Google Helps To Catch Sex Offender - Who's Next?

The fight against the use of the internet to further child exploitation and pedophiles being able to search for web sites displaying child pornography took another turn towards protecting the welfare of children today.

News hit the wires that a man in Houston was charged with possession of child pornography following information provided by search giant, Google. The aspects of the case thus far show the extent that large online companies will go to sift through online accounts to find what they're looking for.

Google Went Through A User's Email Account

Google went through the Houston individual's Gmail account and examined content received to determine whether these could be considered illegal child pornography or not. It is also known that a search by Police of the suspect's computer revealed locally-stored copies of under-age photos and other content.

Microsoft and Google Working Together

Microsoft and Google have been working collaboratively for some time against illegal content that exploits children. Both software firms, plus law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are actively using automated image scan technology to check images transmitted online for illicit content.

Google and Bing have been also working to remove over 100,000 related search queries that touch on subjects relating to child pornography in order to ensure no search results are displayed for such searches. Currently these two search brands cover 95% of the search market which in theory cuts off the majority of access to this type of information.

However, there are hundreds if not thousands of search engines on the net, so there is little to stop a pedophile using a different site to run their search for illicit material. Presumably this is where the FBI becomes more useful in taking down sites found to have illicit content and tracking the users of those sites.

Is This Good or Bad News For Users of Google and Microsoft Web Properties?

It is already generally understood by users that Google uses their “private” emails to help determine what adverts to display, whereas Microsoft have stopped this practice.

The difficulty with this kind of email account intrusion is that it's illegal to access someone else's email account, but Google freely access the Houston man's email account for the purposes of checking for illegal content. Google can do what we cannot. Is that right or reasonable?

When Is It Going Too Far?

The other issue is where does this all end? We can see the argument and understand it when people point out that it's a good thing to get pedophiles out of society and behind bars or in treatment programs to help with their predilections, but under the saying from Lord Acton “absolute power corrupts absolutely” where are the controls to protect invasion of privacy?

A girlfriend takes a revealing “selfie” or video clip and it gets automatically uploaded from her phone to her Drive account. Or she sends it to her boyfriend (or girlfriend) via Hotmail or Gmail. Is this safe for her to do and what will happen to such content later if these services decide to use their data in other ways that are less than desirable?

It takes us down a dangerous path where online corporations have too much knowledge, too much power and influence, and can make the rules up as the go along. Where will it end?