2008 Analysis
Numbers of reports received
In the period from 1st January 2008 to 31st December 2008, Hotline.ie processed 1,966 reports of suspected illegal content. This comprises reports received directly from the public and reports derived from these by the Hotline Analysts.
Numbers of reports received Contd.
Under the procedures agreed with Government, the Hotline is not permitted to proactively search for illegal content. Therefore, to carry out its function, the Hotline relies totally on the public to initiate reports.
As seen in the graph on the previous page, the number of reports received each month can be highly variable. On average just under 164 reports per month were processed by Hotline.ie during 2008. June 2008, with just 62 reports, was the lowest monthly reporting level recorded since December 2002. In complete contrast, the 335 reports processed in January 2008 was the fourth highest monthly level recorded by the Hotline.
Of the 1966 reports processed, 536 individual reports were assessed as most probably illegal under Irish law. (For an explanation as why we use the term "probably illegal", click the panel on the right titled "Illegal?"). The 536 reports included 39 which were reported separately but during processing Analysts found they had been previously reported. The Hotline refers to these as duplicate reports. The remainder represent one occurrence of each particular incident and are referred to as Unique Illegal Reports.
The following subsections analyse these figures in more depth.
