Charity wants children to submit their own indecent images

CHILDREN could be asked to submit naked pictures of themselves to leading child abuse charities to prevent indecent images being shared online.

The NSPCC and Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) are creating the world’s first web portal to enable children under 18 to submit any indecent sexual images of themselves and have them removed from the web for ever.

With a third of online child abuse images now generated by children themselves, the portal will use the latest technology to reassure them that they and their images remain anonymous.

The IWF, which last year shut 78,000 web pages, each with up to 1,000 abuse images, has the technical expertise to search the web for any indecent image, take it down and mark it with a digital fingerprint to prevent it ever being uploaded again.

Although the technology and portal are in place, legal and ethical questions are still to be resolved to ensure the children are not criminalised if they have shared pictures or videos of themselves, particularly in the United States where any image has to be reported to the enforcement authorities.

Because the portal is anonymous, neither children’s parents, carers nor abusers would know. The NSPCC’S Childline, which has always operated anonymously, would take responsibility for any safeguarding or counselling the child might need.

It comes amid growing concern at the surge in self-generated sexual images, which are often created as part of sexting between teenagers but which paedophiles exploit to entice or coerce children into sharing photos. Other images may have been released by a former boy or girlfriend in revenge for the breakdown of a relationship.

Suzie Hargreaves, IWF chief executive, said: “We have been working with the NSPCC to find a way to support young people so they can self-refer images of themselves. They will be able to request removal.”