Internet Watch Foundation champions ISPA at inaugural awards
Friday, 04 February 2005
On 2nd February 2005, the Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA) was honoured to receive an award from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in recognition for the trade association’s part in launching and supporting the IWF.
Over 100 people from the Internet industry, Law Enforcement Agencies, the Government, Parliamentarians, Children’s Charities and the IWF gathered at the House of Commons for the awards presentation. The event was designed to acknowledge the many individuals and organisations that have contributed to a massive reduction in child abuse images online in the UK.
Nicholas Lansman, Secretary General of ISPA said, “This award is momentous as it recognises the work ISPA and our members have undertaken over the past ten years to combat the presence of illegal content on the Internet. The IWF is a leading light for the world in combating the availability of images of child abuse on the Internet.”
ISPA created one of the world’s first codes of practice for providers of Internet services and developed a self-regulatory ‘notice and takedown’ procedures whereby ISPs can remove unlawful content when they have knowledge that it is present on their system.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) was the first organisation in the world created to act as a hotline for the reporting of illegal online content. It was established and is funded by ISPA and other members of the UK Internet industry. Less than one per cent of the illegal content the IWF is notified about is hosted on the UK Internet, down from 18 per cent when the organisation was launched in 1997. The majority of such content is hosted in Eastern Europe and the USA.
ISPA has also worked with the Government to create the world’s first guidelines for providers of chat services.
The Home Office Task Force for Child Protection on the Internet is a joint initiative between the Internet industry, the Government, the Police and children’s charities. ISPA has contributed to the ongoing success of the thinkuknow.co.uk website and the ‘Keep Your Child Safe on the Internet’ leaflet campaign.
Peter Robbins, CEO of the Internet Watch Foundation said, “We feel it is important to acknowledge the people and organisations that have been so crucial in getting to this stage of effectively dealing with potentially illegal content online, in the UK. We now have 55 industry members who value this multi-agency partnership model. Without this approach these achievements just wouldn’t have been possible. There is still considerable effort needed to sustain this momentum and we look forward to building upon these relationships in the future.”
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The views expressed in this release are those of the Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA UK) and do not necessarily reflect the corporate policies of the individual companies that are members of the Association or other organisations that may be mentioned in the release.
For further information, please contact the ISPA Press Office.
Email: pressoffice@ispa.org.uk Tel: 020 7340 4535
About the Internet Services Providers’ Association
The Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA) was established in 1995 as a trade association to represent providers of Internet services in the UK. ISPA promotes competition, self-regulation and the development of the Internet industry. For a list of members or other information about ISPA, please consult the website: www.ispa.org.uk