Google scans Gmail for images of child abuse

I am 100% against Child Pornography and any sexual exploitation of children. Software by Google and Microsoft that scans email and cloud accounts will make it harder for them to store and trade illicit photos of children. When I think about the software usage though, it just reminds me that the NSA most likely has a much more advanced but similar software that scans emails and cloud storage for specific names, numbers, pictures, etc. and stores for later use or to monitor information to/from certain people. Big Brother really is always watching. 

In other words, whatever "cloud" storage you choose to use, someone, somewhere is scanning it to see what you are storing. If they can scan pictures, they can scan documents as well. Don't think for a half second that Apple isn't scanning your iPhone cloud storage. You would be very naive to think so. You may not be involved in any crimes, but who really wants someone/thing scanning through their private documents? If you become a person of interest, it seems like the fastest way to get some information to frame or blackmail you. Or maybe I'm just paranoid like Will Smith was on I Robot. But he turned out to be right.

Hundreds of millions of email accounts are now being routinely scanned for illegal images, thanks to sophisticated new Google software

By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent

8:10PM BST 04 Aug 2014

Technology giant Google has developed state of the art software which proactively scours hundreds of millions of email accounts for images of child abuse.

The breakthrough means pedophiles around the world will no longer be able to store and send vile images via email without the risk of their crimes becoming known to the authorities.

Details of the software emerged after a 41-year-old convicted sex offender was arrested in Texas for possession of child abuse images.

Police in the United States revealed that Google’s sophisticated search system had identified suspect material in an email sent by a man in Houston.

Child protection experts were automatically tipped off and were then able to alert the police, who swooped after requesting the user’s personal information from Google.

It is hoped the software will play a significant role in the ongoing fight against pedophiles who believe they can use the Internet to operate in the shadows and avoid detection.

Google, which has sometimes faced criticism for not doing enough to tackle pedophilia online, has been developing highly specialized software for a number of years.

In 2008 it rolled out new technology that helped the authorities trace those who were using its search engine to look for illegal images.

But while the company refused to comment on this latest case, the arrest in Texas confirms that the software is now being applied to scan the Google’s hugely popular email service

Google’s Gmail is the world’s largest free web-based email service with more than 425 million users worldwide.

It is understood that the software works by comparing images held in users’ accounts against a vast database of child abuse images which have been collated by child protection agencies around the world.

Each one of the images is given a unique fingerprint, known as a hash, which is then used to compare with those held in the database.

The system operates automatically and nobody working for Google is able to see any of the images being examined.

If a match with one of the images on the database is found a red flag is raised and one of the child protection agencies such as the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation or the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the US is alerted.

Trained specialists at the organisations then examine the image and decide whether to alert the police.

While the technology will be seen as a huge boost to the fight against child abuse and exploitation, the ability of Google to look into people’s personal email accounts has raised questions for privacy campaigners.

Earlier in the year Google confirmed that email accounts were being scanned for content to provide "personally relevant" adverts to users.

Last month the National Crime Agency (NCA) announced that more than 600 suspected pedophiles including doctors, teachers and care workers had been arrested in a major crackdown on the trade in images of abuse.

While the NCA refused to discuss tactics it is thought experts had made a breakthrough in cracking the so-called ‘dark web’, a part of the Internet which has been notoriously difficult to monitor and police.

Source

Microsoft Is Also Scanning For Illicit Images

Like Google, fellow tech giant spies e-mail, storage accounts

AUGUST 5--No, Google isn’t the only tech giant scanning your online accounts for illicit images.

Microsoft does the exact same thing, according to a criminal complaint filed last week against a Pennsylvania man accused of using the tech titan’s e-mail and cloud storage service.

Tyler James Hoffman, 20, was arrested by state police and booked into the Monroe County Correctional Facility on five felony charges related to his alleged possession and distribution of child pornography.

Hoffman, seen in the above mug shot, is locked up in lieu of $50,000 bail.

According to a July 31 criminal complaint, Microsoft twice detected Hoffman uploading illicit images to his SkyDrive account earlier this year. The firm then passed on details of the uploads to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which, in turn, tipped law enforcement officials.

While the complaint does not detail how Microsoft identified the illicit images, 

it seems likely that the firm, like Google, uses sophisticated software to compare stored photos with known child porn images that have been previously obtained by law enforcement agencies worldwide. It seems likely that similar analysis is done by other large e-mail providers, like Yahoo and AOL.

During questioning last Thursday, Hoffman--who used a Microsoft live.com e-mail address--reportedly admitted to receiving and trading child porn via his cell phone, adding that he sought to upload illicit images to SkyDrive (which recently was renamed OneDrive).

Source: The Smoking Gun