Since October 2010 INTERPOL has been compiling the so called "Worst of"-list of domains distributing child sexual abuse material, a list that is made available to ASPs ((Internet) Access Service Providers) for policy based implementation. CIRCAMP believes that a national legislation based list of domains that are illegal to distribute in the national networks is the best solution, but also recognizes that achieving this might be difficult in some areas.

 A large number of countries have lacking legislation, a lack of recourses or the political will to protect the child victims that are depicted in this material being distributed on the Internet. A comprehensive overview of legislation, or the lack of legislation, relating to child sexual abuse material collected by ICMEC (International Center for Missing and Exploited Children) can be viewed here. At the same time, many ASPs that are providing commercial access to the Internet in those countries wish to keep such distribution out of their networks based on their policy, their contract with the subscribers or for other reasons. INTERPOL is now providing a possible solution to this in cooperation with CIRCAMP - the "Worst of"-list of domains.

 ASPs may acquire access to the list of domains through an agreement with their local NCB (National Central Bureau/INTERPOL office) in any of the 188 member countries of INTERPOL. There are no requirements on reporting or providing statistics to INTERPOL or the national police. Blocking access to the most severe child sexual abuse material, based on strict criteria, is pure prevention - not intended to generate criminal cases or arrest suspects.

Blocking access to child sexual abuse material on the Web will limit the amount of commercially distributed material, as the customer base of the criminals behind the distribution is reduced.The INTERPOL initiative will be a great aid in limiting access to the most severe child sexual abuse material that is available to the approximately 2 000 000 000 Internet users out there. The number of domains being blocked in the INTERPOL "Worst of"-list will be significantly lower than that of a national list based on specific legislation, mainly as a result of the strict INTERPOL criteria. While a person younger than 18 is usually viewed as a child in most countries, INTERPOL has chosen to find the common denominators that would or should make the content illegal in most countries:

The European Commission on 29 march 2010 proposed new rules obliging EU countries to impose more severe punishment on those who sexually abuse children. The proposal also calls for criminal prosecution of activities like 'grooming' (befriending children with the intention of sexually abusing them) and "sex tourism", even if the child abuse has taken place outside the EU. The Commission also wants more to be done to prevent these offences and to protect the victims. It particularly wants to make sure that offenders can get tailor-made treatment so that they don't abuse again.

Circamp and its appraoch has been made one of the key actions in the plans. In the proposal Member States have to take the necessary measures to obtain the removal of internet pages containing or disseminating child pornography. If such websites are difficult to remove, Member States will be obliged to ensure that access to websites containing child pornography can be blocked, as they are very difficult to take down at the source, especially if the site is outside the EU. The proposal will leave it to Member States to decide exactly how the blocking should be implemented but legal safeguards will always apply.

The issue of the Circamp filtering method and approach is again heavily debated in Germany. After the plans had been stored in the fridge by the new government at the end of 2009, the recommendations of the EU Commission and the Council of Ministers has refuelled the discussion. Below some extracts from Der Spiegel.

The stop sign is back: At the European level the maw enforcement agencies will continue to put on block lists and filter against the display of child abuse on the Internet. In a draft of the Council of Ministers supports the use of network filters in Europe. Read the full article in Der Spiegel (in German)

The EU Commission and the Council of Ministers still want Europe to introduce the controversial internet filters. The filter systems are already in use in countries such as Itay . Will the "Stop" signs come via Brussels? The EU parliament could stop the controversial directive. Read the full article in Der Spiegel (in German)

Minister of Justice Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger confronts the EU-Commission: the FDP-minister is trying to prevent the EU plans for internet blocking of child pornography Web sites - for network blocking she says, are not effective. She gets support from the SPD and the Greens. Read the full article in Der Spiegel (in German)

There are many countries running the CSAADF, and thus preventing the distribution of child sexual abuse material on the Web, as defined in their national law. Since the various National Police forces evaluate the available child sexual abuse material do so according to their national legislation the results differ, and a domain that is blocked in one country may be legal, available and accessible in another.

When an users Internet browser is attempting to access a domain defined as illegal in said country due to content, a so called “stop page” is displayed.  Information about submitting complaints about the specific websites blocking is included on this page. Such complaints will be directed to the police in that specific country and will lead to the domain being re-checked and the blocking lifted or upheld. This functionality will deal with notifications between the Internet users and National Police.