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You can report illegal content directly via www.stopline.at/report or by sending an email to office@stopline.at
To help us to process your report as effectively as possible, please send the following information to Stopline, depending on the
- Websites, e-groups and FTP servers --> the exact URL
- Filesharing programs --> Author, date, subject and/or search terms
- Newsgroups --> Description of posting; specific name of newsgroup, news server, sender, date and subject of posting
- Social media --> URL or name of social media platform, name of author (for comments, postings…) and date
If you know the passwords for accessing the content, please notify us of them. The more precisely you describe the source, the faster Stopline can get to work investigating the report. Reports are acted on within one working day.
The reported content is verified by the Stopline staff members. In case of content that is probably illegal according to Austrian law it is forwarded to
- the responsible Austrian executive authority
- the possibly affected Austrian ISP and
- foreign partner hotlines if the child-pornographic content is hosted abroad.
A graphic representation of report process is available here.
The required access data (e.g. URL) is forwarded to the responsible Austrian executive authority and to the INHOPE partner hotline of the corresponding host country. Any necessary steps will be initiated.
If the illegal content is hosted in Austria, the responsible ISP usually removes it from the Internet immediately after being informed unless there is an explicit contrary instruction from the police (e.g. in order to track down consumers of the illegal content).
Yes, you can report anonymously by using the web form. No IP addresses or other data will be recorded.
Any data that is voluntarily submitted by the sender is kept strictly confidential and not shared with any third parties.
Stopline does not inform the sender of a report whether illegal content was actually found, as this is in accordance with instructions from the Austrian executive. A standardised reply would also be problematic as Internet content can change within a short time, and Stopline would risk having classified content as “not illegal” that turns out to be illegal later.
Furthermore, Stopline is not informed by the police about further steps. For this reason, it is also not possible to give any information about actions against illegal content hosted abroad.
All illegal content can be reported, irrespective of a website’s possible connection to a specific country (e.g. language,...). For this purpose, the international union of Internet hotlines (INHOPE) was founded in order to fight illegal content across borders.
If there is no INHOPE partner hotline in the country where the servers hosting the content are located, pursuing the case involves international cooperation between police forces via Interpol which can, in some instances, involve delays.
You can forward the report to Stopline. If there is no INHOPE partner hotline in the country where the servers hosting the content are located, pursuing the case involves international cooperation between police forces via Interpol which can, in some instances, involve delays.
Actively searching the Inernet for illegal content might be a criminal offence, so the Stopline staff members are not allowed to do that.
As a result, Stopline’s success in combatting child sexual abuse material and National Socialism online is primarily down to a large number of vigilant internet users and the organisation’s strong networks and partnerships at home and abroad.
This content is forwarded to the foreign INHOPE partner hotline and to the proper Austrian executive authority, which will take further steps by contacting Interpol.
Stopline works hand in hand with prosecutors’ report centres at a national level. Responsibility for prosecuting cases involving sexual abuse of minors and National Socialism on the internet falls on two different bodies:
- the Federal Criminal Police Office (BK) for child sexual abuse material and
- the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) for National Socialism.
Both organisations have their own online report centres for the content/activities in question.
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If you could not find an answer to your question, please feel free to contact office@stopline.at.