Conclusions
Conclusions
At the end of 2007 the Hotline had received 12,836 reports since its establishment in November 1999. Although the level of reporting was slightly down on 2006, a relatively consistent upward trend of reporting has been achieved over the eight years of the Hotline’s operation. Most importantly in 2007, accurate public reporting to the Hotline has resulted in 62% more illegal content than in 2006 being forwarded on to appropriate authorities for action. While all the material was found to be located outside Ireland, we have contributed very strongly to the disruption of paedophile and other criminal activity on the Internet.
Internet subscriptions grew overall by roughly 17% in the year (according to ComReg). This, coupled with more than a doubling of subscriptions to always-on broadband in the period, makes it clear that the Irish population is spending significantly more time online than just a year ago. Huge amounts of leisure time, especially amongst children and youths, are now being spent browsing the Internet. While most will have positive experiences of Internet usage, statistical probability alone dictates that an increasing number of users will accidentally discover a static amount of illegal content existing on the Internet. These users must be made aware of the necessity of reporting and where they can make reports so inroads can be made to reduce the amount of such material in circulation.
The Internet is so vast that neither ISPs nor law enforcement can be expected to know the whereabouts of illegal content on the Internet unless it is brought to their attention. The Hotline provides this facility and it is vital that the public know of its existence. To this end the Hotline runs visibility events to promote Internet safety issues and the importance of reporting suspicious content. These are important not only in terms of maintaining visibility but also in making new Internet users in Ireland aware of the service.
Public awareness also assists in keeping up the attack on illegal content and, in the case of child pornography helping to prevent the sexual exploitation of innocent children. It is vital that the public do not ignore suspected illegal content they encounter on the Internet but report it to the Hotline.
Anecdotal observations made by the Hotline analysts reveal that much of the content being determined as illegal, particularly the child pornography, is of an increasing level of severity. Where severe examples of pornographic material featuring children used to be relatively unusual, it now appears to be the norm for material reported to the service under the suspicion of child pornography to fall into one of the highest categories of severity. This frequent and repeated exposure to some of the severest child pornography available naturally has an effect on the Content Analysts working for Hotline, as well as obviously being a cause for concern for all Internet users. It is important to note, however, that illegal material of this nature still makes up only a very small percentage of all material available on the net, and the likelihood of users, especially young users, coming across it accidentally is extremely low. This sort of material is nearly always hidden at the “deep web” level.
Analysts are still concerned about the lack of reporting from the public regarding Peer to Peer (P2P) services. It is via P2P sites that Analysts have seen some of the most disturbing and abusive images of children and when they have searched for a file that has been reported it is clear that many files on P2P services are if nothing else, very suspiciously named. The Hotline continues to speculate that it is possible that P2P users’ first reaction on encountering these sorts of files is to want to delete the listing of filenames as quickly as possible. However, it is very important that these should be reported so that people who are misusing P2P services by sharing illegal content can be tracked down. It is true that many files are simply given these inappropriate names to try to attract more attention however it is equally true that many of them do lead to illegal content.
It is extremely heartening to see that for the eighth year running Ireland has maintained its clean record. No reports received by the Hotline and confirmed as child pornography were found to have been directly distributed from, or hosted on, ISP facilities in Ireland. This is corroborated by the fact that none of the other INHOPE Hotlines around the world had occasion to forward reports to Hotline.ie for action. This suggests that measures being taken by the ISPAI and its members are proving successful in making it too difficult or risky for people to conduct this sort of illegal activity from Ireland. Members of the ISPAI work hard to actively protect their services and their users from being exposed to illegal content and to promote and support the Hotline service.
Of concern however is the number of companies that provide Internet access or hosting services who continue to resist pressure to join in self-regulation and formally commit to the ISPAI Code of Practice and Ethics. They appear content to reap the benefits for their customers by riding on the backs of the ISPAI member companies who are financing the Hotline and making a concerted effort to tackle these important Internet safety issues.
A key aspect of this Code is commitment to the Hotline and adherence to its procedures for “notice and take down” agreed with Government and An Garda Síochána in the event of illegal content or customer use being discovered on their facilities.
Subscribing to the ISPAI also contributes to the financing of the international efforts mounted by the Hotline and its INHOPE counterparts in the global fight against criminal use of the Internet, especially for the distribution of child pornography. The objective of this work is to generate a safer online environment for ISP’s customers. It is incumbent on the Irish Internet services industry to work in concert against the possibility of illegal content being hosted in or distributed from this country; so the zero incidence record of which Ireland should be very proud is not lost.
