The arrest of the deputy director of Downing Street policy, Patrick Rock, in relation to child abuse imagery has highlighted the need for the government to further examine its web filter policies.
Rock, one of Prime Minister David Cameron’s closest aides and a government advisor on policy for online pornography filters, was arrested in February after child abuse images were allegedly found on computers in 10 Downing Street.
Christian Berg, CEO at NetClean, a company that works with the Swedish government on their online filter policies, said this is a hard lesson for the UK government to learn, but you have to look after your own backyard.
"This incident proves that you can’t ask companies like BT and Google to solve the problem of child sexual abuse. It’s a collaborative effort between society, industry and government," he told CBR.
The news of Rock’s arrest comes after Cameron worked with Google, BT and Microsoft to block child sexual abuse content from their search results
"The UK government should look across borders for examples of best practice. The Swedish authorities have successfully implemented an alert system that flags when illegal content is accessed on government or local council networks," said Berg.
He told CBR that work place is so often missed from the debate about illegal online activity, but it is no exception.
By tracking IP addresses and images and videos known to be illegal, automated systems are more likely to catch those viewing content containing explicit material.
Berg added: "We need sophisticated technology using image detection to disrupt cyber criminals, because the majority of illegal material is shared via peer-to-peer networks, TOR or portable storage devices – not on the web."
