Microsoft Collaborates On Child Porn Buster

pmike_bauer writes "Microsoft and Canadian authorities on Thursday launched a software program designed to help police worldwide hunt down child porn traffickers. Police departments can use it free of charge." From the article: "The program was developed by Microsoft Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Toronto police, with the help of the Department of Homeland Security, Scotland Yard and Interpol." Update: 04/08 18:09 GMT by Z : Modified to reflect the fact that it's not Open Source.

Comments

The real world just got a whole lot scarier

[Dancin_Santa]

I watch 24 and like it. It's always made me laugh at how easily the agents in the CTU offices were able to bring up any info about anyone anywhere in the world and have that info be up to date. I was amused because it was just so stupid to think that that kind of technology could be developed. You'd need massive amounts of hardware, some serious database capabilities, and motivation to build a monstrosity like that.

I'm not laughing so much after reading this article. It seems to describe exactly the type of universal "Big Eye" technology that Jack Bauer and his cronies at CTU have at their fingertips. And with a cattle prod like CHILD PORNOGRAPHY they've got motivation to build it and a shield to protect themselves from privacy complaints. After all, it is designed specifically to protect the children.

I guess one good thing is that it was built by Microsoft, so it won't work correctly until v3.0.

I hate child pornographers as much as anyone. I find their perversion sick and disgusting. (I am not adverse to them getting their rocks off by looking at adults who look like children. Nothing wrong with that.) But I fail to see why everyone's right to privacy should be invaded just because the Canadians can't track down their own criminals.

What we need is the anti-24. A show with a hero who is interested in building up our rights rather than finding ways of tearing it down. I guess that wouldn't go over too well in these days of ultra-Americanism, though.

Re:The real world just got a whole lot scarier

[swillden]

No, it didn't. If anything it just got the tiniest bit safer.

This isn't some massive database of everyone everywhere, if you RTFA you'll see that it's just a database of kiddie porn clues. Like the example given (with a lot of my own guessing/extrapolation): Cops bust a kiddie porn web site and grab a bunch of photos but can't identify who made them. Separately, cops monitor a chat forum where kiddie pornographers hang out and someone posts a (legal) image. Both sets of images are put into CETS along with information about where and when they were obtained. The system matches the images and determines they were taken with the same camera (EXIF headers or whatever). Some other clue ties in a credit card number so that the owner of the camera can be tracked down. The result is enough information and evidence to get a search warrant, which in turn provides enough evidence for an arrest and conviction.

This sounds to me like a tool to automate part of the analysis that detectives do every day, connecting apparently unrelated bits of information that have been legitimately collected. But the system only knows what the investigating agencies put into it, and there's no indication of any kind of massive effort to connect it to other databases, or to put information about everyone in it. Such efforts would likely be counterproductive, since the volume of information would overwhelm the system's ability to cross-check everything.

I'm a Libertarian who doesn't believe we should give up any of our rights to privacy just to make cops jobs' easier, but I really don't see any problem with this, and not just because it's kiddie porn. I think police *should* be using such tools to cross-check bits of information about suspects of all sorts of crimes. I'm all for criminals getting caught and punished under the law. We have some bad laws that criminalize some things that shouldn't be criminal, but the solution to that isn't to handicap the cops, it's to fix the laws.

License?

[rekrutacja]

I googled for license agreement, but found nothing. I would be very surprised, if Microsoft released it under one of OSI approved licenses. So, what license is this "open-source"?

Noble cause, but

[TequilaJunction]

WTF does Homeland Security have to do with this?

Why people question this

[dsasser]

Obviously, entities people dislike are suspected of having a hidden agenda when they suddently change behavior and do something they've historically opposed. When the spyware folks started making anti-spyware statements people were suspicious. Likewise when the anti-OSS folks start releasing OSS. This kind of suspicion is quite reasonable.

This doesn't mean that there isn't a "good" explanation -- just that people are skeptical.

In support of suspicion: Why is the US Dept. of Homeland Security involved in kiddy porn? Could there be some application beyond kiddy porn that might interest them?

It's a fairly common tactic to establish a precedent for a questionable tactic by using it against an unquestionable evil. I think that's what worries people about this.

Check civil liberties blogs

[coyote-san]

That's the theory, then there's the reality. Police and prosecutors have agendas, the average person can't afford a decent defense and public defenders are grossly overworked, there's immense social stigma associated with the mere whiff of involvement, etc.

Then there's the current craze for overcharging. Hit them with dozens of charges so they'll plea bargain down to what you _might_ have been able to get if the case went to trial. The innocent will agree to it because the alternative could be life in prison without parole, the prosecutor loves it because it bumps up their kill rate while freeing them to pursue other cases. Even better, part of a plea bargain is a surrender of all rights to appeal the conviction!

If you want to see a horrid example of this run amuck, look at the Weenachee, Washington child abuse cases. According to the police (a single officer, Lt. Perez, iirc), and the prosecutor a 30+ child abuse ring was uncovered and convicted.

If you listen to the critics, you'll learn that almost everyone charged was poor, hispanic, and accepted a plea bargain because they couldn't afford a defense. They all continue to maintain their innocence. The only couple to get off where rich and white and they took the case to trial. (The critics also point out that Perez appeared to have used improper interrogation techniques for young children and was far more likely to have implanted false memories than to have uncovered true ones. E.g., iirc he had many of his victims live with him while the child's parents were under investigation! He would (subconsciously?) reward them with ice cream and other treats when they were cooperative.)

If you listen to the other courts the city really screwed up and owes millions in dollars in damages. The city is appealing because the judgement will bankrupt the town.

Unfortunately the real victims are the 30+ people convicted of these crimes. The subsequent court rulings introduce massive doubts about the prior convictions and most people could get a new trial. (Then the DA would probably decline to prosecute, freeing them without an admission of wrongdoing on either side.) But they're stuck in prison for 5, 10 or even 20 years because they accepted plea bargains and lost their right of appeal. Their only hope may be a pardon from the governor - and mass pardons for convicted child molesters (regardless of circumstances) is political suicide.

So tell me again how the system bends over backwards to protect the innocence and the falsely accused have nothing to fear.