Unsolicited images or e-mails via the Internet

West Midlands Police receive a number of inquiries about unsolicited e-mails, known as SPAM messages, which contain indecent or pornographic images.

To assist, the Paedophile Unit have outlined below the answers to a number of frequently asked questions to help you.

What is 'spam' mail?

Unsolicited e-mail, sometimes referred to as 'spam' or 'unsolicited commercial email' (UCE), is electronic mail which is unwarranted and sent for the purpose of selling the recipient goods or services. It is most often used for multi-level marketing schemes, get-rich-quick schemes, work-at-home schemes or for questionable products or pornography.

Several years ago 'spammers' developed software that could lift all the email addresses from web pages. The software is similar to that used by search engines to index websites.

Automated 'robots' follow links from one website to another and trawl pages looking for any text that contain the @ symbol. These are assumed to be email addresses and are taken for later use in mass e-mailing.

In the UK you still have to pay to connect to the internet, so you pay to download e-mails that are irrelevant and unsolicited.

Yes, PROTECT YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. Only distribute your e-mail address to those people who you wish to have it.

Also, if you do find yourself receiving a lot of unsolicited e-mails, contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP). They can BLOCK FUTURE E-MAILS FROM THE SENDER.

• Never reply to 'spammers', and never buy anything from them!
  
• Educate yourself about filtering. A number of e-mail programs, including Eudora Pro, Microsoft's Outlook Express and Pegasus, have filtering features that let you set criteria to stop unwanted e-mail before it reaches your computer, or, once it does, to move it to a trash box where you can delete it without reading it.
  
• Visit http://www.spamfree.org/. Start by reading their Spam Primer Page - they have lots of tips on combating spam.

What should I do if I receive a pornographic image?

The receipt of these types of images can be quite distressing for a number of reasons. However, the possession of and distribution of adult pornography - the majority of images that are received - is, as a general rule, not illegal.

What may be distressing to one person may not be to another. In a case like this it is a matter for the individual concerned whether or not to report this to your local police, who will advise you accordingly.

If the images are persistent and from the same source, this may constitute an offence under Section 2(1) and (2) of the Protection from Harassment Act, 1997. If you believe this is the case, save the e-mails on your computer or produce them as hard copies. Contact your local police who will advise you on the most appropriate action.

The possession of indecent images of children is defined under Section 7 of the Protection of Children Act 1978 (as amended by Section 84 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994). It is also an offence to manufacture, distribute or cause to be distributed such images and these include pseudo-images. These are all serious offences, which are subject of custodial sentences. Further details on these type of offences can be found elsewhere on the Paedophile Unit website.

In cases like this notify your local police or the Paedophile Unit who will advise you accordingly.

No. This constitutes an offence of distribution to which there is no defence in law.

The image is obviously evidence of an offence and will be treated as such. Do not delete it but inform your local police. They will speak with you and take a written statement from you, which will produce this image as an exhibit. The image will be copied onto a disk, CD-ROM or made into a hard-copy print. It can then be deleted.

You should then contact your ISP and inform them about this and consider 'blocking' the sender's e-mail address using the facilities on your e-mail account.

In cases like this it is acceptable to send us the web addresses. Do this by copying the addresses and forwarding an e-mail to: paedophile_unit@west-midlands.police.uk.

The unit will then work with various organisations to try to close down these sites and arrest the offenders.

You have more than likely been sent a 'cookie' by the designer of the web page. A 'cookie' provides a way for the website to keep track of a user's patterns and preferences and, with the co-operation of the web browser, to store them on your hard disk.

Cookies contain a range of URLs (addresses) for which they are valid. When the browser encounters those URLs again, it sends those specific cookies to the web server. For example, if your user ID was stored as a cookie, it would save you from typing in the same information all over again when accessing that service for the second and subsequent times. By retaining user history, cookies allow the website to tailor these types of pages and, as a result, send you similar sites.

Yes. You can have your browser (Explore/Netscape) disable cookies or warn you before accepting a cookie. Look for the cookie options in your browser in the Options or Preferences menu.

You can also stop the offending 'cookies' by accessing the relevant file and then deleting them. Netscape saves cookies in a COOKIES.TXT file. Internet Explorer saves cookies in separate files in the Cookies folder.

If you have any serious concerns then contact your local police.

REMEMBER - If you know about a child who is in immediate risk or danger, dial 999.