Analysis: Introduction
Numbers of reports received.
In the 30 month period from 1st July 2003 to 31st December 2005 the Hotline received 5102 reports. This is more than double the 1792 reports received in the second reporting period (24 months, 1st July 2001 to 30th June 2003) even when this is adjusted up to represent a 30 month period. As can be seen the number of reports the Hotline received monthly in each 6 month period has been increasing steeply.
Average Monthly Reporting Level by Half Year.
In attempting to compare this to the previous reporting period, where 1792 reports were received in the 24 months, we can extrapolate this period to 30 months, resulting in an equivalent level of reporting of 2240. This means in the 30 month period of this report, there has been more than double the level of reporting to the Hotline than that experienced at the time of the previous report.
The average number of reports received per month over the period was 170, this is a marked increase on the average of 75 reports per month in the precious reporting period. This increased number of reports per month requires more time and resources to handle, the Hotline hired two part-time Analysts to deal with the increased levels of reporting.
The Hotline does not undertake any pre-emptive searching for illegal content on the Internet. It can only assess material reported by the public. Therefore report numbers represent the reaction of the public to material they have encountered on the Internet or which was set to them as an e-mail.
Internet and Reporting Services
Internet Services.
Between 2000 and 2005 unsolicited e-mail (commonly referred to as Spam) has become a major source of reports to the www.hotline.ie service. In recent years over half the reports received by the Hotline are in relation to Spam email. As can be seen from the series of graphs 'Internet service to which reports referred' 2000 to 2005:
Internet service to which reports referred: 2000
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Spam & Email: 5.3%
Website: 81.7%
Querys and Other: 7.9% 
Usenet: 4.0%
Chat (Realtime): 1.1%
P2P: 0%
Instant Messaging: 0%
Mobile: 0%Internet service to which reports referred: 2001
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Internet service to which reports referred: 2002
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Internet service to which reports referred: 2003
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Internet service to which reports referred: 2004
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Internet service to which reports referred: 2005
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In the previous 24 month reporting period there were 864 reports about Spam. That increased to 2737 in the 30 months from July 2003 to December 2005.
The trend, mentioned in the Second Report of the Hotline, has continued, where increased numbers of spam contain language that can be interpreted as referring to paedophilic activities. In many cases, the actual content, usually on a website, turns out to be adult pornographic material. This however should not deter the public from making a report when the wording of the Spam suggests the content may be child pornography.
The advice of the Hotline is never to follow the links contained in such spams. Report them to the Hotline, using the online report forms and being sure to include the "headers" (instructions on how these are obtained are given on the unsolicited e-mail report form). When you have received an acknowledgement delete the offending spam from your inbox.
Several instances have arisen in more recent times where Spammers have embedded illegal images into emails. This can cause understandable distress for the recipient having to view such material. We would however request that the public use the Hotline to report such e-mails, it can be done anonymously using the 'Report Online' facility on the website.
The next most reported Internet Service are websites with 2082 sites reported in the period. From the Hotline's observations of descriptions provided, the majority of these are triggered in one of two ways:
(a) The URL is found in the result lists generated by a search engine. Occasionally an innocent search can return some unexpected results. Usually this is caused by a word in the search terms having alternative connotations and this unexpected alternative material is listed.
(b) Users notice suspicious links posted on bulletin boards, forums or other websites which suggest they may lead to child pornography.
Internet service to which reports referred Jul 2003 - Dec 2005.
Of the 5102 reports received by the Hotline in this reporting period, 53.6% related to spam email apparently advertising illegal content. Websites are the second most reported Internet service generating 40.8% of reports. While the proportion of websites reported is similar to the previous reporting period, there has been a significant shift in the content assessed. Wording within the sites has generally become more offensive and the level of child abuse displayed in openly accessible images has increased in severity.
The Hotline continues to field general queries, from assistance with computer related issues such as 'Auto-Diallers' and Virus Attacks, to queries outside the remit of the Hotline, such as offering legal advice or dealing with claims of defamation.
Despite the concerns often heard about Internet Chat and problems of children being engaged on them by paedophiles, the level of incidence reported to the Hotline is very low. This may show that the safety messages from IAB and the awareness raising efforts in the classroom are having the desired impact. However, it is imperative that this guidance is repeated constantly to children; never give out names, mobile numbers, addresses and above all, never arrange to meet an internet acquaintance without adult company.
The area of greatest concern is the lack of reporting about suspected illegal content on peer to peer (P2P) file sharing services. It is known from international police sources that increasing amounts of illegal material are being transferred by p2p. The p2p systems are extensively used for downloading music, videos and pictures by many teenagers and young adults. The systems use search engine-like interfaces to find shared content. Searches can lead to suspicious file descriptions being listed and these should be reported to the Hotline.
The Hotline believes that many p2p users fear they may somehow be apprehended for sharing copyrighted music if they were to report other material encountered on p2p to the Hotline. While the ISPAI and Hotline can never condone pirating of copyrighted works, p2p is a perfectly legitimate way of sharing non-copyright material. The Hotline reiterates that the p2p report forms on www.hotline.ie provide a completely anonymous means to report suspected illegal content. The Hotline pleads to the p2p using public never to ignore child pornography they stumble across, because real children are put at risk by paedophile rings sharing material this way.
As spam remains the highest source it is important that the public include as much detail to the Hotline as possible when reporting to the Hotline. Include the 'email headers' and 'email source'. Without the technical information contained in the 'email headers' the Hotline is unable to begin a trace attempt. For this reason the 'Report Online' facility on the www.hotline.ie website is the preferred method for reporting as it includes the steps required to extract the email headers for analysis by the Hotline.
Services used to Report to The Hotline.
| Online Website Report |
Answering Machine |
Telephone | In Person | Derived | Total | |
| July - December 2003 | ||||||
| 533 | 362 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 18 | 922 |
| January - December 2004 | ||||||
| 999 | 689 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 72 | 1790 |
| January - December 2004 | ||||||
| 1683 | 538 | 33 | 15 | 0 | 121 | 2390 |
Reported Suspicion and Hotline Determination
The Hotline reporting forms contain a menu allowing selection by the user of the category that most closely fits the type of illegal content they are reporting. There is also a description field that allows them to provide other supporting information. From these, the Hotline Analyst will record the stated or implied reporter's suspicion in the database. Later in the process, when the Analyst has completed their expert assessment of the content if found, that opinion is recored in the database as the "Hotline Determination".
Suspicion described or implied in reports received.
In 4469 reports (87.6% of all submitted) the suspicion given or implied was child pornography. This high figure is expected as the Hotline was set up to handle reports of child pornography. The Hotline also accepts reports of other illegal material (e.g. financial scams and racist content) which comprised 1.5% of reports. Persons specifically reporting a complaint about adult pornography accounted for 46 reports in this period, whereas in the previous shorter reporting period they accounted for 159 reports. While the Hotline differentiates these reports from "other not-illegal content" for analysis, no action is required. It would appear that the public has become less reactive to adult pornography as such material has become more prevalent in Irish society over the two reporting periods. Other content, which includes general queries, no categorisation or insufficient detail for categorisation of the suspicion, accounted for 9.5% of all reports.
The marked increased in reports also reflects the increased uptake of Internet connectivity in the country. In the "Trends Survey Series Q4 2005. Residential Telecommunications and Broadcasting Survey" published by ComReg, it is shown that Internet penetration has now reached 63% of all 15- 24 year olds, 49% of 25-44 year olds, 27% 45-64 year olds and 4% of 65-74 year olds within the Irish population. Their "Irish Communications Market: Key Data Report - December 2005" also shows a 229% year on year increase in broadband access. Surveys have shown that broadband users tend to stay on the Internet for twice as long as dial-up users.
With greater numbers of people online, opening email accounts and using the Internet for longer, there is an increased potential for coming across suspected illegal content. It should be noted however that it is still a rare occurrence to accidentally come across such content while online. For those with children using the Internet at home online, resources such as the NCTE's www.webwise.ie provide useful guidance to parents and guardians and offer children activities to help them understand and avoid online dangers.
Hotline determination of content to which reports referred.
Analysis of reported content, as determined by the Hotline, is given in the bar chart above.
During the 30 month period, 1033 reports were determined as "probably illegal" and therefore entered the Hotline's tracing process. 908 or 17.8% of all reports were determined as "probably illegal" under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act (1998). Of the remaining "probably illegal" reports most were determined as financial scams. Only two reports were confirmed as being racist material breaking Irish law.
The 908 determined as child pornography is in great contrast to the 4469 reports where this was suspected. This is understandable, as the Hotline advises the public never to follow links or open e-mails that appear may contain child pornography. Terminology used on some adult pornography sites or advertisements can be suggestive of younger models who may be underage in this jurisdiction. Reporters are quite right to report these links or e-mails to the Hotline and not to attempt any assessment themselves. This avoids any possibility of inadvertently downloading illegal content to their computers but does mean about 75% result as not illegal. This is part and parcel of the Hotline process and the Hotline encourages all Internet users to make reports in these circumstances.
Comparison of reports
Of concern is the number of reports where the Hotline could not find the content to which the reporter was referring. Out of the 5102 reports in the period, 1344 were classified as Not Found, this would include situations where:
- Insufficient detail was provided by the reporter
- Incorrect details were provided in the report, such as an incorrect URL
- When an assessment was attempted the target of the report was inaccessible, i.e. a DNS error or Web server unavailable
- The content was already removed by the ISP
Comparison of all reports, to suspected CP, to determined CP
4.8% of all reports had insufficient detail to begin the assessment process. In many cases when an access attempt was made the location was simply not active. More positively, even though most reports received by the Hotline are processed within 24 hours, in 6.6% of cases the ISP had already removed the content prior to the Hotline's access attempt
A large proportion of reports, 1243 in the period, mostly suspected as being child pornography were determined as adult pornography which is not illegal in this jurisdiction. That is, the subjects in the images were assessed as over 17 years old, the age limit specified in the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act (1998). A small number of reports referred to images of children that were assessed as not illegal.
1217 reports were determined to be "Other Content - Not Illegal". In many cases the Hotline could find no reason why anyone should have reported the material in the first place. In considerable number of cases, the reports have referred to interest group forums, dating services, etc., which some citizens users find distasteful or morally offensive. However, the Hotline does not make any judgement other than whether content is illegal or not under Irish criminal law.
102 reports were outside the remit of the Hotline. These include situations such as: people seeking technical support in using the Internet; complaints about quality of telecommunications or ISP services and, difficulties people have had with purchases transacted over the Internet. While the Hotline does try to redirect the reporter to the appropriate service when known, it is under no obligation to do so.
Forwarding Reports
Reports of illegal content forwarded to other Hotlines and Law Enforcement for action.
Since 2000 the incidence of unique reports (i.e. excludes duplicates) assessed by the Hotline and determined as being probably illegal child pornography, under the Irish Child Trafficking and Pornography Act (1998) has increased year on year.
All reports, where the content was confirmed as probably illegal child pornography, were traced to locations outside of Ireland and passed for action to other INHOPE Hotlines or to An Garda Síochána to be routed through police channels.
Location to which reports determined as reffering to illegal content were forwarded.
Most of the reports determined as probably illegal under Irish Law were traced to a locations where there is currently no INHOPE member Hotline. In this case the reports are passed to An Garda Síochána who liaise with International police organisations such as Interpol and Europol to try and deal with the reported material.
After Law enforcement, the USA was the next highest recipient of reports from the Hotline. All reports are forwarded to the US INHOPE member Hotline, NCMEC CyberTipline, who work with American Law Enforcement to tackle illegal material found on Internet services. The high incidence of forwarding can be put down to the fact there is a very high penetration of internet usage in the USA, as well as many organisations providing hosting and internet facilities. Because many Internet connections hub through the USA it is also possible that while the apparent location is the USA, the content may actually be located elsewhere. However, taking the Irish Hotline report, the CyberTipline is in a far better position to take over the search in liaison with the local ISP where the trace fro Ireland appeared to terminate.
Report referral failures, are instances where despite best efforts of the Hotline analysts, the source of the illegal material can not be located. The most common reason for this occurs with spam, where the content of the spam itself is deemed probably illegal under Irish law. However, while any URL reference in the spam may be traced as a derived report, the spam itself remains untraceable. Unfortunately in these cases the report must be closed as a report referral failure.
When the apparent location to which the content has been traced is a jurisdiction in which an INHOPE Hotline exists, the close working relationship between INHOPE member Hotlines, allows for very rapid reaction. The detailed information provided by the Irish Hotline assists the local Hotline to quickly access the content. They can perform their own assessment to ensure that it is also illegal under the laws of their jurisdiction. Assuming it is, that Hotline has the necessary local Law Enforcement and ISP contacts to promptly remove the content from public access and notify police so they may quickly initiate investigation to try to find those responsible for placing the material on the Internet facility in that county. This collective Hotline process has led to many successes reported in INHOPE member countries. In the reporting period there have been particular police successes in Spain, Denmark, Sweden, UK and USA, where Hotline provided information contributed to the achievement of arrests.
