The Hotline > External Relations
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External Relations
The usefulness of the Hotline would be extremely limited if it could only deal with Internet content hosted or distributed from within the Irish jurisdiction. The Hotline addresses the issue of responding to reported content that is outside the Irish jurisdiction, through two means:
- Membership of the INHOPE Association (www.inhope.org) and ,
- An Garda Síochána contacts who liase with International police organisations such as Interpol and Europol.
INHOPE Association
The www.hotline.ie service is a founding member of the INHOPE Association (INternet HOtline Providers). INHOPE's mission is to facilitate and co-ordinate the work of Hotlines in responding to illegal use and content on the Internet. It facilitates good working relationships between hotlines and the exchange of reports by ensuring trust built on a rigorous hotline approval process.
Membership of INHOPE is vital to the Hotline's effectiveness by providing a cooperating network of trusted International partners. This is a two way process and the Hotline has also been highly involved in INHOPE's development. INHOPE interfaces with Hotlines around the World to build an increasing co-operative network. Expertise is shared through regular INHOPE meetings, where training sessions on specific aspects of the Hotline work are run and working sessions develop best practices for the operation of Internet hotlines and tracing of illegal content.
An Garda Síochána
The Hotline provides assistance to An Garda Síochána by filtering reports to determine what is probably illegal and is also located in Ireland or has an Irish dimension. This assists the Gardaí to dedicate their specialist resources to pursuing investigations within the jurisdiction by not having to deal with the majority of reports that do not contain illegal content or relate to material held in other jurisdictions.
European Commission
The Safer Internet Programme of the European Commission (EC) has been instrumental in developing the Hotline network in Europe. The www.hotline.ie service has benefited from project funding since this programme was initiated in 2000. In late 2003 the Hotline was successful in attracting continued European Commission funding, providing 50% of eligible operating costs, under the last SIAP (Safer Internet Action Plan) call for proposals. This funding ran from 1st March 2004 through to the end of this reporting period. It ends on the 28th February 2006. In the latter part of the reporting period the EC launched the SIAP+ call for proposals and ISPAI has applied for project funding for a further two years.
