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

Re:Microsft releasing OSS? *Blink*

[kelzer]

Is saying "good job" too much to ask for? What does MS need to do to earn a thank you from all the nay-sayers.

Ummm, how about doing exactly what they did, but anonymously, so that we know they didn't just do it for the positive press?

Microsoft's certainly not alone in this sort of thing. A couple of years ago Phillip Morris had a series of TV advertisements in which they boasted how they had helped communities during various disasters. They probably spent $10,000,000 on the prime-time ads to showcase the $100,000 they spent on disaster relief.

Microsoft has a long history of being insincere and untrustworthy. Frankly, many of us will never believe they've changed their ways, no matter what they do.

Oooh ANYTHING for the Children.

[DroopyStonx]

Anyone who suddenly applauds Microsoft because of their RANDOM stance on battling Kiddie Porn is a sheep.

Why is it that the second anyone brings CHILDREN into the fray, they are painted as a saint? Oh, so Microsoft is okay now because they "care about the children"? Right.

You're just as bad for falling for it...

It's pretty sad when someone has to resort to "think about the children!" in order to garner attention. As if kiddie porn is this epidemic that's WAY out of control.

Hey, how about releasing an OSS application to stop the spread of worms and viruses that plague windows users? Oh wait, that's anti-virus software and you can make a profit on that... so nevermind.

Re:Evil, bad, nasty pornography!

[danila]

Children are bought and sold, gang-raped, and forced to have sex with each other. Acts which absolutely destroy a child. This isn't some victimless crime.

This is a lie. Child pornography is not created this way. Yes, there are some children (double-digits annually AT MOST) who are sold and forced to have sex. But they are a drop in the bucket of crime. Worse things happen to thousands, heck, to millions every year. Hundreds of thousands of kids starve to death every year. Millions are disabled by preventable diseases. Thousands are physically abused by relatives. Hundreds of thousands are grown in opressive traditional cultures, where they are sexually mutilated (circumcision, clitoridectomy), prevented from getting decent education, thousands of children are sold into non-sexual slavery, millions are forced to work.

But you would rather oppose a fantasy, an ugly fantasy created in your sick brain. The non-problem. Well, you are stupid foo, what else can we expect?