The INHOPE Network celebrates 10 years in the fight against online illegal content, primarily child sex abuse images.
The INHOPE network of Internet Hotlines today convened a special session to celebrate its 10th Anniversary in the fight against illegal content on the Internet. INHOPE Hotlines provide the general public with a means to report anonymously suspected illegal content online – primarily child sexual abuse images. Lawrence Kalogreades from FWC represented CyberEthics (the Cyprus Internet Safety Awareness Node) and the Cyprus Safer Internet Helpline
Ruben Rodriguez, President of INHOPE and Director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children opened the meeting saying, “the INHOPE Association has taken great strides forward in the last few years; we have grown to 36 Hotlines from 31 different countries both in Europe and around the world. We have dramatically increased our outreach to industry and to law enforcement enabling us to develop collaborative projects and initiatives which in turn have increased our ability to remove child sex abuse images from the Internet”
INHOPE is utilising its unique position representing national Hotlines around the world having developed the first global URL database to record the relevant data of websites that contain images of child sexual abuse. Data collated from the network will enable INHOPE to provide the most comprehensive figures and information on the proliferation and circulation of such illegal content.
The information provided by INHOPE and its Members will enable industry, policy makers and law enforcement to target resources in an effort to combat the distribution of this material. By collating the information supplied to our Members by the public and other sources, INHOPE is able to help its stakeholders confront future challenges. The URL database is an invaluable tool for society to report its concerns and by doing so fostering confidence amongst Internet users.
To encourage new Hotline initiatives worldwide, INHOPE, in cooperation with the EC has been working to prioritise countries where illegal material can potentially be hosted or produced and countries which are deemed to be important in the fight against illegal material online.
Illegal activity on the Internet is a cross border problem that no one organisation can effectively tackle alone and INHOPE Hotlines have proven to be an effective first line of defence against illegal content online and in the fight against online predators.
(*) In some countries Hotlines are called tiplines
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