DNS Belgium has committed to start using the Domain Alert services of the Internet Watch Foundation. The IWF is a non-profit organisation that has combated illegal content on the internet since 1996 through international collaborations with tech companies, governments, educational institutions, etc.
The IWF plays a crucial role in combating child abuse on the internet. By identifying and reporting suspicious content, it contributes to making the internet safer for everyone and preventing online abuse, in this case specifically of children. Strengthening the safety and integrity of the .be domain name zone is one of our core tasks and this initiative can be an essential part of that.
Alarming increase
Globally, there has been an alarming increase in reports of sexual child abuse. In 2023, the NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) received 36.2 million reports from platforms and companies in the US containing more than 100 million images. A Belgian perpetrator or victim was involved in just over 40,000 reports.
Nel Broothaerts CEO Child Focus
‘The actual number is much higher, as the reports only reflect part of the total problem,’ explains Nel Broothaerts, the new CEO of Child Focus. ‘Unfortunately, the available resources of police, hotlines, and companies fall short of effectively investigating and removing all images on the internet. This requires more capacity and collaboration at all levels.’
‘There’s also a disturbing erosion and shift of norms. We’ve observed that increasingly younger children are falling victim to these atrocities and that the severity of the incidents is escalating.’
‘Most of the material is shared on the internet through platforms and apps we use daily.’
Not a marginal issue
‘As a society, we urgently need to open our eyes to this phenomenon,’ says Broothaerts. ‘It’s not a small, marginal issue happening in the dark corners of the internet. Instead, it’s a disturbingly large-scale phenomenon affecting many children worldwide that is easily accessible to a multitude of people.’
‘Most of the material is shared on the internet through platforms and apps we use daily. We need good international legislation that also holds big tech accountable. Online platforms need to be more strongly encouraged to implement measures because all too often we're seeing a discrepancy between what is considered absolutely unacceptable offline and what is tolerated online. And that gap urgently needs to be bridged.’
Were you a victim of cybercrime or do you want to report online abuse?
Here is a list of hotlines.
How does the Internet Watch Foundation work?
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) plays a crucial role in detecting and removing illegal online content and images of child abuse.
Both the public and partners can report suspicious or illegal content. These reports are carefully assessed by trained IWF analysts, who work in accordance with UK legal guidelines.
This is followed by the tracing process. The IWF collaborates with international law enforcement agencies and organisations to identify illegal content. Using advanced technologies, the IWF traces the source of the illegal content.
Once the hosting location has been identified, the IWF works with internet service providers and the relevant authorities worldwide to remove the content as quickly as possible.
The IWF also keeps a blacklist of websites that spread content with sexual abuse. ‘You can use this list with your registrars to block access to such websites,’ says Broothaerts. ‘It’s crucial to keep using these lists because perpetrators quickly move to another service when a website is made inaccessible.’
What is DNS Belgium doing?
DNS Belgium has subscribed to two IWF services for TLD registries:
- TLD Hopping List
- Domain Alerts
TLD Hopping List
A domain name for a website with child sexual abuse images and videos registered in at least three TLDs is added to IWF’s TLD Hopping List. This means there’s a suspicion the domain name owners will activate their website in other zones (TLD hopping) once the website is taken down in a specific zone.
We check if domain names from the list occur in the .be zone. And if they do, we thoroughly check the registrant 's contact details. If they’re incorrect or incomplete, we launch a 'bad whois ' procedure.
If the domain name doesn’t yet occur in the .be zone, we add it to the list of terms triggering a registrant verification upon registration.
Domain alerts
We now also receive notifications when domain names associated with websites containing CSAM content (Child Sexual Abuse Material) are discovered in the .be zone. This hasn’t happened yet, but if it does, we’ll immediately report it to Child Focus for further investigation.
‘Last year, we noted a 32% increase in reports through our helpline compared to the previous year. It’s clear that we need to step up our efforts in Belgium.’
A safer internet in Belgium
These actions show DNS Belgium’s commitment to removing this harmful content from its domain name zone.
‘Registrars and registries play an essential role in combating the spread of child sexual abuse images and videos,’ believes Nel. ‘When hosting companies discover that a customer has posted illegal images or videos on their servers, they must immediately inform the police and make the material inaccessible as soon as possible.’
‘Belgium currently doesn't have a structural problem with hosting child sexual abuse images and videos,’ says Broothaerts. ‘But that doesn’t mean there are no victims or perpetrators in Belgium. Last year, we noted a 32% increase in reports through our helpline compared to the previous year. It’s clear that we need to step up our efforts in Belgium.’
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With this article, we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.