IWF refocuses on international issues

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has relaunched itself, putting an emphasis on co-operation with its counterparts in other countries, tackling racism on the Internet, and raising its profile.

The organisation was established in 1996, and is well known for its efforts to thwart child pornography and other illegal content. It has also responded to complaints - often made through its hotlines - about material deemed offensive by Net users.

As part of the move, Roger Darlington, head of research at the Communications Workers Union (CWU), has been appointed chair of the IWF board.

He said: "The Internet is overwhelmingly a power for good, but [with so many users] there are bound to be some problems with content."

David Kerr remains IWF chief executive, while Ruth Dixon, IWF assistant chief executive, also takes up a position as the first president of an EU-funded association of European hotlines.

The IWF will start to design and deliver a new filtering system from the end of this month. The EU and members of ICRA (the Internet Content Rating Association) will fund the project equally.

The IWF's latest moves were endorsed by Patricia Hewitt, the Minister for E-Commerce, Alex Allan, the government's E-Envoy, and the London Internet Exchange (Linx).

However, Chris Ellison, founder of Internet Freedom, criticised the IWF, branding it "unaccountable", and saying it "operates a policy of invisible censorship that is repugnant to democracy".