ISPs urged to take action against child porn
by Lawrence Casiraya, CW Reporter-ITnetcentral
A NON-GOVERNMENT organization is
urging local Internet service providers (ISPs) to be more pro-active in
combating child pornography over the Internet through the use of a
software developed in the United Kingdom.
This software, developed by UK communications giant British Telecom as
part of a project called Cleanfeed, prevents subscribers from accessing
child pornography sites predetermined by the UK-based Internet Watch
Foundation.
According to Internet reports, British Telecom test-piloted the system
as early as July last year and was able to prevent some 2.7 million
subscribers from accessing thousands of child porn Websites, mostly
pay-per-view sites.
Father Shay Cullen of the Olongapo-based People's Recovery Empowerment
and Development Assistance (PREDA) group said in an interview with
Computerworld Philippines that the software can be had free of charge.
Fr. Cullen is lobbying before local ISPs to install the software in
their servers so that local subscribers will likewise be prevented from
accessing these Websites.
"We are seeking an audience with the Philippine Internet Services
Organization (PISO, the local association of ISPs) but they have yet to
issue a reply to us," he said.
According to statistics presented by Fr. Cullen during a recent CIO
forum conducted by Microsoft Philippines, there are more than 100,000
child pornography Websites, which earns some $3 billion every year from
viewing fees that are paid through credit cards.
LOCAL CASES
In a joint study by the University of the Philippines and the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that was presented last year, the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported 13 cases of
child pornography for 2003.
"But the number of unreported cases is definitely higher than that," Fr.
Cullen pointed out.
During the forum, the Olongapo-based priest sought the help of the
Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) in
enforcing anti-child pornography measures for ISPs, such as installing
the necessary filtering software.
"If there is a regulation that would mandate ISPs to use this software
by British Telecom, we are willing to monitor Websites that can be added
to the existing database," Fr. Cullen volunteered.
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