Memorandum by the Internet Watch Foundation
(IWF)
The IWF was formed in 1996 following an agreement
between the government, police and the internet service provider
industry that a partnership approach was needed to tackle the
distribution of child abuse images online.
Essentially the IWF is an independent self-regulatory
organisation and the only non governmental body authorised to
operate a "hotline" in the UK for the public and IT
professionals to report their inadvertent exposure to illegal
content on the Internet. We provide a universal "notice and
take down" service to all content service providers in the
UK so they can remove potentially illegal content from their servers
and we work closely with law enforcement agencies at home and
abroad to help them trace offenders who publish indecent images
of children being abused online.
Our aim is to minimise the availability of potentially
illegal internet content, specifically:
— child abuse images hosted anywhere
in the world;
— criminally obscene content hosted
in the UK; and
— criminally racist content hosted
in the UK.
We work in partnership with UK Government Departments
such as the Home Office and the Department of Trade and Industry
to influence initiatives and programmes developed to combat online
abuse. This dialogue goes beyond the UK and Europe, to ensure
greater awareness of global issues and responsibilities.
We are funded by the EU, Internet Service Providers
(ISPs), Mobile Network Operators, mobile manufacturers, Content
Service Providers (CSPs), telecommunications and software companies,
search providers and the financial sector.
As a result of these dynamic partnerships just
0.4 per cent of potentially illegal content is apparently hosted
in the UK, down from 18 per cent in 1997.
As the number of people using the internet and
the diversity of content available continues to grow, the mechanisms
for dealing with illegal content must be better known and understood.
In partnership with many organisations, we strive
to create continued awareness of the role and purpose of the IWF
and aim to foster trust and reassurance in the internet for current
and future users.
COMMENTS ON
THE CONSULTATION
DOCUMENT PROPOSALS
It is beyond the remit of the Internet Watch
Foundation to comment on the specific topics addressed in the
proposal.
We would however wish to draw attention to the
IWF as an example of an industry funded model of self-regulation
that has successfully removed specific types of illegal content
from being hosted within the UK and limited access to such material
when sourced from foreign jurisdictions.
The IWF receives no funding from the UK government
and is fully supported by the UK internet industry. In the area
of child abuse content hosted on the internet, the partnership
with industry has helped to reduce the potentially illegal UK
hosted content from 18 per cent in 1997, the first year IWF was
operational, to 0.4 per cent in 2005. We believe that this represents
a significant success for the self-regulatory model.
September 2006
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