Safety Net keeps a watchful eye on Web

Dawe's plan to end exploitation of children on the Net has met withsupport

Pipex founder Peter Dawe has won overwhelming government and police backing for his fledgling campaign to clean up the Internet.

Dawe's Safety Net Foundation was given a ringing endorsement on Monday by DTI Minister Ian Taylor, Home Office minister Tom Sackville and the Metropolitan Police.

Safety Net aims to crack down on the use of the Internet for distributing child porn and other illegal material by establishing a hotline where Net users can blow the whistle on users posting what it regards as 'illegal material'.

ISPs and the police will then be fed this data, and will take action to delete the material or bring the posters to book.

The endorsement is a victory for Dawe, whose Safety Net Foundation is being hailed by the DTI as the body that represents 'the Internet industry'.

Dawe recently left the ISPA, which had been set up to represent the industry, describing it as 'a bunch of idiots'.

On Monday though, many of his former critics were hopeful that Safety Net will provide some clarity in the market. 'Everyone complained when Nominet was set up, but now they are thankful it has made domain registration a lot easier,' said Direct Connection operations director Julian Hayward.

'With Safety Net, we'll have a central body that is government endorsed, and we will know where we stand with them.'

Demon marketing manager James Gardiner said the company was backing Safety Net, with a few reservations. 'It will need to be carefully targeted and publicly accountable.' (See feature, Page 30.)