P2P networks and child sexual abuse material

The growing concern of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) for the distribution of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was discussed during the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE) General Assembly held in Lithuania earlier this year.

Peer-to-peer refers to the interaction between online communities where members share, search and download files which are located on their computers. The essence of P2P is that end users are directly communicating with each other, rather than through a centralised server. The end users become servers for all other end users on the network.

The P2P presentation during the INHOPE General Assembly included and explained academic research into the scale of the problem and how Hotlines can be successful in tracing people sharing CSAM via P2P interaction. It also encouraged issues to be addressed to improve the international action against such P2P activities resulting with INHOPE establishing a working group to further examine these issues.

The scale of P2P activities also raised the operational issues faced for hotlines and INHOPE will endeavour to help hotlines in addressing this later in the year via further training.

INHOPE joined the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) alliance, as an industry partners in May this year.

INHOPE supports and coordinates worldwide internet hotlines dealing with illegal content online, primarily child sexual abuse material. With internet hotlines being an effective first line of defence against illegal activity online, INHOPE’s work strongly aligns with the VGT’s aims of keeping children safe online.

For more information on INHOPE, visit the INHOPE website.