Kazakhstan joins INHOPE to fight child pornography

Kazakhstan has stepped up its fight against child pornography by entering INHOPE, an organization that fights illegal content, Tengrinews reports citing Shavkat Sabirov, head of the Internet Association of Kazakhstan, as saying. Kazakhstan is among the Top 10 countries that host the largest number of servers that distribute content promoting sexual abuse of minors. “Kazakhstan officially joined INHOPE in Amsterdam (in mid November). The organization has 48 hotlines from 38 countries. The NGO is capable of reacting promptly when distribution of child pornography is reported - the response time ranges from a couple of hours to 2 days. The membership in the INHOPE has provided Kazakhstan with contacts with giants like Facebook and Google, as well as Interpol and Europol," Sabirov said. "According to INHOPE, 47% of the reports of child pornography in non-INHOPE countries in 2012 were targeted against abusive content of commercial websites hosted in Kazakhstan and 14% of the reports were against content of noncommercial websites hosted in Kazakhstan. 19% of all the reports (both INHOPE member-countries and non-INHOPE countries) target Kazakhstan. This percentage is huge, it is virtually every fifth report! Only Vietnam is ahead of Kazakhstan. That is why our NGO is working hard to fight this evil,” Sabirov said. According to Sabirov, over 470 cases of distribution of illegal content were registered in Kazakhstan Internet segment in 2013. 51.5% of these case was abuse and harassment in the Internet, 18.1% were Internet frauds, 24.4% were racism, nationalism and xenophobia. And 6.2% contained other kinds of illegal content, copyrighting violation, slander and infringement of personal privacy. Sabirov also reminded that the Internet Association of Kazakhstan had hotlines, since 2011 to help remove illegal content. This service exists so that people can report websites that promote pornography, extremism, terrorism, cruelty and violence. The online hotline is a website where the user may post a link to the websites that offer illegal content. Sabirov stressed that the report was anonymous. According to the Internet Association, Kazakhstan users usually use the hotline to report internet abuses and frauds. While websites promoting pornography are reported very seldom. INHOPE is the International Association of Internet Hotlines. It is an umbrella organization coordinating a network of Internet Hotlines all over the world, supporting them in responding to reports of illegal content to make the Internet a safer environment. INHOPE Members operate a public Hotline to receive complaints about apparent illegal content, they then assess the content in accordance with their national laws and if they consider it to be illegal they trace the material to a hosting country. If the content is illegal in the hosting country then the national Hotline takes steps to have the material ‘taken down’ in consultation with their law enforcement partners. As the definition of illegal content varies from country to country the landscape is quite complicated as to what practical measures can be taken. But in the case of child sexual abuse material there is a global consensus on tackling the problem and so all INHOPE Members have a common purpose which is to remove child sexual abuse websites from the Internet as soon as possible. INHOPE was founded in 1999 and has grown to a network of 48 Hotlines in 38 countries across the globe. This was achieved with funding and support from the European Commission under the Safer Internet Program. In recent years Internet usage & connectivity have grown rapidly. It has changed the way we communicate, the way we do business and ultimately the way we live. Sadly there are those who use this technology for illegal activities especially spreading Child Sexual Abuse Material. By Roza Yesenkulova