Google adapts YouTube's copyright-ID technology to combat child-porn

Google has repurposed the high-tech digital fingerprinting technologies it uses to weed out infringing material from YouTube and has turned it into a powerful tool that can restrict child pornography. The company has teamed up with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) based in Alexandria, Virginia to test the technology.

A handful of Google engineers redesigned a set of video and image analysis tools that can help in finding missing children as well as combat child pornography and abuse. The software is designed to find patterns in images and video, and the NCMEC will likely use it to track down child predators and trace missing or those children who are victims of abuse.

Since its inception in 1984, the private, non-profit NCMEC has reported more than 5,70,000 child exploitation leads to law enforcement agencies and has assisted with more than 1,40,900 missing child cases with the most important number of 1,24,500 children who have been recovered.

"Criminals are using cutting edge technology to commit their crimes of child sexual exploitation, and in fighting to solve those crimes and keep children safe, we must do the same," stated Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC.

"That is why we are so grateful to Google for providing new tools that will enable the National Center to better serve law enforcement in battling exploitation and rescuing children," Allen added, commending Google's contribution.