• Start / Report
• Who are we?
• What do we do?
• External Reations
• Webs and material
• Our studies

• Index
• European Union
• Law enforcement
• INHOPE
• Institutions
• ISP's
• Educative community
• Other ONG's
• Mass Media

The relevance of the Hotlines becomes evident when the relation between the information facilitated through them and the police action started as a consequence of its reception (as it is the case of PROTEGELES) is taken in consideration. During 2003 and 2004, Spanish Police has opened more than 106 cases and has charged hundreds of criminals thanks to the information facilitated to them by PROTEGELES. Furthermore, Police Forces abroad have also been able to charge criminals thanks to PROTEGELES.

Hotlines play a very important role on the detection of Child Pornography on Internet. They guarantee that the identity of the person reporting the illegal content (whether it is a page, community or a chatroom) is kept anonymous all the time. However, it is important to differentiate the legally recognized hotlines and those that are not. INHOPE is the International Association of Internet Hotlines and it groups hotlines from the European Union, EEUU, Australia, Korea, Brazil, etc. INHOPE and all its European member hotlines are closely supervised by the European Commission. The European Commission even keeps an eye on every meeting held by any worker of the European Hotline. To become a full member of the INHOPE association, a Hotline must fulfil very strict requirements and must prove a high level of transparency on its management. People working on these hotlines are specifically trained and have to sign special contracts due to the materials they will have to deal with. In most cases, they receive psychological support. Many hotlines, like PROTEGELES, receive direct financing from the European Union and therefore, and as a requisite, their accounting is frequently audited.

PROTEGELES is also supported and recognized by many relevant Spanish institutions: Science and Technology Ministry, Child Ombudsman, Spanish Police and the Guardia Civil. This recognition is one of the requirements to be admitted to the INHOPE Association. For all these reasons, legal hotlines are a useful tool to fight child pornography and all internet users should be aware of this fact. In Spain, there is only one officially recognized hotline that has reached full membership at INHOPE: and that is PROTEGELES’ hotline (www.protegeles.com). Through the hotline we receive annually more than 10.000 reports of child pornography on the net.

Moreover, PROTEGELES on the person of its Projects Manager, has presided the INHOPE International since May 2005 till May 2007.