•  New board to be established
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A new board is to be set up to act as watchdog on the Internet in Ireland.

This announcement is contained in a report by Carol Coulter in the "Irish Times" on 13 January 2000.

The announcement arises from the recommendations of a working group on the illegal and harmful use of the Internet.  An advisory group will be appointed this month, and will be drawn from the industry itself, the Garda Siochana, the media, and others.

The need for the iniative arises from concerns about the stated proliferation of sites offering services such as child pornography on the Internet.  On the day following the announcement, the "Cork Examiner" reported the seizure by Gardai of a substantial haul of child pornographic material, some of it downloaded from the Internet, from a private house near Cork city.

The advisory board will monitor the use of a hotline and recemmend action as a result of complaints received.  According to one report, it will have a broader remit regarding the abuse of the Internet in general.  What does this mean?

Further information from the Irish Times and Examiner reports.  The report of the working group, reference J 155, is available from the Government Publications Sales Office, price £5, post free.
 

 "Ireland on Sunday's" Education supplement of 6 February 2000, reports that website owners can be jailed for material that is pornographic or "politically subversive".

To head off trouble before it is detected by the government, site owners hire a new class of detectives called Big Mamas.  Their job is to patrol websites and chatrooms.

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