A Linux-Based "Breath Test" For Porn On PCs

Gwaihir the Windlord writes "A university in Western Australia has started beta testing a tool that's described as 'a random breath test' to scan computers for illicit images. According to this article it's a clean bootable Linux environment. Since it doesn't write to the hard drive, the evidence is acceptable in court, at least in Australia. They're also working on versions to search for financial documents in fraud squad cases, or to search for terrorist keywords. Other than skimming off the dumb ones, does anyone really expect this to make a difference?" The article offers no details on what means the software uses to identify suspicious files.

Comments

Any Aussies here?

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell is wrong with your country?

how could this even work?

[jollyreaper]

Some descriptions say that "porn scanners" search for fleshtones in images. What if the guy's a rubber freak and everybody is in skintight latex bondage outfits? Or hell, the guy could be a real sicko, a furry. Images of anthro skunk on aardvark action would be completely overlooked by such a filter and quite frankly, if we're going to investigate people based on their taste in porn, I find the furries the most suspicious. Them and the Harry Potter yaoi fangirls but you can grep that real quick.