9 October 2020
45 Pipitea St
PO Box 805
Wel ington 6140
Phone +64 4 495 7200
Matt Brown
Fax +64 4 495 7222
Websit
e dia.govt.nz
Via email
: fyi-request-13743-
[email address]
Dear Matt
Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 9 September 2020 (ref OIA 20/21 0152)
Thank you for your OIA request received by the Department of Internal Affairs (Department)
on 9 September 2020 seeking information about the Digital Child Exploitation Filtering
System (DCEFS).
You requested –
“Please supply the fol owing information regarding the operation of the DCEFS
1) The number of distinct IP addresses currently active on the list.
2) The minimum and maximum number of distinct IP addresses that have been on the
list over the past 6 months.
3) The number of view or "hits" on the landing page displayed when a site is blocked
over the past 6 months.
4) The number of appeal submissions that have been made from the landing page
form in the last 6 months.
5) The summary of outcome statuses for the appeals covered by Q4 (e.g. number
declined/accepted/in-progress, etc)
6) The number of "false positive" removals or similar removals from the list due to
incorrect inclusions that have occurred over the past 6 months.”
In response to your questions the Department can provide you with the fol owing
information.
Question 1. The number of distinct IP addresses currently active on the list.
The Department does not block IP addresses through the DCEFS; URLs containing
objectionable material are blocked. As at 31 August 2020 there was a total of 679 URLs
currently blocked by the DCEFS.
Question 2. The minimum and maximum number of distinct IP addresses that have been on
the list over the past 6 months.
As noted above IP addresses are not blocked. However, for URLs blocked in the past six
months (to 31 August 2020) the lowest the total at any one time was 606 URLs and the
highest is the current position, 679 URLs.
Question 3. The number of view or "hits" on the landing page displayed when a site is
blocked over the past 6 months.
Due to the implementation of a new system, the Department is unable to provide this data
for the past six months to 31 August 2020.
However, for the period 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2020 a total of 177,539 queries have
been redirected to the DCEFS landing page.
This number is not related to unique users or unique requests, rather the total amount of
requests filtered during the particular period. For example, one user could be responsible
for a large number of filtered requests in one day and accessing a gallery page with links to
multiple blocked sites wil result in several filtered requests being recorded. Additional y,
this number also includes requests as a result of website pop-ups, pop-unders and spam
content that a user may not be aware of.
Question 4. The number of appeal submissions that have been made from the landing
page form in the last 6 months.
In the last six months (to 31 August 2020) the Department received 16 appeals regarding
URLs being filtered.
Question 5. The summary of outcome statuses for the appeals covered by Q4 (e.g. number
declined/accepted/in-progress, etc)
Of the 16 appeals in the six months to 31 August 2020, none were upheld.
Question 6. The number of "false positive" removals or similar removals from the list due
to incorrect inclusions that have occurred over the past 6 months.
As noted in question 3 some updated data is not able to be provided. This response
provides information from earlier in the year; 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2020.
No false positives have been identified and removed for the period between January 1, 2020
to June 30, 2020. Please note some URLs wil have been removed due to the site no longer
being active, or the content on that site having changed.
If you are dissatisfied with the Department’s decision on your request for information, you
have the right, under section 28 of the OIA, to make a complaint to the Office of the
Ombudsman. The Office of the Ombudsman can be contacted by phone on 0800 802 602,
via post at PO Box 10152 Wel ington or via email to [email address].
Yours sincerely
Jared Mul en
Director Digital Safety
