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MS Helps IWF Clean Up The Internet

Posted: 28th May, 2003 By: MarkJ

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has today been boosted by the support of global software giant Microsoft. It's hoped that the new collaboration will enable quicker action against offensive web sites:

Microsoft sponsors hardware and software for the Internet Watch Foundation

Microsoft has made a significant contribution to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the only UK organisation that provides an Internet hotline for the public to report their exposure to child abuse images on the Web.

Building on a history of support for the IWF through MSN, Microsofts latest gesture will enable the IWF to action more efficiently the growing number of reports it receives of child abuse images online, which last year totalled nearly 20,000 and is destined to exceed that number during 2003.

Stuart Okin, Chief Security Officer at Microsoft Ltd, said: The Internet has become a resource to the point that it is a way of life for many people. The Internet Watch Foundation provides a facility for consumers to report any potentially illegal material they find on the Web. It is on the front line in terms of escalating these reports, working with Internet Service Providers and the police to ensure that this content is removed and the perpetrators are brought to justice. As a company introducing technology to peoples lives, Microsoft feels a need to show support for this organisation and the valuable work that it does to make the Web safer.

Microsofts donation will be used to modernise the IWFs IT equipment, such that they can handle the graphically heavy workload, as reports of offensive sites rise. The IWF will also be receiving some Microsoft software to accompany this. This latest donation builds on many years of IWF support by Microsoft MSN, which also sits on the funding council of the organisation.

Launched in 1996, The IWF is supported, but not funded, by the UK Government and Law enforcement agencies. It provides a hotline service for all Internet users to report websites showing illegal content, with particular focus on child abuse images, originating anywhere in the world. Police-trained staff view content and when they deem a site to be showing illegal images, the IWF passes the report to ISPs to bring the site down and notify the police. At least 35 individuals were prosecuted as a direct result of information provided by the IWF last year.

Peter Robbins, Chief Executive Officer of the IWF, said: Analysing thousands of potentially illegal and offensive images is in its very nature very graphically heavy, and therefore our efficiency in actioning the queries we receive depends entirely on our systems capabilities. With Microsofts support we can purchase the servers and other hardware that will help to make these processes quicker and easier. This show of support from Microsoft will help us to process even more reports and ultimately lead to more material being pulled from the Web, and to further arrests.