Opinion: Time to teach the internet watchdog some new tricks?

The IWF may have done a good job in ridding the UK of child abuse websites. But with the increasing number of threats on the internet, it could be time for a change of strategy, argues Brian White.

Supporters of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) will point to the decline in the hosting of child porn sites in the UK - from 17 per cent to less than one per cent - as evidence that the system works. But does it?

The IWF has a very limited remit in an increasingly complex environment. When it started, detecting child abuse sites and stopping paedophiles was the only threat.

But in a world where terrorists use the internet, where organised crime is linked to virus threats, where identity theft is becoming a major problem - and issues around copyright and privacy are going to dominate debate - are we going to have to invent a new IWF-type organisation every time a new threat appears?

The government's new crime-fighting organisation, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), is going to be a key weapon in ensuring a safe online environment. Along with regulator Ofcom, it will have all the powers necessary to deal with a variety of problems on the internet.

So what is the point of the IWF in this changed environment?

As a strong believer in accredited self-regulation, I can see value in Ofcom and Soca devolving a range of activities to the industry.

But why should we create a multitude of competing self-regulators who will tackle the problem piecemeal?

Either we should ask the IWF to expand the range of activities it covers or else we should create a new one covering the whole spectrum of threats, including online child abuse.

At the moment the industry is giving a lot of money to the IWF in order to salve its conscience, and keep the government at bay. All that means is that there are a lot of issues not being properly addressed, and meanwhile pressure is building for something to be done.

The IWF broke the back of the child abuse sites hosted in the UK and provided a mechanism whereby take-down procedures evolved. But these are not the problems of today.

What it is doing for the future is the challenge it and the industry faces.

The choice is clear: either the IWF must adapt and grow or else we must conclude that it has passed its sell-by date.

Brian White is a business adviser and former MP for Milton Keynes North East. When an MP, he was treasurer of the Parliamentary ICT Committee and an officer of the All Party Internet Group.