Digital filtering of child exploitation

 

The expansion of the internet has led to many positive developments.  However, it is evident that criminals, individuals as well as organised groups, are also using this technology as a means of producing, collecting and distributing images of child sexual abuse.  

 

Child sexual abuse images are not “just images” but evidence of actual criminal activity.  The possession and distribution of these materials creates an international market that supports and encourages further abuse. The children who are victims of this activity suffer the psychological effect of their abuse for many years after the physical offending has ended; and their images distributed on the Internet never go away.

 

The filtering system complements the enforcement activity undertaken by the Censorship Compliance Unit of The Department of Internal Affairs.

 

The Department of Internal Affairs holds a list of known websites that host child sexual abuse material.  

 

Using a secure link, it routes this information through Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

 

When someone attempts to access a website that matches this routed information, the system will present a landing page that informs the user that the request has been stopped. This is great news for those of us who might inadvertently stumble upon such information.

 

If the request does not match, an item on the list, the user is presented with the requested page.  

 

This system is operated and maintained by the Censorship Compliance Unit of the DIA.  

 

In the first two years of the trial, with just two ISPs choosing to utilise the system, 1,000,000 requests for pages that carry illegal material were stopped. The system is now available to all ISPs that opt to use it. 

 

 

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