What is Illegal?

The Internet has become a reliable source for information, communication and services. However, the material that can be viewed is not all 'clean'. Unfortunately, there are some web sites that leak illegal or offensive material whether this is intentional or unintentional (the web publisher unaware that the material is in fact illegal or offensive).

Illegal material will include anything that coincides with illegal activity such as child pornography, hate campaigns, threatening behaviour, racial abuse, etc.

Some material may not be technically illegal, but offensive or annoying such as adult pornography, spam and photographs of a non-civil nature.

When using a discussion forum or putting postings onto a web site (that isn't yours) you should respect that they will be legally responsible for any comments that you publish. A majority of such web sites will use administrators to filter out 'illegal' comments but occasionally the odd comment can slip through. The web site friendsreunited.com had a case where a teacher sued for an abusive comment posted by a registered user (a previous pupil).

Reporting Illegal Material

Should you identify potentially illegal material when surfing the Internet, you should contact the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). The IWF will look at any material that you believe is illegal given that the web site is hosted within the UK and will take further action if necessary. Visit www.iwf.gov.uk for more information.

If you discover material that is offensive or simply annoying, report the finding to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). ISP's have the power to remove the content from their servers if the web publisher is violating the contract.