Microsoft joins the fight against Internet paedophilia
Date: April 24, 2004Source: Computer Crime Research Center
Microsoft and The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children have joined forces to battle the Internet's child pornography problem, and have formed the Global Campaign Against Child Pornography.
Microsoft worked with ICMEC last year to launch a worldwide series of training programs for law-enforcement personnel who investigate computer-facilitated crimes against children. So when Sheila Johnson, a Washington, D.C.-area philanthropist and a member of the ICMEC board, sought a matching donor for her US$500,000 contribution to increase the effort, Microsoft was a logical partner.
The combined $1 million donation enables the Global Campaign Against Child Pornography to coordinate the efforts of international law-enforcement agencies, individuals, and organizations to help eradicate online child predators from the Internet. Equally important, the campaign will work to build public awareness on a global scale, in many languages.
"It will create a system for tracking the incidence of child pornography, identifying its patterns, marshaling expertise, and developing programs to fight it," Johnson says. "The campaign aims to build a global information-sharing network to help law-enforcement officials identify and rescue the victims of child pornography."
The campaign will focus on several key objectives, the first of which is to create a global-monitoring and oversight system. Other efforts include the development and promotion of systems for identifying victims and improving the way in which law enforcement can investigate and prosecute offenders. The campaign also aims to develop legislation that ensures consistency among different countries and promotes involvement from the private sector.
"The Internet knows no jurisdictional boundary or geographical border," says Ron Noble, secretary general of Interpol, "and neither do the criminals who use it to exploit children."
Microsoft appear to be very enthusiastic about making the Internet a "safe" place to be. Nancy Anderson, Microsoft deputy general counsel, said in the press release, "The Internet must remain a place that is safe and conducive to learning, not an instrument for criminals".
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| 2004-04-29 03:50:38 - My sincere thanks to Microsoft for joining... Vicki Staubs |
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