Public Interest Registry (PIR)

Our work with PIR

We’ve worked with Public Interest Registry (PIR) to combat child sexual abuse material in the domain space since 2018. This means that together, we’ve been able to eliminate this type of criminality found on the 10.3 million domains under PIR management.

PIR uses our Domain Alerts. This is where we notify the .ORG registry when we find child sexual abuse material. PIR then works with its registrars and registrants to promptly remove and/or suspend the domain, making the content inaccessible.

In 2020 alone, this system has removed more than 1,300 URLs of child sexual abuse images and videos across more than 60 domain names in .ORG.

While .ORG features in the top 10 of TLDs for this material, it should be noted that nearly half consists of images captured through a single .ORG domain name which archives web content from all top-level domains. This means that child sexual abuse material found through other top-level domains gets attributed to .ORG. PIR has developed a process with us and the registrant of that domain to promptly remove this material as soon as we notify them.

Additionally, PIR co-founded a child sexual abuse material referral discussion group to enable domain name registries and registrars to share best practices. It brings together expert organisations like the IWF, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the US and law enforcement agencies to discuss how to keep the domain name system free from this material.