[news release] Governments and internet bodies must prevent web addresses being registered which openly refer to child sexual abuse, according to the Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland.Speaking at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG 2016) in Brussels, Secretary General Jagland said:”It is just not acceptable that it is taking so long to close down websites openly referring to child sexual abuse, sometimes even in their names, or deal with this kind of abuse. The fact that criminals are able to parade their vile acts so shamelessly is unacceptable. A zero-tolerance approach to child abuse means saying: No, you cannot blatantly advertise your horrific crimes,” said the Secretary General.”It will send an important signal about the kind of place we want the internet to be if public authorities and bodies involved in the registration process take a clear and united stance on this, working together with law enforcement and NGOs to stop such sites from being registered.”In its recent report the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation said that many new generic top-level domain names created alongside traditional domain names, like .com, are now being specifically registered to share child sex abuse imagery.Forty-one Council of Europe member states have ratified the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) which obliges states to take steps to prevent or prohibit the dissemination of materials advertising offences covered by the convention.
For a video of the speech by the Secretary General, see the CoE news release at:
http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/internet-web-addresses-promoting-sex-crimes-against-children-must-be-stopped