Online child abuse complaints up

 

BBC NEWS | Technology | Online child abuse complaints up
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6549717.stm

Summary:

Online child abuse complaints up Reports of websites that contain images of child abuse have continued to climb in the last year, a report has shown.

In 2006, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) investigated more than 31,000 reports of sites that contained alleged images, an increase of 34% since 2005. More than 10,000 of the reported pages on more than 3,000 websites were found to contain illegal child abuse content.

The increase was in part due to greater awareness of the IWF and its reporting procedures, the organisation said.

As well as outlining the numbers of web pages and sites containing images, the IWF annual report also revealed the increasing severity of content held on the sites. More than 3,000 web pages contained images depicting the most severe abuse, such as penetrative and sadistic sexual activity, the report said. Most children involved were under the age of 12

As well as outlining the numbers of web pages and sites containing images, the IWF annual report also revealed the increasing severity of content held on the sites.  "The images we are seeing are predominantly prepubescent, young children," said Peter Robbins, chief executive of the IWF.The report also highlighted how paedophiles had become more tech-savvy in attempts to avoid detection.

The report also revealed how photo sharing websites are also being exploited to trade and view images.  It also highlighted which countries appeared to be the worst offenders for hosting child abuse content.

The IWF is funded by the EU and UK internet industry, including ISPs, mobile operators, internet search providers and telecommunications and software companies.

IWF 2006 Annual and Charity Report [1.2MB]

Key Figures 2006

• 31,776 reports processed by IWF 'Hotline' (34% increase on 2005)
• Less than 1% of all child abuse content hosted in the UK since 2003

Victim details

• 80% victims in all the URLs (individual images) confirmed to be abusive are female
• 91% of victims in URLs confirmed to be abusive appear to be under 12 years old

Severity

• Child abuse images (commercial and non-commercial) of levels 4 and 5 (the most severe) increased from 7% in 2003 to 29% in 2006, of all confirmed abusive URLs
• 57% of commercial child abuse domains known to IWF contain image level 4 and 5 in 2006

Longevity

• 94 commercial websites reported by IWF to relevant authorities in 2006 have been actively selling child abuse images since 2005, 33 live since 2004, 32 live since before 2004

Images

• 10,656 individual URLs containing child abuse content (74% increase on 2005)
• 3,077 domains account for all these URLs
• 1,667 of these domains were commercial websites
• 10.5% of all URLs with child abuse content in 2006 were on photo album websites

Regions – commercial child abuse domains:

• 62% of commercial child abuse domains hosted in US
• 28% commercial child abuse domains hosted in Russia

Police intelligence

• In 2006 IWF provided 11 evidential statements supporting UK police enquiries
• Gave evidence given at 5 UK trials
• 42 reports from IWF still under investigation