Google Developing System to Eradicate Child Porn

[CommanderFrank]

Google is harnessing its massive Internet search capabilities to create a database of child abuse sites that can be shared with other companies in an effort to shut down child pornography on the Internet. The system is expected to be completed and operational within a year.

If the database is used effectively, any flagged image in the database would not be searchable through participating search engines or web hosting providers. And maybe best of all, computers will automatically flag and remove these images without any human needing to see them.

 

[PeaKr]

Pretty scary technology.

 

[Liger88]

Pretty scary technology.

NSA Approved.


As despicable as it may be, child porn has become the crusade to lock down the Internet the same way Terrorism has been used to strip people of their natural born rights. Any time you see something draconian like this technology coined with "prevent child abuse", you might want to perk your head a bit.

 

[WAR2K]

Yeah it is quite scary the technology behind that, and what other ways it could be used. My question is though, is it really necessary? I have never ran into any child pornography in all the time I have searched the internet. Isn't that stuff usually found/traded through other means?

 

[Galvin]

It'll get to the point where if you post a picture it has a sign or trademark in the background it'll get pulled from the internet or blurred out.

 

[staticlag]

Doesn't China and North Korea already do this?

 

[Ashbringer]

Yeah it is quite scary the technology behind that, and what other ways it could be used. My question is though, is it really necessary? I have never ran into any child pornography in all the time I have searched the internet. Isn't that stuff usually found/traded through other means?

First thought in my head was that there's really child porn on the internet? Like a website of sorts? Cause never in my years on the internet have I ever stumbled upon anything near child porn. I would figure it would be the most stupidest website ever created. The safest way child porn might flow through the internet is probably more on a individual person to person contact. In which the NDA might have a better handle in this over Google.

 

[forcefed]

As long as they leave the regular porn i'm all for it...

 

[arr4ws]

Good thing. After we should get a facebook like to show all the mfer who make/pay for child porn.

 

[Scythe5]

Cool Idea, and I hope it works. Having said that....what's to stop them from eliminating anything else from the internet?

 

[colinstu]

As long as TOR is around, CP isn't going away.

 

[kllrnohj]

Pretty scary technology.

How so? Google's had porn detection for years (that's what "safe search" does, after all), this seems like a natural extension of that. Combine age detection with existing porn detection and filter it all out, plus make the database available for others to use as well. Seems pretty straightforward.

NSA Approved.

Wrong government agency.

As despicable as it may be, child porn has become the crusade to lock down the Internet the same way Terrorism has been used to strip people of their natural born rights. Any time you see something draconian like this technology coined with "prevent child abuse", you might want to perk your head a bit.

"draconian like this technology"? Uh, this technology doesn't lock down anything on the internet. It is not stripping anyone of any rights.

I agree people need to be vigilant and question things as "terrorism" and "won't somebody think of the children!" are often used to justify infringing on rights, but this doesn't fall in that camp at all.

Having said that....what's to stop them from eliminating anything else from the internet?

Nothing? Then again, nothing stops Google from returning nothing for every search result. Well, except for the obvious - huge negative PR followed by bankruptcy. That tends to be pretty fucking huge reasons for a company to not do things.

First thought in my head was that there's really child porn on the internet? Like a website of sorts? Cause never in my years on the internet have I ever stumbled upon anything near child porn.

"In 2011, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC’s) Cybertipline received 17.3 million images and videos of suspected child abuse. This is four times more than what their Exploited Children's Division (ECD) saw in 2007. And the number is still growing."

Maybe try reading the article next time? Just because you don't encounter it doesn't mean it isn't there or that it isn't in large quantities. Hell, I've never encountered a meth addict, but I'm not questioning that they don't exist.

 

[lilbabycat]

First thought in my head was that there's really child porn on the internet? Like a website of sorts? Cause never in my years on the internet have I ever stumbled upon anything near child porn. I would figure it would be the most stupidest website ever created. The safest way child porn might flow through the internet is probably more on a individual person to person contact. In which the NDA might have a better handle in this over Google.

So you've never visited any "anonymous image boards" before?

 

[MrGuvernment]

They do realize that most of this content is basically offline to most people on the internet, while yes this will stop your avg joe blow, it wont stop it all together, just like piracy cant be stopped... sucks, but it is true

 

[Advil]

The real problem is this:

That it is possible to do such a thing, and that it is now going to be done.

But obviously there is no going back now so the laws of unintended consequences can run amok now.

That much aggregate search capability shouldn't even rightly exist in the hands of one company/government/entity/whatever.

 

[Qinsp]

Google ain't the ACLU. They have zero obligation to provide you with illegal content.

But let's say you're vested heavily in a search engine company. And somebody sees their child in a porn movie or pic. Would they be able to file a lawsuit? Anyone can file. Could they win? Today?

Let's see, all companies are evil, kids are sacred, and lawyers need to eat also, and judges are lawyers. Do you see tobacco ads all over the internet? Guess why not. It's not illegal.

If you want to blame something, then blame our Deep Pockets mentality.

 

[Kiznilian]

With all the NSA target on terrorism, none of them had the common sense to put child rape in the key words just to catch a few more scumbags?

I would consider giving up my internet freedoms if it destroyed child rapists. It is even more important to me than terrorists. That's just me though.

 

[Ducman69]

Just seems like an excuse to put in place a system that can virtually eliminate all traces of something off the internet.

After all, lets say you hear about some leaked information about a US government scandal online that goes all the way to the president... well, with a properly incentivized upper brass at Google, that can disappear with a phone call.

And is child porn on the internet REALLY a significant problem? I consider myself a porn connoisseur, and I don't think I've ever come across anything that could remotely be considered legitimate pornography except maybe a questionable age 17 year old or something self-shot video. Seems that the policing of the internet in that regard is working just fine already.

 

[Ducman69]

Plus, once this system is in place, what is going to stop courts from ordering them to block all traces of something?

 

[c3141hf]

How can you create a database of child porn websites when it is illegal to download the child porn on the websites to verify that the websites in question actually contain child porn?

 

[Qinsp]

The problem is that since the Internet makes Child Porn profitable and easy to share, it increases demand.

Kiddy Pron is just one of the many problems with the Internet in it's current state.

I have a VERY old email account, about 20 years old? Today I got a dozen a hacked emails which is normal for a Monday. Why should I be forced to pay for spammers and cyber crooks? Is the Internet Tax really just the overhead of keeping crooks on it.

These hacked emails are from people who I had received as few as a single email from, but they have long lists of recipients. ie - Somebodies database was hacked, or somebody intercepted emails, and it wasn't the NSA.

This isn't just spam, the sites are malware sites.

You have a lot more to fear from the rapidly expanding internet crime organizations, or China, than the US government.

When the US government infects your computer with malware, then they are a huge risk.

 

[Ashbringer]

"In 2011, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC’s) Cybertipline received 17.3 million images and videos of suspected child abuse. This is four times more than what their Exploited Children's Division (ECD) saw in 2007. And the number is still growing."

Maybe try reading the article next time? Just because you don't encounter it doesn't mean it isn't there or that it isn't in large quantities. Hell, I've never encountered a meth addict, but I'm not questioning that they don't exist.

Receiving images and videos doesn't mean it comes from a website. It's more then likely a person to person sort of trading. In which case you'll have to intercept text messages, chat sessions, and other services that allow people to talk to each other.

 

[Rahh]

Google is above the law!

 

[Ducman69]

Google ain't the ACLU. They have zero obligation to provide you with illegal content.

They don't have an obligation to provide you with any content, unless there are internet protection laws in place that restrict them from giving you a "limited" internet.

And that is a problem, because if say Google and Microsoft shake hands on something, consumers could end up screwed.

 

[Ehren8879]

Technology like this could very well be used to erase a person and their history from the internet... for a price

In the future, no online history, no identity, you don't exist.

I smell a sci-fi suspense drama

 

[Methadras]

Chan'ners everywhere are moaning and wailing over this.

 

[MrGoodbar]

Technology like this could very well be used to erase a person and their history from the internet... for a price

In the future, no online history, no identity, you don't exist.

I smell a sci-fi suspense drama

Looks like it can fall both ways depending on what you want. Anonymity is a powerful tool if used correctly. It can also be a powerful depressant when no one knows who you are, like 0 friends on facebook.

 

[provoko]

so there's a database with a ton of child pics and it's going to get shared between companies..........

 

[provoko]

Technology like this could very well be used to erase a person and their history from the internet... for a price

In the future, no online history, no identity, you don't exist.

I smell a sci-fi suspense drama

Nope, sorry. In this context, there would be a database full of everything about you, then that identity is shared with a select list of companies and government agencies to block your identity from the public.

So the elites will know about you, but no one else will.

 

[Ehren8879]

Nope, sorry. In this context, there would be a database full of everything about you, then that identity is shared with a select list of companies and government agencies to block your identity from the public.

So the elites will know about you, but no one else will.

And it's your mission to hack your life back from the NSA!

Coming this summer ".PST"

IMAX and 3D!!!

 

[HoosierDad]

It seems to me as this is another step in thought control.

If at some point, an administration decides they do not like you searching for 'guns', they just tell Google to not allow searches for it by returning zero results. Simple enough.

Same thing goes for any other topic.

As long as Google or similar companies play along with the government, welcome to 1984.

I am not a conspiracy theorist but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[Ezteh]

Bye Bye Reddit, good riddance

 

[Mini-Me]

It seems to me as this is another step in thought control.

If at some point, an administration decides they do not like you searching for 'guns', they just tell Google to not allow searches for it by returning zero results. Simple enough.

Same thing goes for any other topic.

As long as Google or similar companies play along with the government, welcome to 1984.

I am not a conspiracy theorist but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

No kidding. As far as I know, child porn on the open, searchable web is largely a myth, and it only has a miniscule presence in other Internet venues (Usenet, P2P, darknets, etc.). Therefore, any technology aimed at eradicating links to "child porn" from the open web will be primarily used for eradicating links to other kinds of content. First up: RIAA/MPAA abuse.

 

[dgz]

And somebody sees their child in a porn movie or pic.

This is the most absurd thing I've read in quite a while. You have much higher chance being kidnapped by aliens while you're taking a dump in front your co-workers than what you just said. Paranoid much? Why do people lose their shit like that is beyond me. Your precious children! The evil pedophiles are stalking them 365/24/7. Beware...

 

[JimmayLong]

support concept but do not trust implementation.

 

[kllrnohj]

They don't have an obligation to provide you with any content, unless there are internet protection laws in place that restrict them from giving you a "limited" internet.

And that is a problem, because if say Google and Microsoft shake hands on something, consumers could end up screwed.

Consumers of child porn *SHOULD BE* screwed. I don't know about you, but that's something that I would be *thrilled* to see happen. If Google manages to fuck over everyone who consumes child porn the world would be a better place.

If at some point, an administration decides they do not like you searching for 'guns', they just tell Google to not allow searches for it by returning zero results. Simple enough.

Yes, it would be simple. Except that Google would respond with "no", and nothing would happen. This database that Google is making has nothing to do with the government. Google is doing it on their own, not because they were asked to. And Google historically has fought hard against any form of government censorship of search results, what makes you think this would somehow change that? Especially since this is entirely unrelated?

And the headline is misleading, this doesn't remove *anything* from the Internet - even Google can't do that. This is just a public database that Google is allowing everyone to use to filter out child porn from their services. You know, kind of like how adblock has a public list of ad sites to filter out. Nobody is forced to use Google's filter.

 

[spugnor]

Consumers of child porn *SHOULD BE* screwed. I don't know about you, but that's something that I would be *thrilled* to see happen. If Google manages to fuck over everyone who consumes child porn the world would be a better place.

Except that there would be innocent people caught in such a scheme. For example (and this is showing my age), there was a time when Traci Lords was a porno star, until it was revealed that she lied about her age on some of her porno films. That made (technically) anyone watching them pedophiles, when in fact they were not.

Go after the child molesters, sure, but not the innocent porno watcher. If a person doesn't know the "teen" is under aged, then how are they a child ,molester? And trust me, there are people making porno's that could be 16 or 17. Are they legal or not? How the hell is the average porno watcher to know?

This is akin to giving a speeding ticket to anybody who owns a sports car, because "anybody who owns a car like that is going to speed!"

 

[Jagger100]

Google manipulates Web Content that people see all the time. But they threaten Child Porn and everyone is up in arms. Nice we have our priorities.

 

[jbltecnicspro]

Google manipulates Web Content that people see all the time. But they threaten Child Porn and everyone is up in arms. Nice we have our priorities.

It's not about child porn. It's the fact that different organizations have done this in the past. Think "terrorism." The fact that Google computers can remove material from the web without us knowing it raises questions. Like, how do we know it was actually child abuse pictures or child pornographic pictures? What if it was something else? As far as I know, Google isn't a government body and has no obligation to tell us all that it removes. They can remove anything they deem inappropriate and we wouldn't even know. News, information, etc.

The sad truth is that they've probably been doing this for years and have just now come out about it, under the guise of "cleaning up."

 

[Ehren8879]

The truth of the matter is Google IS NOT the internet. It's entirely their prerogative what view of the internet they wish to return via a Google search results. If you don't like it, there are always alternative means of finding what you're looking for. Same goes for their web browser.

To assume at this stage in the game that Google has no agenda and intends to remain completely unbiased is ignorant.

I think people have the false assumption that Google has any sort of responsibility whatsoever.