{"id":18575,"date":"2026-10-20T11:29:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T18:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dream.press\/news\/?post_type=announcement&#038;p=18575"},"modified":"2026-10-20T11:29:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T18:29:49","slug":"the-work-you-never-see-why-dreamhost-partnered-with-the-internet-watch-foundation","status":"publish","type":"announcement","link":"https:\/\/news.dream.press\/news\/announcements\/the-work-you-never-see-why-dreamhost-partnered-with-the-internet-watch-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Work You Never See: Why DreamHost Partnered with the Internet Watch Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of us never think about what happens after we click \u201cpublish.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We expect websites to load, businesses to stay online, and the internet to run smoothly. What we don\u2019t see are the people working behind the scenes to ensure the web\u2019s darkest corners never see the light of day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every day, hosting providers, registrars, nonprofits, law enforcements agences, and abuse teams quietly work together to identify and remove images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet. It\u2019s difficult work, often takes an emotional toll, and because of its sensitive nature, is rarely talked about publicly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Brandom Eastham, DreamHost\u2019s Director of Trust and Safety, it\u2019s part of the job.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy only goal in my career is to help make the internet a better place,\u201d Eastham says. \u201cI\u2019d like to think that my counterparts share that goal.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That mindset is what led DreamHost to partner with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org.uk\/\">Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)<\/a>, a UK-based nonprofit that works with technology companies around the world to identity, assess, and help disrupt the spread of child abuse material online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The collaboration was made possible through <a href=\"https:\/\/pir.org\/\">Public Interest Registry (PIR)<\/a>, the nonprofit behind .ORG. Through its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org.uk\/news-media\/news\/trailblazing-partnership-takes-aim-at-criminals-profiting-from-child-sexual-abuse-online\/\">sponsorship with the IWF<\/a>, PIR helps expand access to IWF services across the domain name industry at no additional cost to participating organizations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through the sponsorship program, DreamHost gains access to IWF services used across the technology and internet industries, including by hosting providers, registrars, internet service providers, and technology platforms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eastham made the decision to take part after speaking with industry colleagues, reviewing the IWF\u2019s work and learning more about the sponsorship. \u201cIt\u2019s a great fit for DreamHost,\u201d Eastham says, \u201cand it can definitely be helpful in making the internet a better place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Being Involved Mattered&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DreamHost has long maintained a zero-tolerance policy for confirmed child sexual abuse material (CSAM). When illegal content is identified, the company\u2019s Abuse team investigates, removes, and reports it to the National Center for Missing &amp; Exploited Children (NCMEC) as required by law, and cooperates with law enforcement when needed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So then why the IWF?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because protecting the internet isn\u2019t something any one organization handles alone. Partnering with the IWF isn\u2019t about reinventing the process wheel, it\u2019s about strengthening it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Eastham explains, the IWF is a UK-based organization that works globally and is legally able to process child abuse material, something many organizations can\u2019t do. That allows it to share verified intelligence with companies like DreamHost so credible reports reach the right people faster.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve started to expand our partnerships with outside entities because, of course, we want to make sure that that kind of stuff never ends up on our network,\u201d Eastham says. \u201cAnd in the highly rare event that something does happen, we want to know about it immediately to take swift action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the biggest advantages of working with the IWF is that it becomes a \u201ctrusted reporter\u201d for DreamHost\u2019s Compliance and Abuse teams.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs far as this particular instance goes, it solidifies IWF as what we call a trusted reporter,\u201d Eastham says. \u201cTheir specific reports are filtered and escalated.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For legitimate customers, nothing changes. \u201cOur legitimate customers will never be impacted by this.\u201d Eastham adds. \u201cThose who may try to slip something under the radar, we will find them and take action. That\u2019s always been the case.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The partnership simply gives the Compliance and Abuse teams a trusted source of information so reports can be evaluated and acted on as quickly as possible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why This Work Stays Mostly Invisible&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hosting companies don\u2019t often talk publicly about this side of the job, partly because they don\u2019t want to hand bad actors a roadmap for avoiding detection, but also because it\u2019s uncomfortable to discuss.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a horrible topic,\u201d Eastham says. \u201cIt is the most despicable kind of content that is on the internet, and nobody wants to talk about the darker side.\u201d Still, staying quiet doesn\u2019t make the problem any smaller.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scale alone makes the case for why cooperation across the industry matters. In 2025 alone, IWF analysts confirmed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org.uk\/annual-data-insights-report-2025\/online-hosting\/types-of-reports\">311,610 reports containing, linking to, or advertising child sexual abuse material<\/a>. That\u2019s the equivalent of one report depicting a child\u2019s sexual abuse every 101 seconds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If anything, Eastham hopes more companies across the web industry choose to work together. \u201cThe more information that you can get on valid issues,\u201d Eastham says, \u201cthe easier it\u2019s going to be to address it and the easier it\u2019s going to be to make the internet a better place.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Internet Watch Foundation CEO Kerry Smith said: \u201cInternet hosting providers play a vital role in the fight against child sexual abuse. Through the services and infrastructure they provide, they are uniquely placed to help prevent the spread of abuse content online. We are delighted that DreamHost has joined the sponsorship programme to strengthen its safeguards and take further action to better protect children online. We invite others to come on board as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Eastham, success is measured by something hard to quantify. \u201cThe internet\u2019s a great place and the internet\u2019s an ugly place,\u201d he says. \u201cAll we can do is try to keep the ugly part down and increase the positive aspects of the web.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most DreamHost customers will never know this work is happening, and they shouldn\u2019t have to.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we\u2019re doing our jobs well, they\u2019ll simply keep building websites, launching businesses, growing their online presence, and sharing ideas on a web that\u2019s a little safer than it was the day before.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us never think about what happens after we click \u201cpublish.\u201d&nbsp; We expect websites to load, businesses to stay online, and the internet to run smoothly. What we don\u2019t see are the people working behind the scenes to ensure the web\u2019s darkest corners never see the light of day.&nbsp; Every day, hosting providers, registrars, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":18577,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18575","announcement","type-announcement","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Work You Never See: Why DreamHost Partnered with the Internet Watch Foundation - DreamHost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.dream.press\/news\/announcements\/the-work-you-never-see-why-dreamhost-partnered-with-the-internet-watch-foundation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Work You Never See: Why DreamHost Partnered with the Internet Watch Foundation - DreamHost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most of us never think about what happens after we click \u201cpublish.\u201d&nbsp; We expect websites to load, businesses to stay online, and the internet to run smoothly. 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