US tops online child abuse league

The Internet Watch Foundation received a record number of reports in the first half of 2006

Over half of all online child abuse content is hosted in the US, an internet watchdog has found.

A study released by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) traced 51.1 per cent of all reported child abuse content to web hosts in the US. 

The UK only accounted for 0.2 per cent of the content, a significant decrease from 18 per cent in 1997.

Reports of illegal content are submitted to the watchdog anonymously by members of the public.

The IWF received a record number of reports of potentially illegal content for the first six months of 2006.

A total of 14,313 reports were received, of which 4,908 resulted in illegal content being found. For the same period last year, 11,522 reports resulted in illegal material being discovered at 3,289 sites.

Peter Robbins, chief executive at the IWF, said: "2006 is proving our busiest year yet with record reports processed and a record number of websites confirmed to contain child abuse content.

"That only 0.2 per cent of child abuse content is hosted in the UK is a testament to the public's help in reporting suspicious websites, and to our partners such as ISPs, mobile operators, search providers, the government and police agencies for supporting our aims."

All reports were processed within 24 hours and any content hosted in the UK was removed within 48 hours.

However, removing content from hosts situated abroad remains a problem. One fifth of sites hosting illegal material were accessible for a period of six weeks.

• Click here to report suspected illegal content to the Internet Watch Foundation