This month’s issue of the newsletter features articles from Insafe awareness nodes, and has a special focus on the subject of illegal content online.

The PROTEGELES Association, is a non-profit organisation funded under the Safer Internet Programme. It is dedicated to fighting against illegal content on the Internet. It runs the Spanish hotline, allowing citizens to report suspected illegal sites, especially child pornography.

It can be extremely frustrating for citizens who report illegal content on the Internet when they find it available at the same location weeks later. However, hotlines have to inform citizens that police investigations take time, and may require the site remaining online for a time.

Some cases are not easy to resolve since what is considered illegal content in Spain might not be considered illegal content in another country. It can be also hard to take action against some content, due to its particular situation or location.

Nonetheless, citizens should be assured that it is crucial to report these types of content. There have been a number of successful actions, such as Operation Marcy in November 2003.

Operation Marcy originated from a PROTEGELES tip-off to German counterpart ECO. It led to a police crackdown on one of the largest global child pornography networks – involving some 26,500 Internet users in 166 countries.


Author: Ana Luiza Rotta Soares, Project manager, PROTEGELES
 

Spain tackles illegal content
PROTEGELES has helped dramatically reduce illegal content in Spain by working together with the police and Internet service providers (ISPs).
Read more...

Swedish ISPs block child pornography
In April 2005, all the major internet service providers (ISPs) in Sweden agreed to block websites that contain child pornography.
Read more...

Police join forces against the exploitation of children
Since 2002, the G8, Interpol and Europol have been co-operating at the highest levels to protect children from sexual exploitation on the Internet.
Read more...

Young Danish storytellers meet their princess
On 1 June 2005, Her Highness Princess Alexandra, countess of Frederiksborg, awarded prizes to Danish winners of the “Safer Internet Magic and Friendship” storytelling competition. The ceremony was held at the Film House in Copenhagen.
Read more...

80% of Greeks did not use the Internet in 2004
According to Eurostat, Greece ranks last among the 25 members of the European Union in terms of its use of the Internet.
Read more...

Poland combats illegal content
On 1 January 2005, Poland became the first new EU member state to open a hotline for reporting illegal content online. The hotline has already dealt with hundreds of reports of potentially illegal material.
Read more...

File sharing concerns Danish parents
Children's file sharing is a technological jungle for many parents. Parents are still the experts on social values and ideas and they are concerned about their children's use of the Internet, says the Danish AntiPiracyGroup.
Read more...

Young people and cyber-hate in Belgium
The Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR) acts against the small minority of Internet users who promote hate and discrimination. It only resorts to legal action in the most extreme cases.
Read more...

New directives for chat
In June 2005, a common initiative of Dutch chat sites has resulted in a set of directives aimed at increasing chat safety among children and teenagers.
Read more...

top

Protecting children from online abuse
13 July 2005
London, UK
Read more...

ISec4Kids
31 July 2005
Vienna, Austria
Read more...

top

Portuguese parents go back to school for Internet safety
In Portugal, a private university recently announced a course for parents on "Children's Internet Safety", and has launched a big marketing campaign. Media interest on the subject is rising and some articles have been published on magazines and newspapers.
Read more...

top

About Insafe
Insafe is a European network of 19 countries, dedicated to raising awareness of Internet safety. The network includes a broad range of organisations, including charities, universities and media councils.

The Insafe network is coordinated by European Schoolnet, and supported by the European Commission’s Safer Internet Programme.

Further information about the Insafe network and its members is available on the Insafe Portal.