The Film and Publication Board (FPB) has launched an anti-child pornography and sexual abuse website. FPB was established by parliament, under the control of the Department of Home Affairs, to regulate distribution of films and publication with the aim of protecting children from exposure to inappropriate material.

The internet hotline (www.fpbprochild.org.za ) is a confidential facility that allows members of the public to report, in complete anonymity, any child pornography or sexual abuse images discovered accidentally on the internet. The service is the first of its kind in Africa.

Once a report is submitted via the website the Report Management System (RMS), developed by ePages.net in association with FPB, logs the report and automatically creates and assigns the ''case'' to a queuing system. The custom developed solution then informs the dedicated FPB team members that a case has been created.

The case is then picked up by an Internet Content Analyst who will assess the reported content and take the appropriate action. The system allows for the extraction of all relevant data which can then be forwarded to the law enforcement agencies for further action. The offending website can then to tagged for removal and/or blocking.

The Report Management System provides for the monitoring of the status of all cases, whether open or closed, as well as the extraction of data for statistical purposes.

In the instance of a foreign based website being reported, FPB's international networking and partnerships with INHOPE (the International Association of Internet Hotlines) allows them to take action against child pornography on the internet hosted outside South Africa. These international networks will then pass the reports to the appropriate local law enforcement agencies.

The nature of the information captured within a case, is structured in such a way as to ensure maximum compatibility with the information required by the various law enforcement agencies. This was an important consideration when developing the solution in order to maximize the chances of a successful prosecution.

ePages.net was chosen by FPB to develop the website and RMS after an extensive selection process. Loyal Ndwandwe managing director of ePages.net said, ''We were delighted that FPB saw fit to place their trust in ePages.net to deliver such a critically important system within the defined timescales.''

Loyal continued, ''During the fourteen years of our existence we have been involved with numerous development projects for some of South Africa's leading commercial enterprises. However, every so often the opportunity presents itself to take part in a project that can directly affect the lives of our most vulnerable citizens.''

Dave Meyrick, ePages.net' sales director added, ''We are truly honoured to be involved with such a worthy cause. When we first became aware of the initiative we decided that we would pull out all the stops to get involved with the project.

The whole process has been one of a partnership approach. By adopting an agile methodology, we were able to accommodate the inevitable changes to the original specification right up to the final few days before the website went live.

We look forward to continuing our close relationship with FPB to refine the system and build in the additional functionality that will make www.fpbprochild.org.za amongst the best in the world.''