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Illegal material

Much material exists on the Internet which it is a criminal offence to access. The catchphrase is 'If it is illegal off-line - it is illegal on-line'. Three types of Internet content are generally regarded as illegal in the UK:

  • images of child abuse hosted anywhere in the world
  • criminally obscene images hosted in the UK
  • criminally racist content hosted in the UK

Even though filtering and acceptable use policies are in place in local authorities, breaches can very easily happen. It is important that you are aware of the local procedures for dealing with such situations.

Here are two scenarios involving a client accessing illegal materials. Consult your library service's Acceptable Use Policy and/or staff manual and make notes of what action you would take in each case.

  1. An adult client is observed systematically accessing criminally racist content on a public access PC.

  1. An adult client accidentally accesses images of child abuse which carrying out a genuine information on another topic.


Let's look now at some Sources of further information ...