PhotoDNA Technology helps to stop Internet Predators

Child pornography is one of the Internet’s most severe social problems, and it is a problem that no one likes to address or talk about. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) acknowledges that the scope of the child porn problem is too large for law enforcement, policy makers and child protection groups to handle on their own. This is one of the reasons Microsoft Research developed a new technology called PhotoDNA.

The PhotoDNA technology was initially created by Microsoft Research and then further developed by Hany Farid, a digital-imaging expert and professor of computer science at Dartmouth College. Using a unique digital blueprinting technology PhotoDNA finds hidden images of child sexual exploitation.

Although major content hosters enforce content standards as a matter of practice, the manual and processes they rely on to remove inappropriate posts are no match for the volume of child porn online today.

Microsoft SVP and General Counsel Brad Smith was recently quoted as saying "These photos live on the Internet forever and every time they are shared or viewed, the children in them are re-victimized. It’s not enough to stop the perpetrators. The real point is getting these images off the Internet."

PhotoDNA’s underlying technology could potentially be applied to various problems related to Internet content resulting in many social upsides. With respect to child porn, Farid says that PhotoDNA is likely only the first in a series of technologies that he and Microsoft will develop to disrupt the flow of images across the Internet. "We will continually enhance PhotoDNA to contend with counter-measures employed by traffickers. We will also extend this work to analyze video."