Internet Watch Foundation

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is an independent (state appointed and empowered, yet unaccountable) UK body that acts as a hotline for illegal content on the internet. This includes reports of so-called child pornography and "race hate" incitement speech that the British state have outlawed. Typically, this organisation achieves its aims by pressuring ISPs into enforcing bans on undesirable content.

Censorship

The IWF is in effect a censor. A number of recent examples demonstrate that this goes well beyond illegal content and encroaches upon mainstream resources.

• The Virgin Killer controversies - Censorship of an album cover involving a naked girl lead to an effective ban on editing Wikipedia.
• Web Archive - The "wayback machine" - a highly popular archive of 13 years of web history was censored by the IWF.

[Develop rest from Wikipedia articles]