call to action to report child abuse images online.
- The Sexual Offences Act 2003 raised the age of a ‘child’ in the context of indecent images from 16 to 18 which has led to 3% more potentially, illegal images being actioned
- Investment in training, resources and development of specialist skills has enabled the hotline team to tackle new and challenging types of online content, formats and technologies.
Pay per View sites account for 53% of actionable reports. It has been estimated that child pornography on the internet is an industry worth approximately $20 billion a year.
Russia and the USA remain the two main countries which appear to be hosting Pay per View sites and account for 72% of all reports relating to PPV.
The majority of ‘free to view’ sites have been traced to ISP’s operating in Russia, the USA, Spain, Thailand, Japan and Korea.
Since it’s inception in 1996, the IWF has worked in partnership with the UK internet industry to reduce the availability of and risk of exposure to, illegal content online. The ongoing support of these organizations significantly contributes to the success of the IWF and its work.
Jessica Hendrie-Liaño, ISPA chair said:
"These latest IWF figures show clearly how the partnership between the UK Internet industry and the IWF is an effective model for ensuring that illegal content is removed from the internet."
Peter Robbins, IWF CEO
“The collaboration we have with relevant industry players in the UK allows us to maximise our effectiveness in protecting UK internet consumers from exposure to illegal content. We value those relationships and all our partnerships very highly, especially as we work together on future challenges around the continually evolving area of online content.”
Source: Newsday.com 15.9.4
Created: Mon, July 25th, 2005 | Last Modified: Fri, November 11th, 2005
