Executive Summary (English)

• Pages: 3-4

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Executive Summary (English)

Introduction

Study overview

This Study was first initiated by the European Parliament as a pilot project. It was then

commissioned by the European Commission (Directorate-General for Communications

Networks, Content and Technology – DG CONNECT) to undertake research on the various

factors that influence how INHOPE hotlines across the EU-27, the United Kingdom (UK),

Canada and the United States (US) deal with the identification and removal of online CSAM.

The objectives of the study are to:

a) Analyse the functioning of the INHOPE network of intern et hotlines;

b) Make recommendations to improve the current system;

c) Identify proactive operations for hotlines.

Why this study?

The development of we b browsers in the early 1990s propell ed the advancement of what

had formerly been the small and specialised purvi ew of the internet. Individuals with little

technical knowledge of the internet or c omputers were sudd enly capa ble of executing

complex tasks and functions. As technological development accelerated and its

participatory capacity grew (through the growth of user-generated content with the advent

of Web 2.0), the internet became simpler to use and mo re accessible.

Widespread availability means the internet has ena bled people the world over to connect

and share information as never before. Alongside its benefits are those who use the

Internet to facilitate criminal and harmful activity, such as the production and exchange of

online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The increased connectivity, anonymity and

depersonalisation of the internet has created a fertile ground for the emergence of new

forms of child sexual abuse online.

The International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE) was created in 1999 to

promote and coordinate the work of hotlines in as many countries as possible. INHOPE

comprises a network of hotlines working together to combat online CSAM. Law enforcement

agencies (LEAs) and governments lent their support to INHOPE, acknowledging their own

lack of resources to address the problem. INHOPE comprises 45 members across the world.

Hotline members share information between hotlines in order to enable prompt removal of

CSAM. INHOPE i s a contractual partner of the European Commission, which co-funds the

hotlines based in the EU Member States, Iceland and Norway, as one of the three elements

of the European Commission’s Safer Internet Centres. Each INHOPE hotline is obliged to:

 Provide a mechanism for the public to submit reports of online CSAM ;

 Have effective procedures in place for dealing with complaints ;

 Have support of government, the online service provider industry and law

enforcement1.

INHOPE facilitates the sharing of publi c reports between hotli nes, allowing one hotline to

efficiently exchange information when it receives reports of CSAM hosted under another

hotline’s jurisdiction. This exchange of reports is done vi a “I-see-child abuse material ”

(ICCAM), an EU-funded secure platform used by INHOPE hotlines to collect, exchange and

1 INHOPE Articles of Association (2017).