Waterbeach: IWF Gets Google Donation

12 June 2013, 16:24 | Updated: 12 June 2013, 16:43

The Cambridgeshire-based Internet Watch Foundation has been given a £1 million donation by Google.

The IWF, which is based in Waterbeach, near Cambridge, works to remove child abuse images from the internet.

The money will be put towards recruiting more 'Internet Content Analysts'.

The organisation says the donation is the equivalent to an entire year's running costs.

Susie Hargreaves, IWF CEO said: "This is an incredibly generous donation and Google is demonstrating moral leadership in the field. 

This contribution will significantly boost our work to meet our vision eliminating online child sexual abuse content. 

We are experts at doing this and like any organisation we can do more, with more resource. 

We've been talking to Google about how we can do more together. 

This donation will directly fund additional skilled analysts who are the forefront of tackling some of the most horrendous content on the internet. 

The IWF's work isn't just about removing the content. 

Over the past two years we have helped identify and aid the rescue of 12 children from their abusers by working with the police in the UK and internationally."

Scott Rubin, Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Google, said: "We have a zero-tolerance policy on child sexual abuse content.

The IWF are essential partners in our fight to rid the Internet of this illegal material by providing us with lists of web pages that we block from search results.

Our donation should help them do their work more quickly and efficiently. 

This grant is part of a broader package of measures we are putting in place with other international agencies to help tackle this problem at a global scale.

The IWF is already the most effective Hotline in the world at removing child sexual abuse content and it is one of the best funded. 

Its expertise spreads internationally. 

The IWF has expedited the removal of child sexual abuse content hosted abroad. 

On the rare occasion it is hosted in the UK, it takes typically 60 minutes for the criminal images to be removed."