Home Office decides that it does know its anti-child porn policy

 

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Posted on 26 Mar 2009 at 17:21

Following our recent report that the Home Office doesn't understand how illegal content is regulated, it has taken time to revise the topic and clarify its stance on the matter.

The Home Office defended its policy to "encourage" all UK ISPs to subscribe to the Internet Watch Foundation's (IWF) blacklist, but insisted that it is not forcing companies to do so. This is a change to what it said previously, when it admitted that it was telling ISPs that they have to subscribe to the IWF's blacklist.

"ISPs that are members of the IWF and agree to its commitment to block illegal websites enjoy an enhanced brand reputation. As a result, we would encourage ISPs to join the IWF," a Home Office spokesman told Shopper.

The Home Office also revealed that the government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that gives consent to the IWF to visit child pornography websites. The MoU allows the IWF to "assess and judge illegal material on behalf of UK law enforcement agencies".

However, the Home Office tells us that despite what is written in the MoU and the fact that the watchdog decides for itself what content ISPs should block, the IWF doesn't actually have any sort of law enforcement role.

"When illegal images are identified as being hosted in the UK, the IWF notifies UK law enforcement to take action. The IWF is not a law enforcement body," said the spokesman.

The IWF is the only option that ISPs can rely on to provide a blacklisting service, and it is a private entity funded by subscriptions from ISPs. Yet the Home Office has refuted our claims that the IWF is, in effect, a monopoly.

"It is not a monopoly because ISPs can choose to leave the foundation or not join it in the first place," said the spokesman.

However, monopolies do not, by definition, need to have all of its potential customers actively purchasing its products or services in order to still be considered one.

And with peer-to-peer networks and file sharing sites being the most commonly used means for paedophiles to share child pornography, the Home Office admitted that it is still working on implementing a policy to tackle this problem.

"File sharing is more of a challenge than blocking illegal websites," said the spokesman. "What we're doing at the moment is exploring how we can tackle this. The priority right now is blocking illegal websites, but we do recognise that file sharing sites are a bit more of a challenge."

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota