324 cases of online child pornography removed worldwide in 2011 as a result of Pointdecontact.net actions
February 03, 2012
324 cases of online child pornography removed worldwide in 2011 as a result of Pointdecontact.net actions
The 2011 annual report of AFA Point de Contact, the French online reporting service for offensive content, reveals the efficiency of removing illegal content on the Internet at its source, and particularly child pornography. Of 576 cases of illegal content removed in 2011, 324 involved child pornography, nearly 60%.
Paris, 30 January 2012: The French Internet Service Providers Association (AFA) released its statistical report for 2011. The figures provided by the Pointdecontact.net hotline show a stability of reports by Internet users in 2011. Only reports relating to offensive content accessible to minors1 and content identified as incitement to terrorism have increased by about 20%, while their proportion after qualification by the Point de Contact analysts has decreased compared to 2010.
80% of illegal content reported by the hotline to its partners was removed in 2011 Of the 7820 cases of offensive content reported by Internet users in 2011, 1966 were considered as illegal under French law by Point de Contact.
Among these 1966 reports, 7202 were passed on to the Central Office for the Fight against Crime related to Information and Communication Technology (OCLCTIC).
In parallel, 93 cases of illegal content located in France were notified to identified French hosting providers, whereas 290 were located in countries that are members of the INHOPE international network, and duly reported to the competent partner hotline. For its part, the OCLCTIC passes on all illegal material hosted abroad and requiring investigation to INTERPOL.
100% of child pornography content notified by the hotline to French hosting providers was removed in 2011 86 cases of child pornography content were located in France in 2011, and all were removed. A complete success for AFA and its members and for France in general, where notification of child pornography content to the hosting provider by Point de Contact systematically and instantly lead to its removal at source.
i.e. messages of violent or pornographic nature or likely to cause serious harm to human dignity, which can be seen or perceived by a minor (cf Article 227-24 of the French Penal Code).
The number of reports transmitted to the authorities (720) is different from the number of reports relating to potentially illegal content as assessed by the content analysts (1966), because it doesn't include some of the content hosted abroad, which is not illegal under the hosting country's national law: e.g. hate speech in the United States.
The INHOPE International Association of Internet Hotlines was founded in 1999 with the support of the European Commission in order to permit the removal of child pornography at its source, and to facilitate and coordinate the work of the hotlines.
See www.inhope.org
90% of child pornography content reported by the French hotline to its INHOPE network partners was removed in 2011
The INHOPE network allows the removal of child pornography content at its source in 364 countries around the world, thanks to the actions of Point de Contact and its 39 international counterparts. In Europe, 100% of child pornography content reported to the German and UK hotlines was removed.
Outside the European Union, nearly 90% of child pornography content reported to the American hotline by Pointdecontact.net was removed in 2011, while it reached a rate of 100% in Russia and South Korea.
Europe calls for the removal of child pornography content at its source
The Directive on the sexual exploitation of children5, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 13 December 2011, requires, in its Article 25, that Member States take the necessary measures to ensure the prompt removal of web pages containing or disseminating child pornography hosted in their territory and to endeavour to obtain the removal of such pages when they are hosted in countries outside the European Union.
The Directive emphasises in particular, in its recital 47, the existence of the European Commission's Safer Internet Programme, which established and supports the INHOPE association and its hotlines located in EU Member States since 1999, the goal of which is to collect information and to ensure coverage and exchange of reports on the major types of illegal content online.
AFA was involved alongside EuroISPA, the European Association of Internet Services Providers, of which it is a founding member, in fostering the recognition of removal at source as the most effective measure in the fight against online child pornography.
South Africa, Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, South Korea, Denmark, Estonia, USA, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Taiwan, Turkey.
Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA.
About Point de Contact:
www.pointdecontact.net
Pointdecontact.net is the French online support service available to all, which allows users to anonymously report shocking content encountered on the Internet through a simple form, even from their mobile phone. Point de Contact was established as an initiative by the French Internet Service Providers Association (AFA), which is also a founding member of the INHOPE international association of Internet hotlines, with the aim of fighting against « harmful content ». Together, the Point de Contact hotline, the awareness raising activities of Internet Sans Crainte and the Net Ecoute Famille helpline make up the French « Safer Internet Center », which is coordinated by the « Délégation aux Usages de l’Internet » and supported by the European Commission under its « Safer Internet » program.
About Safer Internet Day (SID) 2012: www.saferinternetday.org
AFA’s Point de Contact and its French Safer Internet Centre partners rallied to the support of Safer Internet Day, which this year takes place on 7 February 2012, and is centred on the theme « Connecting generations and educating each other: Discovering the digital world together… safely! ».
To mark this event, the Point de Contact reporting service is providing youngsters aged 13 and over,
throughout the month of February, with an online form of 5 questions covering the way they approach
offensive content on the Internet. This survey aims to establish a dialogue between young people and their families on the issue of offensive content, and help Point de Contact to better identify the information needs of teenagers on this precise theme.
The questionnaire will be available from 1st February on the websites of AFA: www.afa-france.com, Point de Contact: www.pointdecontact.net, the French Safer Internet Centre: www.saferinternet.fr, as well as on the portals of AFA's members and partners.
The results of this survey will be released in March 2012, at the closing of Safer Internet Day.
Visuals available for download or on request by mail or telephone
Press Contacts:
Dominique Choin
+33 148 008 326
dchoin@neuf.fr
AFA -Carole Gay – Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs
+33 144 548 653
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