§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
What, if any, United Kingdom legislation exists which makes it illegal to display pornographic or paedophilic images on the Internet. [HL1225]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalIn general the law applies equally online as offline. Thus legislation covering the legality of published material applies whether the material is published online or off. For England and Wales, the Protection of Children Act 1978 makes it an offence to take, make, advertise, possess in order to distribute or to distribute an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child. Section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes it an offence simply to possess such a photograph. Downloading an image from the Internet constitutes an offence of "making", and having such an image even in the form of electronic data constitutes possession. Placing such an image on an Internet site would constitute distribution. There are statutory defences to these offences. Currently a photograph is covered by this legislation if the child depicted is under 16, but this age will be increased to under 18 by the Sexual Offences Act, 2003 when it comes into force later this year. The Sexual Offence Act 2003 also includes a new offence at Section 12, of causing a child to watch a sexual act, which would include showing a child an image of sexual activity, for the purpose of sexual gratification.
The Obscene Publications Act 1959 makes it an offence to publish material that is likely to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to see, hear or read it. Publishing can include showing such material on an Internet site. Possession of such material for gain was made an offence in the Obscene Publications Act 1964.
§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have made any comparisons between United Kingdom legislation and legislation in other countries which makes it illegal to display pornographic or paedophilic images on the Internet. [HL1226]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalHome Office Research Study 157,Testing obscenity: an international comparison of laws and controls relating to obscene material, which was published in 1996, compared the obscenity laws in England and Wales with those in a number of other countries in order to discover the various ways in which countries define and deal with obscenity in printed material, at the cinema and on video. Although it predated widespread take up of the Internet, most countries saw protection of children as a particular concern.
In the course of negotiations in respect of international initiatives to combat the circulation of indecent photographs of children, such as the Council of the European Union Framework Decision on 30WA combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, the legislative postitions of member states form the background to discussions. There is an ongoing exchange of information between the UK and other countries both formally, for example, under the auspices of the G8 strategy on "Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet" and informally between officials which continues to add to our knowledge of the legislative position in other countries and supports our co-operation with them.
§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the United Kingdom is a party to any international treaties of legal obligations which seek to prohibit pornographic or paedophilic images on the Internet. [HL1227]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalThe United Kingdom is fully involved with international initiatives to combat the circulation of indecent images of children via the Internet. The Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, signed in November 2001, aims to provide for common definitions and minimum standards for offences concerning child abuse images handled on computers. It also seeks to provide for investigative methods appropriate for the offences and for collecting evidence in an electronic form, and to define measures to ensure effective international co-operation. The UK is also signatory to a Council of the European Union Framework Decision on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, which is broader as it covers behaviour on or offline. In addition, the e-commerce directive, under Article 19, lays a general obligation on member states to co-operate with each other in dealing with cross-border complaints about online services.
In the G8 group a strategy on "Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet" was adopted in October 2002. The strategy is designed to complement existing national and international initiatives, and has eight key objectives addressing: information and intelligence gathering, dissemination and sharing; victim identification; suspect location; legislation; law enforcement tools and training; industry and NGO co-operation; awareness building and prevention; and international co-operation. An important element of the strategy is an international child pornography image database. The database aims to act as a global respository of images with the capacity to carry out automated analysis. It would be a significant tool for law enforcement contributing to the identification of victims and offenders and analysis of images to establish locations and other linkages. An implementation study is currently being undertaken. The G8 has also established a network operating 24 hours a day for the exchange of information in investigations involving electronic evidence that require urgent assistance from foreign law enforcement, which now involves 33 countries.
However, there are no specific international initiatives dealing with images involving sexual or 31WA violent activities among adults, as there is no international consensus on what constitutes obscenity, or when the freedom of an adult to have access to obscene or pornographic material should be constrained.
§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which Government department has responsibility for receiving or dealing with complaints about the showing of pornographic or paedophilic images on the Internet. [HL1228]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department has responsibility for this area of the criminal law.
Pornography is not defined in law, but the Obscene Publications Act 1959 covers material which is considered by the courts as tending to "deprave and corrupt" those who read, see or hear it. The Protection of Children Act 1978 (as amended) covers the taking, making, distribution or simple possession of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children. This legislation applies equally to the Internet as to other media.
Internet users can report potentially illegal material to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) via their website (www.iwf.org.uk) or to the police.
§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are satisfied that the present non-statutory Internet Watch arrangements are sufficient to deal with the trade in pornographic and paedophilic images; and, if not, what further action they intend to take. [HL1230]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalThe Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is an industry-funded body which allows anyone to report the presence of images of child abuse anywhere in the world. The foundation determines whether the reported website carries potentially illegal material, and passes details of illegal material to the relevant law enforcement agencies to initiate action against the originators. Where the site is hosted within the UK, law enforcement will seek its removal with the relevant Internet service provider (ISP) and this procedure has been extremely successful in practice. The IWF is providing an invaluable service dealing with 21,341 reports in 2002, 9,602 of which contained potentially illegal content: it is significant that in 2002 only 2 per cent of sites reported to the IWF that contained indecent photographs of children were hosted within the UK, the bulk being hosted in the USA, Russia, and some other European states. In respect of adult pornography, we are confident in the ability of the IWF to identify material that is potentially in breach of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 in response to complaints, and to refer to the police any which is hosted within the UK.