Child Abuse Material has been blocked from internet sites by An Garda Síochána and Irish Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Interpol “Worst Of” List (IWOL) contains domains that provide the most severe child sexual abuse material available on the open web. Currently 1,857 websites on IWOL are blocked worldwide.
The initiative applies to approximately 96% of the country.
An Garda Síochána along with BT Ireland, Eir Ireland, Sky Ireland, Tesco Mobile, Three Ireland and Vodafone Ireland signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will block access to websites containing child sexual abuse material.
The Garda Blocking Initiative is a voluntary scheme under An Garda Síochána and Irish Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block illegal child sexual abuse material on 1,857 websites.
The purpose of the initiative is to prevent individuals for gaining access to child sexual abuse material online and also help protect children who have been abused and filmed of further exploitation.
The Garda Blocking Initiative was first introduced in 2014 with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between An Garda Síochána ans the Internet Service Provider UPS (now Virgin Media) concerning the blocking of child abuse material.
The Garda National Protective Service Bureau (GNPSB) has provided each Internet Service Provider with an updated list of suspect domain names.
The 1,857 websites blocked in this initiative have been verified by Interpol.
The domains on the list contain videos and images that fit the following criteria: Children are ‘real’, children appear to be younger than 13 years old, the abuse is considered severe.
With the initiative in place, users that enter a browser containing child abuse material will be redirected to An Garda Síochána “Stop Page” where they will be notified of their attempt to view illicit material.
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