[Infowarrior] - Internet providers to create database to combat child porn

[Richard Forno]

If it's already illegal to posess or exchange child porn images, won't these
firms be breaking the law by creating and populating this database?  And,
does anyone want to place bets on when slices of this database make it to
the Internet??  -rf

Internet providers to create database to combat child porn
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articleArchive/jun2006/ispchildporn.php

By ANICK JESDANUN AP Internet Writer
2006-06-27

NEW YORK (AP) - Five leading online service providers will jointly build a
database of child-pornography images and develop other tools to help network
operators and law enforcement better prevent distribution of the images.

The companies pledged $1 million (?0.8 million) among them Tuesday to set up
a technology coalition as part of the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children. They aim to create the database by year's end, though
many details remain unsettled.

The participating companies are Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, Yahoo Inc.,
Microsoft Corp., EarthLink Inc. and United Online Inc., the company behind
NetZero and Juno.

Ernie Allen, the chief executive of the missing children's center, noted
that the Internet companies already possess many technologies to help
protect users from threats such as viruses and e-mail "phishing" scams.
"There's nothing more insidious and inappropriate" than child pornography,
he said.

The announcement comes as the U.S. government is pressuring service
providers to do more to help combat child pornography. Top law enforcement
officials have told Internet companies they must retain customer records
longer to help in such cases and have suggested seeking legislation to
require it.

AOL chief counsel John Ryan said the coalition was partly a response to
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales' April speech identifying increases in
child-porn cases and chiding the Internet industry for not doing more about
them.

The creation of the technology coalition does not directly address the
preservation of records but could demonstrate the industry's willingness to
cooperate.

Plans call for the missing children's center to collect known child-porn
images and create a unique mathematical signature for each one based on a
common formula. Each participating company would scan its users' images for
matches.

AOL, for instance, plans to check e-mail attachments that are already being
scanned for viruses. If child porn is detected, AOL would refer the case to
the missing-children's center for further investigation, as service
providers are required to do under federal law.

Each company will set its own procedures on how it uses the database, but
executives say the partnership will let companies exchange their best ideas
_ ultimately developing tools for preventing child-porn distribution instead
of simply catching violations.

"When we pool together all our collective know-how and technical tools, we
hope to come up with something more comprehensive along the lines of
preventative" measures, said Tim Cranton, Microsoft's director of Internet
safety enforcement programs.

Ryan said that although AOL will initially focus on scanning e-mail
attachments, the goal is to ultimately develop techniques for checking other
distribution techniques as well, such as instant messaging or Web uploads.

Representatives will begin meeting next month to evaluate their
technologies, determining, for instance, whether cropping an image would
change its signature and hinder comparisons. Also to be discussed are ways
to ensure that customers' privacy is protected. Authorities still would need
subpoenas to get identifying information on violators.

The companies involved said they are talking with other service providers
about joining. But companies that do not participate still are required by
law to report any suspected child-porn images, and many already have their
own techniques for monitoring and identifying them.