The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and its sister agency, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), have announced that Google has joined the Technology Coalition and the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography, two industry initiatives to fight commercial child pornography on the Internet.
Google will be joining the Technology Coalition, teaming up with other major online companies to launch an aggressive new campaign to fight child exploitation on the Internet. The Technology Coalition will be funded within NCMEC to develop and deploy technology solutions that disrupt the ability of predators to use the Internet to exploit children or traffic in child pornography.
Members of the Technology Coalition include America Online (AOL), Yahoo!, Microsoft, EarthLink, Google, and United Online. The Technology Coalition works to enhance knowledge-sharing among industry participants, improve law enforcement tools, and research perpetrators’ technologies in order to enhance industry efforts and build solutions.
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 websites. The Financial Coalition was formed in 2005 at the urging of Sen. Richard C. Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
Joan Irvine, executive director for the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating child pornography from the Internet, was pleased to hear that the popular search engine had joined the fight against child pornography.
“ASACP participates in the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography, so we’re especially glad to welcome Google to the table. Google’s vast resources, credibility, and technical prowess will all be valuable assets in the fight against online child sexual abuse,” Irvine says. “They’ve already helped transform the Internet, making information more accessible. If they now apply that same energy and know-how to making CP inaccessible, the world will have something else to be grateful to them for.”
Members of the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography include AOL, 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,” says Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of NCMEC and ICMEC. “Google is to be commended for bringing its considerable expertise to the fight.”
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.
“Google has joined these efforts as part of its zero-tolerance policy on child pornography and those who would promote it,” says Nicole Wong, associate general counsel, products and intellectual property department of Google. “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.”
