Limerick internet users are advised that there is a confidential website where they can anonymously report illegal material encountered online, as its latest annual report revealed that child pornography is still a huge problem.

Hotline.ie—which is run by the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI)—received 2,590 reports of suspected illegal material on the internet in 2007.

The figures showed that the number of reports confirmed as child pornography and similar material rose by nearly 62% on 2006 and the report goes on to show that the type of child pornography that hotline.ie encounters is "increasing in severity".

Hotline analysts confirmed that they are seeing extremely explicit photos and videos of the rape and sexual abuse of children far more frequently than in previous years and the report also stressed that Hotline management is worried by the lack of complaints from the public regarding illegal content on 'Peer to Peer' (P2P) file-sharing services.

"Some of the most disturbing material the analysts saw last year was found on P2P services," said Paul Durrant, General Manager of the ISPAI.

"Many children use filesharing and I appeal to the public to help rid P2P of such material by reporting suspiciously named files when they come across them".

On a positive note, Ireland has achieved a clean record, with no illegal child pornography found to have been hosted in this country.

This is due in great part to the concerted actions of ISPAI member companies and the Garda, supported by Government, which has deterred criminals and paedophiles from using Irish based Internet facilities to harbour illegal content. Irish users can also report illegal content that is hosted in other countries and this is not ignored.

Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, launched the report and said that internet users should be aware however that the hotline service also deals with a wide range of other illegal content to be found on the internet such as financial scams, 'phishing', incitement to violence and the promotion of racial hatred.

"I want to publicly call on any citizens who finds any trace of suspect activities be it when browsing web pages, or on 'file sharing', web forums, chat rooms newsgroups or whatever, to report it to Hotline.ie immediately. No-one can turn a blind eye to this abuse."

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