For decades, the digital infrastructure in the Netherlands has been regarded as one of the best in the world. The downside of this is that malicious actors are keen to set up illegal online operations from the Netherlands due to the strong connectivity and reliability of online services. This involves the unlawful distribution of content, the distribution of illegal content, or the exploitation of vulnerabilities in networks to facilitate cyberattacks. This is summarised under the term ‘abuse’.
Most digital infrastructure providers, such as hosting and cloud providers, are making intensive efforts to prevent online abuse on their networks. At an individual level, however, this is not always entirely successful. That is why the Dutch internet sector has for years placed its trust in the independent initiative Clean Networks, which is managed by the NBIP Foundation. The initiative was launched by NBIP in 2022 in close collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and Security, the Dutch Cloud Community and DINL, and was made possible by a grant from the European Union and grants from the Digital Trust Centre and the SIDN Fund.
One of the cornerstones of Clean Networks, alongside threat intelligence, is the Code of Conduct Abuse Preventionthat includes the Code of Conduct for Notice and Take Down. These codes of conduct help digital service providers to effectively tackle online abuse. The code of conduct has broad support within the sector. DINL, the Dutch Cloud Community (DCC), NBIP and the Association of Registrars (VvR) are the driving forces behind the code of conduct, which is also endorsed by the Dutch Data Center Association (DDA) and the public-private partnership ‘Anti-Abuse Network’ (AAN).
Revised Code of Conduct sets out measures to ensure compliance with the Digital Services Act
Through the revised codes of conduct, the sector is translating the obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) – the successor to the E-Commerce Directive – together with Dutch legislation and current best practice, into concrete and verifiable measures for digital service providers.
For example, the codes of conduct stipulate, amongst other things, that providers must offer users the opportunity to report technical abuse, such as malware or DDoS attacks. In addition, they must have a clear ‘Notice and Take Down’ procedure in place for handling reports of illegal content.
The Clean Networks Quality Mark
Digital service providers who commit to the code of conduct and demonstrate that they have implemented the specific actions set out therein are awarded the Clean Networks Quality Mark. The quality mark demonstrates that digital service providers are compliant and take responsibility for combating abuse. In addition, holders of the quality mark gain access to Clean Networks’ Threat Intelligence platform. Through this platform, digital service providers automatically receive alerts and insights regarding vulnerabilities in their networks.
In sum, the updated code of conduct represents an important step towards a more reliable and safer internet.
