IT managers more aware of sexual offences procedures

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has achieved significant success with its “Wipe it Out” campaign to eliminate the downloading of illegal material in the workplace.

The campaign was launched in May, following the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) 2003. At the time, a survey of 200 IT managers found that many IT managers were unsure of the correct course of action to take, if they found illegal material on their servers.

Three quarters of those surveyed said they would not report employees who downloaded indecent images of children to the police. Forty percent of companies said they would not dismiss or even discipline an employee caught downloading illegal content.

Following the “Wipe it Out” campaign, the IWF says that sixty percent of IT experts are now up to date and aware of changes to the law.

IWF chief executive, Peter Robbins, said: “We are very pleased to see such increased levels of awareness of the IWF and the work we do.
“IT Managers and CEO’s should feel reassured this legislation is in place to help them operate within the law, protect their employees and company and help to minimise criminal activities such as viewing and distributing these illegal images.
“…there really is no excuse for employers not to have a policy in place which directly addresses the issue of potentially illegal child abuse images in the workplace”.