As a greater number of users connected to the web on mobile devices Microsoft, working with the not for profit organisation INHOPE, has developed a multiplatform smartphone app which allows users to submit illegal and suspect content.
With the app they want users to submit the URLs for web content they feel should be investigated. This information will be forwarded onto local internet hotlines, depending on where the content is hosted, any material that is discovered to be illegal will then be removed.
When submitting links through the app users will only be asked for the page’s address and the organisation says that all tips will be submitted anonymously.
Announcing the release of the app INHOPE said it had been developed to compliment the organisation’s desktop site and to provide mobile users with the ability to protect themselves and others from illegal content (including child sexual abuse material) directly through their smartphone.
INHOPE (@INHOPE_PR) is an international body set up to manage anonymous cross-border reporting of illegal, indecent, and fraudulent online material. The organisation was established in 1999 and works with over 40 national internet hotlines. It is supported by Vodafone, Telefonica (O2), and Microsoft, as well as Interpol and the European Commission.
The creation of the app shows the increase in the number of mobile web connections in the past two years. INHOPE’s own website, which also allows users to submit suspect content, was only redeveloped in the past year and the organisation reports that about 300 million new mobile devices connected to the web in 2010 alone.
The app was developed with Microsoft Europe’s Tech Talent 4 Good initiative which takes ten promising tech graduates and puts them to work with ten NGOs partnered with the company.
So far the it has received a small number of good reviews, although at nearly 20Mb for the iPhone version alone it’s a large enough download.
The INHOPE Mobile app can be downloaded for Windows Phone 7, iPhone, and Android
Via Silicon Republic.
