Internet Watch Foundation
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| Founded | December 10, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Type |
Company limited by guarantee Registered charity |
| Registration no. | Charity Commission. Internet Watch Foundation, registered charity no. 1112398. |
| Location |
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Area served
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worldwide |
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Employees
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14 (2007) |
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a registered charity based in Cambridgeshire, England. It states that its remit is "to minimise the availability of 'potentially criminal' Internet content, specifically images of child sexual abuse (including child pornography) hosted anywhere, and criminally obscene adult content in the UK". Content inciting racial hatred was removed from the IWF's remit after a police website was set up for the purpose in April 2011. The IWF clarifies on its website that potentially criminal activity is addressed, as content can be confirmed to be criminal only by a court of law. As part of its function, the IWF says that it will "supply partners with an accurate and current URL list to enable blocking of child sexual abuse content". It has "an excellent and responsive national Hotline reporting service" for receiving reports from the public. In addition to receiving referrals from the public, its agents also proactively search the peer-to-peer networks of the deep web to identify potentially illegal images. It can then ask service providers to take down the websites containing the images or to block them if they fall outside UK jurisdiction.
From 2010 the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) required all procurement specifications for the provision of Internet-related services to government agencies and public bodies to require the Internet service provider (ISP) to block access to sites [sic] on the IWF list.
The IWF operates in informal partnership with the police, government, public, and Internet service providers. Originally formed to police suspected child pornography online, the IWF's remit was later expanded to cover criminally obscene material.
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