Published: Thu 11 Apr 2013
100,000 child sexual abuse webpages have been actioned thanks to the work of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
And in the past two years 12 children have been rescued from their abusers as a direct result of IWF actions.
The charity was formed in 1996 with the aim of eliminating online child sexual abuse content.
Four in five child victims in online content appear to be 10 years old and under*;
Most of the content dealt with by the IWF (53%) is the worst on the scale, showing the rape and sexual torture of the child victim**.
In 1996, before the IWF was formed, the UK hosted around 18% of the known child sexual abuse content. Since 2003, the IWF, working with the online industry, has reduced this to less than 1%.
54% is hosted in North America and 37% in Europe and Russia***.
The IWF is the UK Hotline for anyone to report this content.IWF analysts assess each report made to the Hotline against UK law. If a webpage contains child sexual abuse content, it is traced to determine the country hosting the content.
If it’s hosted in the UK, the IWF issues a notice to the hosting provider who then removes the content, typically within one hour.
If it’s hosted abroad, the details are sent to the corresponding Hotline in the host country, via INHOPE (the Association of Internet Hotlines). If no such Hotline exists in that country, the IWF works with the relevant police service in order to get the content removed.
Susie Hargreaves, IWF CEO, said: “Taking action against 100,000 webpages hosting child sexual abuse content requires the skills and dedication of many individuals and organisations.
“More than 100 organisations actively support the IWF’s work and vision and act quickly to remove some of the worst types of abuse online.We’re grateful for this support, because without it, our work would be more difficult and removing content would take more time.
“I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this mammoth effort.”
On Thursday (11 April) the IWF holds a Brussels conference on the global fight against online child sexual abuse content. It is hosted by MEP Emma McClarkin, supported by Facebook and presented by TV’s Kate Russell,technology reporter and author.
Ends
Notes to editors:
The IWF is a charity and a UK self-regulatory body.
Contact: Emma Lowther, IWF Director of Communications on +44 (0) 1223 203030 or +44 (0) 7929 553 679.
*Figures published in the 2012 IWF Annual and Charity Report state 81% of child victims appear to be 10 years old and under.
**Figures published in the 2012 IWF Annual and Charity Report state 53% of all the child sexual abuse URLs depicted sexual activity between adult and children including the rape and sexual torture of the children.
***Figures published in the 2012 Annual and Charity Report:The number of confirmed child sexual abuse URLs according to host location (continent):
54% North America; 37% Europe inc Russia; 8% Asia; less than1% for South America, and Africa.
About the Internet Watch Foundation
The IWF was established in 1996 by the internet industry to provide the UK internet Hotline for the public and IT professionals to report criminal online content in a secure and confidential way. The Hotline service can be used anonymously to report content within our remit:
child sexual abuse content hosted anywhere in the world;
criminally obscene adult content hosted in the UK;
non-photographic child sexual abuse images hosted in the UK.
For more information please visit www.iwf.org.uk.
Local MP Ian Sollom learned about the herculean task faced by analysts at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) who find, assess and remove child sexual abuse material on the internet.
