Facebook, Twitter And Google Join Fight Against Spread Of Child Abuse Images Online

Major tech brands Facebook, Twitter And Google have teamed up with web charity Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to halt the spread of child abuse images online.

For the first time, the UK government is sharing its database of child abuse images with the charity to prevent the pictures being distributed on the web.

Launched in December 2014, the Child Abuse Image Database (Caid) comprises illegal images gathered by the Home Office.

While some images on the list may have been previously circulated on the internet, it also includes images that have been seized from home-based hard drives and never uploaded to the web.

IWF spokeswoman Emma Hardy told the BBC:

“For the victim - if they are aware images were taken but haven’t made it onto the net, if their image is on this list we can now prevent it being uploaded in the first place.”

Each image is assigned a unique ‘hash’ number, which makes it traceable without being viewed. A list of the numbers, rather than the images themselves, will be available to charity members.

The hash number makes it easier for tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google to trace and remove images as quickly as possible.

While the hash list system makes it easier for companies to remove illegal images from the web, criminals operating on the so-called ‘dark web’ or ‘deep web’, which isn’t indexed by traditional search engines like Google and Bing, make find workarounds, warn experts.

(Image credit: IB Times)