The move is part of the agency’s effort to combat the illicit trade of stolen artwork.

Online access will be available to the law enforcement community as well as anyone interested in accessing the database. Users first have to apply for access to the database, which features the latest information on 34,000 works of stolen art worldwide. After completing an online application users will be issued a password for databases access.

With access to the database, which will be continuously updated when INTERPOL receives new information on stolen works of art worldwide, authorized users will be provided with real-time access to the latest information recorded in the database. The information will include descriptions and photographs of the stolen goods.

"Accessibility to stolen art information is a vital contribution to creating public awareness on the protection of cultural property," said Karl Heinz Kind, coordinator of INTERPOL’s Works of Art department.

"The inclusion of a stolen cultural property item into INTERPOL’s stolen works of art database, and extensive online access to the database, therefore represent an important barrier to the illicit trafficking of a stolen cultural object by making its sale more difficult."

The database will be open to governments, museums, auctions houses, art galleries, foundations and collectors.

INTERPOL hopes its database will make it "that much more difficult for a seller or purchaser to claim not having the opportunity to check whether an item was recorded as stolen."

Previous access to stolen works of art was only available on DVD by application.

17 points out of a possible 100 – that’s all the search giant managed to get.  And at this moment, most sane people might start to worry – there’s no telling what could be going on at the Googleplex, right?

Yet a more accurate way of looking at it is that there’s no telling One World Trust what is going on – Google didn’t cooperate with the organization, and got blasted as a result.  The most telling example of this is the way in which Google scored exactly zero points in the “Environmental and Social Impact” category; we all know about the company’s RE<C initiative, its push to get “green” PCs into government buildings, and its solar panel-coated headquarters.

For anyone who would like to further explore the One World Trust’s inaccuracies, John Oates writes, “The whole report, or a summary, is available from here although ironically you will need to register – not very transparent is it?”

Crisis averted, then.  Google may still be creepy, but it probably shouldn’t be compared to an international police organization.

The IWF have shared information about 2,092 child sexual abuse Web sites this year with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and Interpol for investigation and removal.

The IWF runs a hotline that offers assistance to all UK Internet users who run across images of children being sexually abused. Research by the group has revealed that one in 20 adult Internet users or 12.5 million people have been exposed to such images.

IWF CEO Peter Robbins said, "Our analysts witness the results of terrible sexual abuse being inflicted on very young children around the world and then circulated online."

"With the help of the online industry, the 28 Hotlines we work with around the world and our law enforcement colleagues, the public can help us to remove these websites and end the abuse that is perpetuated every time the images are viewed."

AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo are just some of the companies helping to promote the IWF’s hotline, which allows Internet users to report child sexual abuse sites.

The IWF said of all the sites reported to them this year only one percent originated from a UK server, compared to 18 percent 10 years ago.