Silicon.com: ISPs must block illegal content, says senior policem an

[Owen Blacker]

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> HEADLINE: ISPs must block illegal content, says senior policeman
> PUBLISHED: 4:00pm on Friday 16th February 2001
> CHANNEL: Ebusiness security
> AUTHOR: Pia Heikkila
> SERVICE: http://www.silicon.com
> 
> TEXT OF STORY FOLLOWS:
> 
> One of the UK's most senior policemen has said that ISPs must 
> try harder to stop illegal material appearing on the sites 
> they host - or else face prosecution.
> 
> Bob Packham, deputy director general of the National Crime 
> Squad, spoke to silicon.com at the Operation New Frontiers 
> conference in Birmingham earlier this week, and made his 
> comments in light of the recent arrest of the key players in 
> an online paedophilia ring.  
> 
> He said: "Paedophile material is so obvious, the ISPs must 
> recognise these sites themselves. The possession of such 
> material is a criminal offence so they have to make 
> absolutely sure the material they are hosting is not illegal."
> 
> But this remark has angered the Internet Service Providers' 
> Association (ISPA). Tim Snape, a committee member of the 
> organisation, claimed that ISPs cannot be responsible for 
> paedophile material.
> 
> "ISPs can not be blamed for hosting this sort of material 
> because it arrives from all over the world to our machines 
> and is therefore made available. ISPs will remove it as soon 
> as they find out the material is illegal," he said.
> 
> He also accused the law enforcement agency of being a poor 
> communicator. "They should be talking to us directly if there 
> is a problem," he said. 
> 
> Dan Stevenson, analyst at Jupiter MMXI, said it is physically 
> impossible for ISPs to check every site they host.
> 
> "It's not logistically possible to check all the content they 
> are hosting because they offer a certain amount of free space 
> to subscribers. Usually, the criminals move sites around too 
> quickly to be able to track them down in the first place. In 
> my opinion, ISPs are normally very quick to react against any 
> offensive material," he said.
> 
> We'll have more from the conference - including a revealing 
> insight into how much the police know about RIP - in our News 
> in View programme next Tuesday.
> 
> For related news, see: 
> Cyber Sherlocks need to tread softly softly
> http://www.silicon.com/a42757
> Online paedophilia sees seven Britons jailed
> http://www.silicon.com/a42664 
> Porn filters get EU kitemark
> http://www.silicon.com/a41808 
> Forger faces seven years in prison for porn email scam
> http://www.silicon.com/a41525 
> UK ISPs slammed over web censoring survey
> http://www.silicon.com/a36256 
> Online porn set for dedicated domain name
> http://www.silicon.com/a29381 
> 
> To see this article:-  http://www.silicon.com/a42747
> 
> STORY ENDS
> 
> For more information on silicon.com go to http://www.silicon.com.
> 
> silicon.com - the who, what, when, where and why of ebusiness

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