Smoothwall is a member of several organisations whose purpose is to keep the internet safe from various online threats. This article aims to provide additional information about these organisations, including what the organisation is responsible for, how their work helps to protect vulnerable users, and how we incorporate their work into our web filtering engine.
IWF
The IWF (Internet Watch Foundation) is a charitable organisation established in 1996 whose purpose is to identify and remove child sexual abuse material from online platforms.
When the IWF encounters child sexual abuse material they will either issue a notice directly to the hosting company (if hosted within the United Kingdom), or work with a network of hotlines and police from around the world who will follow their own country's process for removing such content.
In addition to identifying and removing child sexual abuse content, the IWF also provide members with access to a number of different services, including the following which are incorporated into the Smoothwall web filter;
- Keywords list
A unique list of words, phrases, and code that offenders may use to conceal child sexual abuse imagery on legitimate networks and platforms. This keyword list is incorporated into our 'Child Abuse' category.
- CSAM and NPI URL lists
The CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) URL list is a list of webpages known to contain pictures and videos of child sexual abuse. The NPI (Non-photographic Imagery) URL list is a URL list containing known-webpages showing computer-generated imagery (CGI), drawn, or animated pictures of children suffering abuse.
Smoothwall downloads and ships both of these lists as part of our blocklist on a nightly basis. Access to URLs listed within either of these lists will always be blocked, and there is no way to disable this functionality.
Additional links and further reading:
CTIRU
The CTIRU (Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit) was setup in 2010 to remove unlawful terrorist content from the internet, with a specific focus on UK based material. The CTIRU works with internet platforms directly to identify content which breaches their terms of services and requests that they remove it on a voluntary basis. In addition, the CTIRU also compile a list of URLs for content hosted outside of the United Kingdom which is supplied to partners for the purpose of blocking.
Smoothwall downloads the CTIRU URL list on a daily basis and incorporates it into the Terrorism category.
Additional links and further reading: Reporting online material promoting terrorism or extremism
PIPCU
The PIPCU (Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit) was established in 2013 and is a specialist police team dedicated to protecting physical goods from intellectual property crime and combating online piracy.
PIPCU maintains an 'Infringing Website List' (IWL) consisting of websites which contain infringing content. Smoothwall downloads the IWL URL list on a daily basis and incorporates it into the 'Piracy' category.
Additional links and further reading: