A new approach to tackle online child abuse images has been agreed between internet companies and the Government. The Internet Watch Foundation will look to adopt a role actively seeking out and blocking child pornography, rather than just acting upon reports it receives. Twenty companies, including BT, Twitter, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, were summoned by the Culture Secretary Maria Miller to a meeting calling on them to do more to eradicate online child abuse images.
Ms Miller has informed the companies to produce plans to combat the spread of indecent photos by the autumn and welcomes an additional £1 million to fund the IWF's work from the UK's four largest internet service providers.
She said: "This is important and it's funding that is coming from the industry to make sure that it's working effectively to stamp out access to these abhorrent images."
It was also decided the use of splash pages, warning people they may come into contact with indecent and illegal content, would become universal by the end of the month
Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of Christian charity Mothers' Union, has worked with the government on a report called 'Letting Children be Children'.
He told Premier's Victoria Laurence during the News Hour why he thinks parental responsibility remains key:
The Catholic Education Service and Caritas Social Action Network said that today's meeting provided an opportunity for the government to consider the impact that pornographic, violent or other harmful online content has on a child's development, mental health, relationships and self-esteem.
A statement said:
"Parents have a duty to educate their children about online safety. However, it is important to provide them with necessary support to help them in this role."
Today's meeting in Westminster followed two high-profile court cases in which offenders were known to have sought child pornography online. Mark Bridger, sentenced to life in May for the murder of five-year-old April Jones in Machynlleth, Powys, searched for child abuse and rape images. And police who searched the Croydon home of Stuart Hazell, jailed for life in May for murdering 12-year-old Tia Sharp, said they had found "extensive" pornography featuring young girls. David Cameron recently admitted he fears online porn could harm his own children. The Prime Minister said he worries when any of his three children 'grab hold of the iPad' because they risk seeing obscene images.
He said:
"The world has changed so fundamentally with the internet that we've got some real threats there to our children and also from this appalling scourge of child pornography."
Labour says voluntary controls are not working and parental authority has been undermined by technological change. Dan Boucher is Christian charity CARE's Director of Parliamentary Affair.
He tells Premier he thinks the government should impose parental filters for adult content as a default setting.
The Internet Services Providers Association said it shares the government's aims of making the internet safer and has taken several steps to bring this about.
Its Secretary General Nicholas Lansman said:
"ISPs have already taken several steps on making the internet safer, with many offering or working towards an 'active choice +' system, which presents parents with an unavoidable choice.
"ISPA helped found the Internet Watch Foundation to tackle images of child abuse and criminally obscene adult content, and works with law enforcement and industry to block and remove child abuse content.
"Images hosted in the UK can be removed in under an hour from being first reported, and content hosted abroad can be blocked in in less than ninety minutes. "Industry will continue to work with the IWF, law enforcement and others in this important area.
"However ISPs are not in a position to police the internet for child abuse content, as it is currently illegal for anyone to seek out such illegal material.
"For content that is not illegal, industry has moved to make filtering tools more widely available to their customers, putting them in control of what occurs on their connection.
"However filtering is only one part of the solution alongside education and parental awareness and involvement."