Internet giants ‘still don’t get it’

Published Jul 30, 2013

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London - Internet giants came under fire on Monday night from British MPs who warned that it is “still too easy” to access child pornography and material that incites terrorism online.

In a scathing report, Westminster’s home affairs committee accused “complacent” internet service providers of being “far too laid back about what takes place on their watch”.

They are demanding a new mandatory code of conduct which will force them to take down vile content.

The MPs say this is particularly urgent in the wake of the murders of April Jones and Tia Sharp - whose killers had both accessed child porn online.

They are also concerned that, in the aftermath of the Woolwich attack, extremist material used to incite terrorism remains freely available online.

Committee chairman Keith Vaz said: “The tragic murders of April Jones and Tia Sharp have shown the terrible consequences of access to indecent images on the web.

“Young people are increasingly radicalised online by the words of radical clerics such as Anwar al-Awlaki on YouTube or internet magazine Inspire. What starts on the web, ends up on the streets of Woolwich.”

Mr Vaz added: “The Prime Minister was right to highlight the responsibility of the internet service providers, search engines and social media sites.

“They are far too laid back about what takes place on their watch and they need to do more to take inappropriate content down. If they do not act, the government should legislate.”

On Monday, the Mail told how Google had been accused of turning a blind eye to child sex predators after it refused to sign up to an alert system that could stop paedophiles viewing vile images online.

Search engine Bing, which is owned by Microsoft, and Yahoo! have both agreed to flash up warning messages on the screens of users who type in terms that could lead them to child abuse sites.

Experts say the warnings would deter half of paedophiles by reminding them that their criminal activity can be tracked.

The MPs want the government to draw up a mandatory code of conduct with internet companies for dealing with child porn.

This would force them to remove material which breaches “acceptable behavioural standards”. They also want an anti-extremist version of the Internet Watch Foundation, which monitors online porn.

They say internet companies such as Google – which this month reported profits of £6.4-billion for the period April to June this year – should pay for the new body.

The report says: “There is no excuse for complacency. We urge those responsible to take stronger action to remove such content.”

Google said on Monday: “Child sex abuse imagery is illegal and we have a zero tolerance policy to it. We use purpose-built technology and work with child safety organisations like the Internet Watch Foundation to find, remove and report it, because we never want this material to appear in our search results.

“We are working with experts on effective ways to deter anyone tempted to look for this sickening material.” - Daily Mail

 

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