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Lycos Europe chat partners with Virtual Global Taskforce
31 August 2005
Lycos Europe has become the first chat room operator to join the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), a global alliance of law enforcement and business to fight online child abuse.
As part of its partnership, LYCOS Europe will proactively share information of any suspicious activity reported by its team of 776 moderators or gathered by its advanced "Crypto-log" software with the National Crime Squad. The software monitors for inappropriate activity within the chatrooms and notifies the chat team to take a look at anything suspicious.
From 31st August LYCOS.co.uk will also incorporate links so that users will be able to report online abuse direct to law enforcement , via the Virtual Global Taskforce's dedicated consumer website (virtualglobaltaskforce.com).
LYCOS Europe is the first chat room operator to become a VGT industry partner. The company joins Microsoft, MSN, BT, AOL and Vodafone as a leading online industry the VGT has recognised as having stringent child safety measures. The partnership will further both organisations' efforts to deter and detect suspicious online activity.
In addition to LYCOS Europe and its users being able to report suspicious behaviour, chatters will be encouraged to access information about online safety. Links will be incorporated from LYCOS.co.uk and LYCOS Chat to the VGT information website. VGT safety advice will be incorporated across existing user education and advice materials.
Jim Gamble, Deputy Director General of the National Crime Squad, and Chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce comments: "I am delighted to welcome Lycos as a new VGT industry partner. LYCOS Communities and LYCOS.co.uk have already evidenced their child-safety credentials by the extensive range of safety measures that they employ within their chat environments.
"The partnership with the VGT will reinforce these measures by enabling children within those environments to access, with a single click, a wide range of information, advice and support. This includes information on how to report online child abuse direct to law enforcement, advice on how to stay safe online and support to victims and potential victims of abuse.
"The VGT and LYCOS working in partnership is, I believe, another significant step forward towards our goal of making the UK the safest place in the world for children to go online."
John van Vroenhoven, Managing Director LYCOS.co.uk said: "LYCOS has long believed that if done correctly, chat rooms on the web could be made extremely safe, and this partnership is acknowledgement of that.
"However, we want to ensure that our users have access to the information and advice that will help keep them safe online. We also want to be able to use the monitoring software we have in place to take action against criminals and will be working closely with VGT to enable this."