London - Charities have demanded urgent action to prevent access to illegal and “disgusting” child pornography via Google and other web browsers.
A coalition of organisations is arguing for the introduction of blocking software and on-screen warnings to deny internet users access to the material.
The group includes the NSPCC, Barnado’s, Action for Children, BAAF, Beat Bullying, Children England, Children’s Society, ECPAT UK, Kidscape, and Stop It Now.
Their call follows revelations in the Daily Mail on Saturday about the ease of finding video and photos of the sexual exploitation of young girls.
The investigation by Mail columnist Amanda Platell was prompted by the case of Stuart Hazell, killer of 12-year-old Tia Sharp, whose murderous fantasies were fuelled by online child pornography.
But the group, the UK Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety, questioned if firms like Google have the will to take action.
John Carr, government adviser on internet safety and secretary of the charity coalition, said the Mail was right to highlight the problem.
“Google can do more and should do more,” he said. “For example, whenever someone puts in a search that clearly indicates they are looking for child pornographic material, Google could flash up a warning.
“It could say ‘You are trying to reach child pornographic material. This is illegal and if you persist there is a chance of arrest and prosecution’.” Google’s web browser has three levels of filtering – “unfiltered”, “moderate” and “safe”. The default is moderate, which does not block hardcore porn. “It would be very easy for Google and others to have ‘safe search’ as the default,” Mr Carr said. It is illegal to search for child pornography and anyone who finds suspect images is advised to report them to the Internet Watch Foundation so they can be blocked.
Miss Platell’s article revealed how easy it is to find images of what appeared to be child sexual exploitation. All of the details have been passed to the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Carr said: ‘”his is a major public policy challenge. Amanda Platell is dead right in saying there needs to be some sort of control on Google’s searches.”
On Sunday Google said: “We take this issue extremely seriously. We are members and joint funders of the Internet Watch Foundation. When we discover child abuse imagery or are made aware of it we respond quickly to remove and report it.” - Daily Mail