Monday’s announcements by Google concerning their new enhanced capabilities when identifying child abuse images have been welcomed all round. However, the real question to ask is: is this really enough when the majority of such images are not found on the internet at all, but within the realms of the ‘deep, dark web’.
To put it frankly, the organised criminal manufacturers and distributors of such material do not use the internet; they use peer to peer websites and messaging, and The Onion Router (TOR).
We have blogged before about the use of the deep web and TOR for criminal activity (13/10/2013, 08/11/2013 and 11/11/2013) and the authorities’ attempts to harness these activities.
Google (and indeed Microsoft) have been working with international investigative authorities for many years to develop strategies to counter the availability of child abuse images on the net, but Monday’s announcements point to enhanced strategies not in place before.
They have had 200 people working on these issues for over three months and have worked closely with Microsoft as well. As a result they now have technology which targets 100,000 search terms associated with the location of such images in 150 languages.
There will also be warnings at the top of search results for 13,000 relevant internet search queries.
Google states that solely relying on algorithms was insufficient; it would be impossible for algorithms to distinguish between legal innocent images of children in the bath/beach/swimming pool with illegal images that still required human input.
If the image is illegal it will leave a unique digital fingerprint which the internet providers/authorities can track.
YouTube will also identify child abuse images and videos, and when identified they will be given a tag which will prevent duplication and sharing of such images.
In conjunction with Google’s announcements, Downing Street has also announced a joint UK/US taskforce (involving their respective intelligence agencies) who will target the ‘deep web’ and the criminal organisations that use it.
The Telegraph (19/11/2013) is of the view that the better way to detect child abuse images is to employ good old fashioned policing methods using technology. This is an approach endorsed by CEOP.
They point to the success of the Canadian authorities with international arrests connected with azovfilms.com, a website based in Toronto, underlining this.
Using software such as The Onion Router (TOR) and peer to peer messaging/websites raises difficulties when it comes to the detection of these deep websites. These mechanisms effectively hide the identities of the users. They swap addresses of those seeking to hide their identities using encryption and in real terms ‘warping’ the true identity (i.e. The Onion Router).
There is certainly going to be a renewed and sustained effort to prosecute those allegedly involved in such criminal behaviour, but it will raise all sorts of difficulties when formally bringing a prosecution with public interest immunity issues and complex technical evidence to be presented to the Court.
If you are facing a criminal investigation or prosecution relating to the issues raised here, you will need genuinely experienced, specialist lawyers. Two of our partners are experts in both cybercrime and sexual offence law. They use leading computer technological experts and specialist barristers when preparing their defence cases. The more complex the case, the better!
Two of our other directors assisted Channel 4 with their news programme on this subject, televised on 18 November 2013.
Please contact us either by calling 020 7387 2032 or completing our online enquiry form here.