Five leading online service providers will jointly build a database of child-pornography images and develop other tools to help network operators and law enforcement better prevent distribution of the images.
The companies pledged $1 million among them Tuesday to set up a technology coalition as part of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They aim to create the database by year’s end, though many details remain unsettled.
The participating companies are Time Warner Inc.’s AOL, Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO – news), Microsoft Corp., EarthLink Inc. and United Online Inc., the company behind NetZero and Juno.
Ernie Allen, the chief executive of the missing children’s center, noted that the Internet companies already possess many technologies to help protect users from threats such as viruses and e-mail “phishing” scams. “There’s nothing more insidious and inappropriate” than child pornography, he said.
I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
