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IICSA published its final Report in October 2022. This website was last updated in January 2023.

IICSA Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The Internet Investigation Report

Annex 2: Glossary

Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) A single secure database of illegal images of children.
Classifier A computer programme that learns from data given to it, to then identify similar data.
Cloud A network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data.
Criminal justice system The system which investigates, prosecutes, sentences and monitors individuals who are suspected or convicted of committing a criminal offence. This also encompasses institutions responsible for imprisonment, probation and sentences served in the community.
CyberTipline An online tool which enables the public and industry to report indecent images of children and incidents of grooming and child sex-trafficking found on the internet.
Dark web (or dark net) Part of the world wide web that is only accessible by means of specialist software and cannot be accessed through well-known search engines.
Encryption The process of converting information or data into a code that makes it unreadable to unauthorised parties.
End-to-end encryption Where the content of the communication can only be seen by the sender and recipient, and not by any others – including the providers of the platforms themselves.
First-generation imagery A child sexual abuse image taken by an adult that has not previously been recorded by law enforcement or industry as indecent.
Freedom of information requests Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, members of the public may request information from public authorities.
Geolocation The process of identifying the location where the internet is being accessed, whether on a computer or a mobile device.
Green Paper A consultation document that sets out the government’s proposals for future policy or legislation.
Grooming The process by which a perpetrator communicates with a child with the intention of committing sexual abuse or exploitation. Includes forcing, manipulating or enticing a child to engage in sexual activity, either with themselves or with other children.
Hash A unique digital signature of an image.
Indecent images of children A photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child under the age of 18 that is deemed to be indecent.
Industry Includes internet service providers (ISPs); communication service providers (CSPs) such as BT; software companies such as Microsoft; social media platforms such as Facebook; providers of search engines such as Google; and providers of email and messaging services and cloud storage such as Apple.
INHOPE A foundation that develops national hotlines to help deal with child sexual abuse material online.
Internet protocol (IP) address A number assigned to a device connected to a computer network.
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) An independent, not-for-profit organisation which aims to remove child sexual abuse images and videos from the internet and to minimise the availability of such material.
Known images An image of a child that law enforcement and/or industry has identified as an indecent image.
Law enforcement agencies Statutory agencies with responsibility for policing and intelligence, including police forces, the intelligence services and the National Crime Agency.
Live streaming of child sexual abuse The broadcasting of real-time, live footage of a child being sexually abused over the internet.
National Security Council A weekly forum in which government ministers meet to discuss national security. The meeting is chaired by the Prime Minister.
Personal data Information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.
PhotoDNA Technology developed by Microsoft which assists in finding and removing known images of child sexual abuse on the internet.
Project Arachnid A web crawler designed to discover child sexual abuse material on sites that had previously been reported to the Canadian CyberTipline as hosting such material.
Pseudo-photograph An image, often created on a computer, which looks like a real photograph.
Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) A review which gives an overview of the amount and quality of evidence on a particular topic as comprehensively as possible within a set timetable.
Self-generated imagery A naked or partially naked image of a child taken by the child him or herself.
Trusted flaggers Individuals, governmental agencies and non-governmental organisations that are particularly effective at notifying YouTube of content that violates its Community Guidelines.
Uniform resource locator (URL) The network identification or address where a particular page or resource (eg images, sound files) can be found on the world wide web.
Unknown images An image of a child that has not previously been recorded by law enforcement or industry to be an indecent image of a child.
US United States of America.
Web crawler A computer programme that automatically searches for documents, or in this case for indecent images, on the web.
White Paper A document that sets out the government’s proposals for future legislation.
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