Home Office Press Release 092/2001

28 March 2001

IMPROVING CHILD PROTECTION ON THE INTERNET: A PARTNERSHIP FOR ACTION

A new taskforce is to be set up to help make UK cyberspace the safest
place in the world for Internet users, Home Secretary Jack Straw
announced today.

The taskforce will include representatives of the Internet industry,
child welfare organisations, the police and Government. Its
establishment was agreed at a meeting of key representatives from
these organisations, called by the Home Secretary as part of the
Government response to the recent report by the Internet Crime Forum
on child safety in Internet chatrooms. Other important groups not at
today's meeting such as PC retailers will also be invited to
participate.

Chaired by Home Office Minister Lord Bassam, the taskforce members
will work in partnership to identify and implement the best ways in
which children can be better protected when using the Internet. Among
the areas for action identified at the meeting were:

- reviewing Internet content rating systems and developing a "kite
marking" scheme for chatrooms which deliver child-friendly services;

- developing "safe surfing" education and awareness campaigns for
parents and children;

- enhancing co-operation between police and communications service
providers in the course of their investigations

- reviewing existing legislation to ensure that the law continues to
protect children from 'grooming' and other forms of abuse and keeps
in step with changes in technology.

Progress made by the taskforce will be reviewed by the Home Secretary
at a further meeting in the summer.

Following the meeting, Mr Straw said:

"The Government is committed to tackling child abuse in any form -
paedophiles and child pornographers must not be able to use new
technologies with impunity. Government is playing its part, ensuring
that the police have the powers to detect and pursue offenders, and
that the courts have the powers to deal with them. What is illegal
off-line is also illegal on-line. However if changes in the law
prove necessary to prosecute and deter specific forms of on-line
child abuse, the Government will act.

"But the Internet industry itself has an important role to play, as
its representatives were happy to acknowledge at this meeting. I
welcome the assistance that the industry already provides to the
police in the course of their investigations, and trust today's
agreement will build on this partnership to create a safer and more
secure online environment for our children.

"Social responsibility is part of good business practice, I look
forward to reviewing the efforts of the Internet industry and other
parties at today's meeting in the summer. I am clear that the public
will not tolerate anything but their best efforts to clean up the
Internet for UK users."

Roger Darlington, Chief Executive of the Internet Watch Foundation
said:

"The IWF stands ready to do everything in its power to rise to the
Government's challenge so that, working with a range of partners, we
can create the safest possible Internet environment for all our
children.

"We have already played a major role in the removal from UK servers
of some 28,000 images of child pornography, and are now seeing
whether we can assist Internet Services Providers to identify and
remove those newsgroups which regularly host child pornography."

Representing the Internet industry, Nicholas Lansman of the Internet
Services Providers Association (ISPA) said:

"The Internet industry takes the issue of child protection very
seriously and is already working with law enforcement to tackle the
problem. We welcome this new initiative and will join with other
members of the taskforce to improve child protection on the
Internet."

Representing the police service, Bob Packham Deputy Director General
of the National Crime Squad said:

"A truly multi-agency approach is needed, with law enforcement, the
Internet industry, Government, statutory and voluntary agencies and
parents all focusing on one common goal - rooting out those who seek
to abuse the Internet for paedophilic activity. Much good law
enforcement work is already taking place, and we aim to build on that
in the coming months."

Representing child welfare organisations, John Carr of NCH said:

"We welcome today's initiative - this is a crucial opportunity to
move the debate on child protection on the Internet forward, and turn
words into action."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Announced as part of the Government response to the recent
report by the Internet Crime Forum "Chat Wise Street Wise - Children
and Internet Chat Services," (Home Office release 071/2001 refers),
the meeting examined four key areas:

- how to tackle the increasing problem of internet chatrooms being
used as a means by paedophiles to groom and subsequently abuse
children;

- how to prevent access to child pornography available on parts of
the internet;

- how Internet Service Providers and the police can work in
partnership to bring paedophiles on the internet to justice;

- how to increase the confidence of parents that their children will
be safe on the internet.

2. In addition to the Home Secretary, Home Office Minister Lord
Bassam, and Government officials from the Home Office, DfEE, DTI and
E-envoy, representatives from the Internet industry, child welfare
organisations and the police service were invited to attend the
meeting:

Paul Burstow MP
John Carr, NCH
Chris Atkinson, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children
Nigel Williams, Childnet
Alistair Gillespie, University of Teeside
Bob Packham, National Crime Squad
David Kerr, Internet Watch Foundation
Nicholas Lansman, Internet Services Providers Association
Roland Perry, LINX
Jerry Roest, NTL
Bill Allan, Thus plc
Camille Du Stempel, AOL
Richard Woods, UUNET
Andy Green, BTOPENWORLD
John Beaumont, Energis Squared
Anne Mullins, Yahoo
Matt Lambert, Microsoft

3. The Internet Crime Forum report "Chat Wise Street Wise -
Children and Internet Chat Services," is posted on the ICF website at
www.internetcrimeforum.org.uk. The ICF report makes a number of
recommendations for Internet Service Providers, the police,
Government and children's charities to ensure that Internet chat for
children is "Chat Wise Street Wise":

- education programmes should be aimed at parents and other carers to
advise them of the potential risks to children using chat services
and appropriate steps they can take to protect them;

- Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should provide clear advice to
their subscribers about child-friendly chat, and actively promote
chat services specifically targeted at their age range;

- children's chatrooms should be supervised ('moderated'), and a
user-friendly reporting mechanism should be available for users to
report incidents in chat rooms for investigation;

- ISPs, user groups and children's organisations should develop a
kitemarking scheme which would offer a simple way for parents to
identify chat services which are safe for children;

- the IT industry should continue to research better, cheaper and
more user-friendly technical solutions to the potential dangers of
chat, including measures to ensure an appropriate level of
traceability for online abusers;

- police officers should have specialised training and increased
resources to ensure a prompt and effective response to reports of
incidents in chat rooms;

- relevant UK legislation should be kept under review to ensure that
it can meet changing circumstances - on- and off-line - to protect
children from abuse.