Microsoft and Google Tighten Searches to Combat Porn

Microsoft and Google have unveiled new measures to block searches online for images of child sex abuse starting on Monday as part an attempt by authorities in Britain to crackdown on pedophiles on the Internet.

The two companies said up to 100,000 search terms now would fail to produce any results and trigger a warning that imagery depicting child abuse is illegal while offering how someone can get help.

The move by the two largest operators of search engines in the world was a display of unity that is rare ahead of a safety summit on the Internet Monday that David Cameron the Prime Minister is hosting.

Cameron welcomed any progress being made to block the illegal content, but was quick to point out far more was still needed.

The safety summit comes following a call this summer by Cameron to companies on the Internet to do more in stopping the accessibility of the illegal images. Now the two companies have introduced algorithms that prevent searches that look for imagery containing child abuse.

Eric Schmidt the executive chairman of Google write in a newspaper in London that the changes cleaned up more than 100,000 searches that might be related to child abuse of a sexual nature.

The changes, said the Chairman, would be in 150 languages making the impact truly a global one. He added that the restrictions would be launched in the UK first and then expanded to more languages during the following six months.

Both Microsoft and Google, who are due to join forces with other companies on Internet for the Monday summit, have agreed to use the expertise technology in helping to identify images that depict child abuse.

Google, said Schmidt, planned to provide its engineers to assist in technical support for Britain’s Internet Watch Foundation and the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children in the U.S. Google will fund internships for the engineers of the organizations.

Claire Perry, a conservative in parliament, who is an adviser to Cameron on children, said that U.S. and British law enforcement agencies would assist in his effort of tracking pedophiles that use the dark web or hidden internet of networks that us encryption to distribute images containing child abuse.