Millions of photos and videos of children being sexually abused exist on platforms from Dropbox to Facebook Messenger.
Our investigation found that the tech industry has consistently failed to take coordinated steps to shut down the illegal content.
nyti.ms/2QcKpPB
Our investigation found that the tech industry has consistently failed to take coordinated steps to shut down the illegal content.
nyti.ms/2QcKpPB
The main method for detecting illegal imagery online was created in 2009 by Microsoft and Hany Farid, now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Here’s how the software, known as PhotoDNA, works.
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nyti.ms/2QcKpPB
It has been 10 years since PhotoDNA was developed at Microsoft, yet the tech industry’s efforts to detect and remove known illegal photos remains uneven and cloaked in secrecy.
The tech industry’s response to video content has been even more wanting. There is no common standard for identifying illegal video content, and many major platforms — including AOL, Snapchat and Yahoo — do not even scan for it.
“It just sucks that it’s still going on, because the pictures are still circulating. It’s like another form of abuse.”
nyti.ms/2CpkLim
nyti.ms/2CpkLim
To report online child sexual abuse or find resources for those in need of help, contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or missingkids.org/gethelpnow
