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Google Spots Explicit Images of a Child In Man's Email, Tips Off Police

Posted by samzenpus on from the do-not-pass-go dept.

mrspoonsi writes with this story about a tip sent to police by Google after scanning a users email. A Houston man has been arrested after Google sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saying the man had explicit images of a child in his email, according to Houston police. The man was a registered sex offender, convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1994, reports Tim Wetzel at KHOU Channel 11 News in Houston. "He was keeping it inside of his email. I can't see that information, I can't see that photo, but Google can," Detective David Nettles of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce told Channel 11. After Google reportedly tipped off the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Center alerted police, which used the information to get a warrant.

3 of 790 comments (clear)

  1. Good riddance by penguinoid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Both to the pedophile and to the illusion of privacy people had when using Gmail.

    (They have an obligation to report child porn if they find it, but they don't have an obligation to look. My suspicion is Google is not happy about what happened.)

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  2. Re: Well at least they saved the children! by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Google messing up the evidence chain doesn't have to be about the 4th amendment and the police.

    It could go to the legitimacy of the ebidrmce altogether. What assurances can be offered thst the photos were not planted by an employee of google who has a beef with pedophilles. After all, google did happen to look in this man's private email that people think is as private as snsil mail even though they gave google access knowingly or unknowingly, find a pictue, and alert the proper people to make sure something comes of it. Even if it was discovered automatically by software, the question of how it got there still comes about.

  3. Re:compared to hash database, with antivirus by joe_frisch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Which seems like a great way to catch the minor offenders who are trading old pictures, but not the really serious offenders who are producing NEW child porn. One could even argue that it creates a market for new child porn that doesn't have known signatures.

    I wonder if child porn is the only type of material that is checked against a known database?