Ban sought on child abuse images

The government is to seek a ban on computer-generated images of child abuse, Home Secretary John Reid has announced.

Mr Reid, who was chairing his first meeting of the Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet, said that he was currently consulting with Cabinet colleagues on how to ban images such as cartoons and graphic illustrations of child being abused.

The Home Secretary said: "There is no higher purpose for government than to protect children. Computer-generated images of child abuse are often found by police stored alongside illegal material held by paedophiles. Yet, at the moment, while it is illegal to distribute these abhorrent images, it is entirely legal to possess them."

Mr Reid also announced that the Task Force had developed an industry standard for software to help parents protect their children on the internet. By the spring, all parental control software that meets a set of minimum requirements will have a BSI Kitemark, the Home Secretary announced.

A training pack for prison, probation and social work professionals, developed by childrens' charities, the NSPCC and NCH, on the benefits and dangers of internet and communications services and how to spot the warning signs, has also been developed.

John Carr, from NCH, said: "CGI computer images of child abuse are becoming more and more prevalent and the fact that they are legal sends out totally the wrong message to child abusers. Banning their possession is the only sensible way forward."

Jim Gamble, CEO of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, said: "These measures when implemented would be vital additions to our overall toolkit - closing legislative loopholes, better informing the public and sharing expertise with the professionals working with both offenders and victims can only be seen as sensible steps forward."

(KMcA/EF)