By Stevie Smith Oct 24, 2007, 13:02 GMT
Internet giants such as America Online (AOL), MSN, Tiscali, and Yahoo! have banded together this week to boost publicity and exposure related to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and its new phone hotline designed to help cut down the proliferation of child pornography.
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) receives exposure boost from Internet giants AOL, Tiscali, Yahoo and MSN. Credit: IWF.
The IWF’s collection of well-muscled Internet business partners will host specific advertisements through their Web sites and e-mail applications, while the hotline itself will give the police and Internet service providers a valuable "notice and take-down" service for those instances where child pornography is discovered.
According to the Internet Watch Foundation, some 12.5 million UK residents have come into contact with child-based pornography through the Internet. IWF chief executive Peter Robbins has also said that related subject matter involved with such online media is becoming more severe, with examples of rape and bestiality seen to be on the increase.
"Our analysts witness the results of terrible sexual abuse being inflicted on very young children around the world and then circulated online," commented Mr. Robbins in a BBC news article. "With the help of the online industry, the 28 hotlines we work with around the world and our law enforcement colleagues, the public can help us to remove these websites and end the abuse that is perpetuated every time the images are viewed."
The charity has also said that, in 2007 alone, it has passed on details related to around 2,100 online destinations guilty of hosting examples of sexual abuse on their pages, but that public awareness, industry and police collaboration (such as the enhanced hotline exposure), and quick response times have all contributed to only 1 percent of online child pornography being hosting in the UK – a figure which was 18 percent a decade ago.
Founded in 1996, the non-profit Internet Watch Foundation delivers a Web-based and governmentally endorsed way for online users to report suspect Internet material from the UK and around the world. The charity covers three major categories of concern, including: sexual child abuse imagery hosted globally; criminally obscene content hosting in the UK; and also UK content deemed to incite racial hatred.
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whytsyedFeb 13th, 2008 - 06:11:54
was I the only one who read the title and thought notable online sites were supporting child porn
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