The company expands action plan to keep child pornography and child sexual abuse images out of .INFO domains.

Afilias, a provider of registry services, today announced that it has become a member of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), in preparation for IWF Awareness Day on October 24, 2008. The company claims that this will increase its ability to be proactive in eliminating child pornography and sexual abuse content from the .INFO domain.

The company explains that IWF is an Internet hotline for the public and internet industry to report potentially illegal online content, specifically online child sexual abuse images, hosted anywhere in the world. It also explains that IWF helps the internet community in combating abuse through its alert service, which notifies service providers and hosting companies to potentially illegal content on their systems, as well as provides unique data to law enforcement and relevant authorities in the UK and abroad.

”Afilias has focused on discovering methods, at the domain name registry level, to create a safer Internet environment in the .INFO domain,” said Hal Lubsen, President and CEO of Afilias. ”This year, we have been working with law enforcement and our registrars to get malicious sites shut down. Joining the IWF provides us with new information, including alerts about potential child pornography and sexual abuse images hosted on .INFO sites. This, combined with our new .INFO Domain Anti-Abuse Policy, provides a proactive and comprehensive security plan to protect .INFO users.”

Peter Robbins OBE, QPM, IWF Chief Executive said ‘We are delighted to welcome Afilias as a member of the Internet Watch Foundation. As the first generic top-level domain registry to join in our efforts, Afilias and .INFO are demonstrating their commitment and responsibility amongst the international Internet community by contributing to work tackling websites that distribute sexually abusive images of children.”