14 DAY TRIAL // The Interpol has announced plans to create and maintain a list of Internet domains containing severe child sexual abuse material, that Internet service providers from around the world can voluntarily block.
The list will be updated by an Interpol unit specialized in combating human trafficking, which is already involved in fighting child sexual exploitation, in collaboration with the organization's national bureaus.
Some countries already have similar projects, however, Interpol's list will focus on the "Worst of" child abuse domains, according to criteria defined by the pan-European Cospol Internet Related Child Abusive Material Project (CIRCAMP).
Part of the criteria states that the children must be real (computer generated or drawn images are not included), they must be (or appear to be) under 13 years old and the material must depict contact of a sexual nature.
"This initiative is a key tool of preventive policing against the online exploitation of child sexual abuse victims and will complement existing policing on the Internet," said Jon Eyers, INTERPOL’s assistant director of the Trafficking in Human Beings unit.
"Its prevention capabilities will aid in global law enforcement efforts to detect persons, disrupt and dismantle networks and organizations that produce, distribute and possess child sexual abuse material – while at the same time it will help protect the rights of abused children," he added.
Internet Access Service Providers (ASPs), who choose to participate in the project will redirect users trying to access domains on the list to a "stop page" provided by the Interpol.
Domain owners, who believe that their websites have been wrongfully included on the list, can report the errors through the European Police Office (Europol).
The creation of this list is the result of a resolution on limiting the online distribution of child abuse material voted by all 188 Interpol member countries at the organization's 2009 General Assembly in Singapore.