International cooperation

12.75 Alongside efforts to identify effective filtering strategies in Australia, there are international schemes which are working towards limiting the distribution of child sexual abuse content on the internet. There are four international schemes with this objective. International cooperation is vital to efforts to stop the distribution of child abuse material.

Internet Watch Foundation

12.76 The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is the national ‘notice and take-down’ body within the United Kingdom.[98] It operates an international blocklist of URLs which depict images of ‘actual sexual abuse’ or advertisements for and links to such content.[99] The URLs are assessed by the IWF Board in accordance with the UK Sentencing Guidelines Council criteria. Only those images assessed to be at a level 1 and above according to the criteria are considered for inclusion on the URL list, with level 1 being for images depicting persons below the age of 18 in erotic poses with no sexual activity.[100] The list contains approximately 500 URLs at any one time, is updated twice a day to ensure the entries are live, and is periodically audited by independent experts.[101] The list is designed to block specific URLs only, rather than whole domains.[102] The IWF also operates an appeals process by which any party with a legitimate association with the content, a victim, hosting company, publisher or internet consumer can appeal the placement of a particular URL on the list.[103]

INTERPOL

12.77 The international police organisation, INTERPOL, of which Australia is a member, also compiles a ‘worst-of’ list of domains distributing child sexual abuse material online.[104] The INTERPOL list contains domains found to be distributing ‘child sexual abuse material’[105] which have been verified by INTERPOL and at least one other partner law enforcement agency.[106] Domains on the ‘worst-of’ list contain images of severe abuse of real children who are, or appear to be, younger than 13 years.[107] The list includes whole domains, if any part is found to contain child sexual abuse material.[108] This is because INTERPOL has determined that child sexual abuse material is not normally co-hosted with legal material but rather resides on specific domains created for the sole purpose of distributing the files.[109]

12.78 According to the AFP, the domains included in the INTERPOL list are updated approximately once per week, and although the total number of domains on the list varies with each update, by way of example the 25 October 2011 list contained 409 domains.[110] As stated earlier, the INTERPOL list is currently being used as the basis for the IIA’s voluntary code in relation to ISP-level filtering.[111]

INHOPE

12.79 INHOPE is a worldwide network of internet hotlines which coordinates the investigation of internet content suspected to be illegal, including child sexual abuse content, and the reporting of illegal content to relevant law enforcement agencies and ISPs.[112] The INHOPE network includes 41 internet hotlines in 36 countries worldwide, including Australia.[113]

12.80 In 2010, INHOPE hotlines received 24,047 reports of potentially illegal child sexual abuse material, including 21,949 unique URLs.[114]

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

12.81 The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, not-for-profit organisation which was established by the US Congress in 1984 to reduce the incidence of missing children and child sexual exploitation.[115] Since 2007, the NCMEC has coordinated an URL list of online ‘child pornography’ based on complaints made by the public to their ‘CyberTipline’.[116] All reports to the CyberTipline are investigated by the NCMEC which then adds the ‘worst of the worst’ material—material containing images of real pre-pubescent children being sexually abused—onto a URL list.[117] The list is updated daily and made available to participating ‘electronic service providers’ and international law enforcement agencies, including the AFP.[118]

 

[98] Internet Watch Foundation, IWF Facilitation of the Blocking Initiative <www.iwf.org.uk/services
/blocking> at 16 February 2012.

[99] Ibid.

[100] Internet Watch Foundation, Assessment Levels <www.iwf.org.uk/hotline/assessment-levels> at 16 February 2012.

[101] Internet Watch Foundation, IWF Facilitation of the Blocking Initiative <www.iwf.org.uk/services/
blocking> at 16 February 2012.

[102] Ibid.

[103] Internet Watch Foundation, Content Assessment Appeal Process <www.iwf.org.uk/accountability/
complaints/content-assessment-appeal-process> at 16 February 2012.

[104] INTERPOL, Access Blocking: Introduction <http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Crimes-against-children/Access-blocking/Introduction> at 16 February 2012.

[105] INTERPOL, like IWF, uses the term ‘child sexual abuse material’ rather than child pornography: for an outline of their definition of ‘child sexual abuse material’ see: INTERPOL, Access Blocking: Criteria for Inclusion in the ‘Worst of’-List <http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Crimes-against-children/Access-blocking/Criteria-for-inclusion-in-the-Worst-of-list> at 16 February 2012.

[106] Ibid.

[107] Ibid.

[108] Internet Industry Association, ‘Internet Industry Moves on Blocking Child Pornography’ (Press Release, 27 June 2011).

[109] Ibid.

[110]Debates, Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs—Parliament of Australia, 2 November 2011, (Australian Federal Police answer to Question 25 on notice).

[111] Internet Industry Association, ‘Internet Industry Moves on Blocking Child Pornography’ (Press Release, 27 June 2011).

[112] International Association of Internet Hotlines, Annual Report 2010 (2010), 5.

[113] International Association of Internet Hotlines, About INHOPE <www.inhope.org/gns/about-us/about-inhope.aspx> at 16 February 2012.

[114] International Association of Internet Hotlines, Annual Report 2010 (2010), 16.

[115] National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Mission and History <www.missingkids.com/
missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=4362> at 16 February 2012.

[116] National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, News and Events: Trend Micro Becomes the First Internet Security Company to Partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to Remove Child Pornography from the Internet <www.missingkids.com/missingkids/
servlet/NewsEventServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=4253> at 16 February 2012.

[117] Ibid.

[118] Ibid.