Alisdair joins Home Office Internet taskforce

Alisdair Gillespie, Senior Lecturer in the University of Teesside’s Centre for Applied Socio-Legal Studies, is the only UK University representative to have been appointed to a new Home Office taskforce. This organisation, the first of its kind in Britain, aims to tackle the growing problem of child abuse on the Internet.

Alisdair, 27, originally from Spennymoor, County Durham, is a qualified barrister, and was appointed to the taskforce by former Home Secretary Jack Straw. Other members of the taskforce include representatives of the police, government, child protection agencies and Internet providers. It will be chaired by Home Office Minister Lord Bassam, and meets for the first time in July 2001. The government has also established a hi-tech crime unit, and a representative from this body will also sit on the taskforce.

Alisdair has extensive knowledge of child protection issues, which started when researching his final-year dissertation on the Law of child abuse as an undergraduate. This interest has continued throughout his academic career and he has written several articles on this area. He said: “The taskforce aims to make the UK the best and safest place in the world for children to use the Internet. In America a recent report by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children found that one in five children were subject to some form of sexual solicitation over the Internet. Traditionally, parents have been concerned about the safety of their children on the streets, but how safe are they using the Internet in their homes, typing messages to an anonymous recipient, who may be a 60-year old man posing as a 12-year-old?

“The taskforce will split into sub-groups, and I hope to be looking at existing legislation to ensure that the law continues to protect children from solicitation via the net and other forms of abuse, and that the law keeps in step with technological changes.”

Other areas to be examined include the development of ‘safe surfing’ education and awareness campaigns for parents and children. Alisdair is in the process of applying for research funding, to compile a report on Internet sexual solicitation of children in the UK.

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