Talk Internet Protects Customers from Child Abuse Material

NEWS RELEASE- 4th February 2009

Any UK ISP can now implement an affordable system that blocks their users' access to websites containing child sexual abuse images (CSAI). The system, provided by Watchdog International, is called NetClean WhiteBox. Watchdog International, a global Internet filtering specialist organisation is making the NetClean WhiteBox available to all UK ISPs.

Talk Internet is the first UK ISP to implement the system and will benefit from a cost effective one size fits all blocking and filtering service which does not require ISPs to have extensive internal management resources.

The NetClean WhiteBox is a CSAI blocking and filtering system. It combines Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), IP tunnels, deep packet inspection (DPI), a list of live dynamic URLs supplied by the UK's IWF and a redirection mechanism, to direct users away from servers containing CSAI. Even if an end user, unintentionally or of their own accord, tries to access a CSAI page they are confronted with a stop sign, explaining why the page is unavailable for viewing.

Unlike most blocking and filtering systems the NetClean WhiteBox sits alongside the ISP's network rather than in it. Once the main server is set up it is very easy to operate. A few minutes' configuration of a network router is all that is required.

The NetClean WhiteBox has no effect on network performance and has been tested using the Swedish network SUNET, one of the world's fastest networks running at 10Gb/s and supporting over 350,000 users.

TeliaSonera International Carrier, one of Europe's largest communication suppliers of IP services, implemented the NetClean WhiteBox across their global IP network in September '08 to prevent downstream ISP services being misused to access CSAI.

Talk Internet's MD, Simon Jones said, "Contrary to popular opinion even small and medium sized ISPs can play their part in combating access to CSAI. No one wants illegal activity on their network. Watchdog has supplied us with the perfect service to block access to CSAI." "Although the NetClean WhiteBox system reduces our costs and doesn't require membership to the IWF, we are still a member of the Foundation and pay an annual subscription fee to support the work they do. Our membership shows Governments, both UK and abroad, that we are supporting a worthwhile effort to combat child abuse & illegal content, provides a comprehensive overview of relevant law and corporate implications and gives us a streamlined reporting interface for dealing with CSAI. I would hope that anyone taking the NetClean system will do so in conjunction with becoming an IWF member and benefit from the full range of services it offers."

Watchdog's MD, Peter Mancer, said, "Child protection is at the centre of everything Watchdog does. The UK Internet industry has an excellent track record of fighting illegal content on the Internet, exemplified by the establishment of the IWF. On the technical side we recognise that no ISP's network is the same. There has been no one size fits all technical method of blocking CSAI. Now UK ISPs can implement a low cost system that protects their users from CSAI content without interfering with the speed and reliability of their network. Talk Internet is the perfect example for UK ISPs to follow in making the Internet a safer place by embracing new technology."

John Carr, Secretary of the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety, says "Dealing with CSAI on the Internet is not an optional extra. It's part of the cost of doing business for a modern ISP. Governments round the world know that, technically, access to CSAI can be blocked and can be blocked inexpensively. If ISPs want Governments to back off, and allow self-regulation of the Internet a chance to work, then dealing with online CSAI is surely the acid test." -

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