Internet Watch Foundation

We are delighted to announce that the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a finalist in the 2007 National Business Awards, nominated in the Better Regulation Award category.

 

As a finalist of this award the IWF has been subject to scrutiny by a team of business experts. These judges will present the award to the organisation that can best demonstrate how it has improved, amended or simplified statutory regulation or process in order to create a more effective and efficient operating environment for UK business.

 

Other finalists in the Better Regulation Award category include: The Pensions Regulator; Defra; the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; Export Control Organisation (ECO); Forestry Commission Wales and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

 

Sarah Robertson, IWF Communications, said "We are extremely pleased that the IWF’s successful self-regulatory approach has been recognised in this way. Our effective partnership with industry is seen as a model of best practice around the world and we look forward to the next stages of the judging process."

 

William Sargent, Executive Chair, Better Regulation Executive, said: “Congratulations for being short listed for the first Better Regulation Award. I'm delighted to have had such a high standard of entries and would like to wish them all good luck for the next round of judging”.

 

The winners of the Award categories will be announced at an Awards Ceremony and Gala dinner taking place at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London on Tuesday 13^th November 2007.

 

The National Business Awards is a leading programme in recognising excellence in business achievement, innovation and success in the UK.  The Better Regulation Award is sponsored by The Better Regulation Executive, part of the Cabinet Office, which works across government to support and challenge departments and regulators as they reduce and remove regulation across the private, public and voluntary sectors. The Better Regulation Executive also plays an active role in promoting the better regulation agenda in Europe.

 

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The IWF is the only recognised organisation in the UK operating an internet ‘Hotline’ for the public and IT professionals to report their exposure to potentially illegal content online.

 

Our aim is to minimise the availability of potentially illegal internet content, specifically:

We work in partnership with UK Government departments such as the Home Office and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 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 and the online industry. This includes internet service providers, 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 is apparently hosted in the UK, down from 18% in 1997.

  

Please note that the terms "child pornography" or "child porn" can act 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 further information contact IWF Communications on telephone 01223 237700 or email media@iwf.org.uk

 

www.iwf.org.uk

 

The aim of The National Business Awards is to reward and recognise excellence, best practice and innovation throughout the UK business community. Judges will be looking for evidence of three key guiding principles in all categories: commercial success, innovation in performance improvement, and ethics in respect of legislation, regulation, the environment and the rights of all stakeholders.

 

In association with The Daily Telegraph, The National Business Awards is becoming the most visible and sought-after endorsement of corporate and individual achievement in the UK.

 

The National Business Awards attract intense interest reflecting the fact that the programme is the first of its kind to cater for all business sector categories and organisations of all sizes, from the achievements of new ventures to FTSE100s.

 

For further information about The National Business Awards contact Head of Public Relations, Lee Robertson, telephone 020 7234 8722, email lrobertson@cmpi.biz.

 

www.nationalbusinessawards.co.uk