Google Joins Child Porn Fight
Google added its name to two lists of corporate heavy-hitters who've teamed up with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and its international sister agency ICMEC to combat child pornography on the Internet.
The Technology Coalition and the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography include a Blue Chip roster of tech and finance companies that will develop and deploy technology aimed at disrupting the ability of predators to use the Internet to exploit children or traffic in child porn.
That roster, for the Technology Coalition are AOL, Yahoo!, Microsoft, EarthLink, Google, and United Online, who will work to enhance knowledge sharing in the industry, improve law enforcement tools, and research perpetrators' technologies in order to enhance industry efforts.
Google will also be joining the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography, a group of leading banks, credit card companies, third party payment companies, and Internet services companies working to stop the flow of funds to child pornography web sites. The Financial Coalition was formed in 2005 under the guidance of Senator Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
Members of the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography are: America Online, American Express Company, Authorize.Net, Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, Discover Financial Services LLC, e-gold, First Data Corporation, First National Bank of Omaha, Google, MasterCard, Microsoft, North American Bancard, Nova Information Systems, PayPal, First PREMIER Bank/PREMIER Bankcard, Standard Chartered Bank, Visa, Wells Fargo, and Yahoo! Inc.
"Both Coalitions exemplify the best spirit of private industry, as these companies set aside their competitive zeal to work together to protect the world's most vulnerable citizens," said Ernie Allen, President and Chief Executive Officer of NCMEC and ICMEC. "Google is to be commended for bringing its considerable expertise to the fight."
"Google has joined these efforts as part of its zero-tolerance policy on child pornography and those who would promote it," said Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel, Products and Intellectual Property, of Google Inc.
"Participation in these coalitions will be critical to our efforts to protect children on the Internet, which include actively supporting law enforcement efforts to track down predators, finding new technological solutions, and participating in industry-wide initiatives."
In 2001, the CyberTipline operated by NCMEC had received more than 24,400 reports of child pornography. By the beginning of 2006, that number had climbed to more than 340,000.
If members of the public have knowledge of a child pornography web site, they are encouraged to report it immediately to the CyberTipline managed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (www.cybertipline.com or 1-800-843-5678).
Citizens outside the United States can call the CyberTipline or can contact any number of hotlines around the world. To learn more about these hotlines, visit the web site of the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE) at www.inhope.org.
Google, NCMEC
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Jason L. Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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