NSPCC launches campaign to keep children safe online

The NSPCC is calling for a clampdown on individuals who view and share indecent images of children in a new internet safety campaign - SafetyNet - launched today (Mon 15 June.)

Sex offenders are increasingly sharing indecent images of children by setting up private spaces online using ‘peer to peer’ file sharing software. This is ordinarily used to share large files between friends or interest groups such as those featuring music downloads, big photographic images or academic material. The NSPCC wants the UK Government and industry to research and devise an action plan to stop the viewing and distribution of child abuse images in this way.

The campaign comes on the back of a new digital manifesto published by the Children’s Charities Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS), of which the NSPCC is a member. The manifesto features 42 recommendations to the UK Government, industry and others to give better protection to children online.

NSPCC and CHIS spokesperson, Zoe Hilton said: “Technology is advancing fast and we must keep ahead of the game. Offenders will go to any lengths to exploit new technologies.

“In the aftermath of Operation Ore* we expected the number of prosecutions and cautions involving child abuse images to have fallen dramatically from the historic peak of 2,234 in 2003. However the figure remained relatively high at 1,402 in 2007. The problem of child abuse images is directly linked to the growth of Internet and new technologies.

“A large number of people continue to seek out these images in any way possible. The UK and devolved Governments must be tenacious in their efforts to put in place measures to protect children online. They must also provide help for children who have been abused and who live with the knowledge that images of their abuse are being circulated in cyberspace.”

Additional campaign calls include protecting children who use the internet on their mobile; ensuring social networking sites are doing all they can to protect young users; pre-installation and pre-setting of child safety software; support for professionals; and therapeutic services for children who have been sexually abused.

Members of the public and over 600,000 of the charity’s contacts are being urged to sign a petition to the prime minister. They will be contacted through a number of avenues including the media, email, the NSPCC website and direct mail.  The petition sets out priorities for the new UK Council for Child Internet Safety (a recommendation of the Byron Review**), which reports directly to the Prime Minister.
Go to www.nspcc.org.uk/safetynetcampaign to sign up to the petition.

In Scotland the NSPCC is jointly running the campaign with its sister charity CHILDREN 1st, who will be urging their contacts to sign up via their website.  http://www.children1st.org.uk/124/safety-net-petition/index.htm
 
Ends
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Notes to editors
*In early 2002 the US Postal Inspection Service informed the British police of thousands of Britons who had subscribed to US websites showing indecent images of children. The investigation into this list is codenamed Operation Ore.
** http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/byronreview/

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