1. INHOPE
The International Association of Internet Hotlines
INSAFE
Cyprus Meeting
May 2011
Denton Howard
INHOPE Service & Training Manager
"The project is co-funded by the European Union, through the Safer Internet plus programme"
Visit: http://ec.europa.eu/saferinternet
Co-funded
By the
Co-funded
European
By the
Union
European

2. Our Mission
The mission of the INHOPE Association is to support and
enhance the performance of Internet Hotlines around the
World, ensuring swift action is taken in responding to
reports of illegal content to make the Internet a safer place
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

3. Who is INHOPE?
• INHOPE was founded in 1999
• INHOPE represents and co-ordinates the global network of
42 Internet Hotlines (many of these are SIC’s & INSAFE
members)
• INHOPE is “owned” by its Members and managed by a five
member Board of Directors (all newly elected)
• Secretariat based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Primary funding is from the European Commission
• Is a sister project of INSAFE and partner in the current EC
contract
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

4. Countries Saying No to Illegal Content
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

5. What is a Hotline?
• A national point of contact where members of the public can
report illegal content or activity on the internet
• The Hotline will asses the Illegality of the reported site which
involves investigation by trained professional analysts
• Origin of the illegal sites is traced
• Information concerning the illegal site is passed to the member
Hotline in the country of origin
• Hotline in the country of origin informs the national law
enforcement agency and Internet Service Provider subject
domestic agreement
• Cooperation between Hotlines is governed by agreed binding
Best Practices.
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

6. International Cooperation
• Illegal activity on the Internet is a cross border problem
• Often material reported to Hotlines is hosted beyond the
borders of their own country
• Internet Hotlines have proven to be an effective first line of
defence against illegal activity online
• INHOPE is a single point of contact for global reports of
illegal content
• As an international organisation it has the ability to collect &
collate statistics on the situation
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

7. Awareness Vs Hotlines
What's the difference?
• AWARENESS = before – how to avoid problems
• HOTLINE = after – dealing with issues after they have been
encountered
Different tasks but shared objective:-
• “To make the Internet a safer place”
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

8. INHOPE - current projects
1. INHOPE Reports Management Database (IHRMS)
Objectives
• Improve responses to reports of illegal content including
web and internet
• Reduce duplication of reports passed to Law Enforcement
• Provides a global view of the problem related to the images
of child sexual abuse
• More relevant information for developing strategies to
tackle the problem
• Improved statistics
• Shared and stand alone clone
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

9. INHOPE - current projects
2. IIRMS (Hotline in a box)
Objectives
• In-house database for individual Hotlines to allow reports to
be tracked and recorded.
• Replacing the legacy “Remabase” product.
• Automatically feed statistics and limited data to the IHRMS
• Tool to facilitate Hotlines that may be legally limited in their
participation in the IHRMS.
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

10. INHOPE - current projects
3. INHOPE Foundation
Objectives
• A charitable foundation to allow donors to contribute project
specific funding.
• Provide support to Hotline initiatives that are starting up
that do not yet have the resources to become INHOPE
members (not funding)
• “Foundation Hotlines” will contribute statistics / reports but
will not have voting rights and must complete the full
membership process within 2 years.
Current:
Legalities completed 2 weeks ago (work in progress)
2 INHOPE staff currently in Columbia.
Costa Rica and Chile will follow on in the near future.
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

11. INHOPE - current projects
3. “INHOPE Mobile” reporting APP
Background
• Microsoft TechTalent4Good program intern – Michalis
Tolkas
• Majority of all new internet connections via mobile devices
• INHOPE Mobile allows users to report content from their
device.
• When user adds report APP does a number of checks on
the URL reported – once validated the report is sent to the
relevant Hotline for investigation and the IHRMS is
automatically updated.
• New version released for all major mobile platforms
including iPad.
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

12. INHOPE - current projects
4. INHOPE Strategic Review
• INHOPE began a strategic review of its current structures
and processes in early 2012.
• Coincided with the need to develop a future strategy for
2015 and beyond.
• Also coincided with John Carr’s blog article
• Ruth Harris conducted & presented the review at the
INHOPE Members meeting in London in April.
• INHOPE has accepted her report and is currently in the
process of developing the “2015 & beyond” future strategy
through the newly elected board of directors
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

13. INHOPE - current projects
5. INHOPE Analyst workshop
• A development in training services to allow experienced
Hotline Analysts to meet in an intensive “Hothouse”
environment for 2 days
• Agenda and topics developed by the members through
discussions on a special blog
• Analysts applied to attend but evaluated on what they could
bring to the discussions (not just what they would gain)
• Funded via financial support from Microsoft
• Held in December – fully subscribed 
• Each topic was led by the analyst that proposed it
• Solutions developed / demonstrated by group
• VERY SUCCESSFUL! – will definitely be repeated
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

14. INHOPE - current projects
INHOPE / INSAFE – Sharing skills and experience
Plagiarism!
Its true!
We copied! Co-funded
By the
European
Union

15. INHOPE - current projects
INHOPE / INSAFE – Sharing skills and experience
The Hotline5
Program
Show and tell concept “borrowed” from INSAFE
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

16. INHOPE and its stakeholders are
leading the fight against illegal content
Co-funded
By the
European
Union

17. Contact Details:
Denton Howard
INHOPE
Services & Training Coordinator
Email: denton.howard@inhope.org
Mobile: +353 87 2399550
Co-funded
By the
European
Union