Child abuse: Stepping up the fight against online child sexual exploitation
4 Apr 2014 12:54 PM
Policing Minister Damian Green has announced the
latest work taking place to stamp out online child sexual
exploitation.
Addressing an NSPCC conference on child protection, the
minister revealed the government was working with major industry players Google
and Microsoft on a pilot to make it even tougher for paedophiles to share child
abuse images.
He
also told the
conference Google had launched a programme to second and embed their
engineers in the Internet Watch Foundation.
Industry solutions event
The
minister announced an industry solutions event bringing together experts from
across the technology sector will be held next month. UK Ambassador for Digital
Industries Joanna Shields will lead the event on 20 and 21
May.
The
experts will be encouraged to come up with innovative solutions to tackle the
sharing of images online and adults interacting with children online for sexual
purposes. Testing and development will take place over the summer and plans to
implement the most viable solutions will be outlined in
October.
UK/US Taskforce
The
speech provided an update on the work of the UK/US Taskforce to Counter Online
Child Exploitation which was established in December last year and is driving
the government’s agenda forward. The Taskforce will report to the Prime
Minister and the US Attorney General in November.
Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims
Damian Green said:
The
Taskforce has a formidable amount of work to do within a very short amount of
time.
But
we are acting quickly because we cannot afford delay – there are no
second chances where a child’s future or wellbeing is
concerned.
We
have a once in a generation opportunity to make a tangible difference to
protecting children across the globe.
We
– government, law enforcement and industry – must transform the way
technology is used, from it being an enabler of child sex abuse to it having an
active role in fighting this appalling crime.
Fellow speakers John Carr OBE, chairman of the
Children’s Charities Coalition for Internet Safety, and Microsoft head of
government affairs Becky Foreman, praised the government’s commitment to
stamping out child sexual exploitation.