Google Defends Cyber Monitoring Policy after Child Porn Tip-off
Google, which tipped off Houston police about a pedophile after finding pornographic images on his email during a cyber scan, is defending its policy of electronic monitoring of users' web activities.
John Henry Skillern was arrested Thursday following a tip from Google to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Skillern, 41, a restaurant worker had explicit child pornographic images on his email. "He was trying to get around getting caught, he was trying to keep it inside his email," said detective David Nettles of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes against Children Taskforce, reports skynews.com.
In an email, a Google spokesperson said, "Sadly, all internet companies have to deal with child sexual abuse. It's why Google actively removes illegal imagery from our services - including search and Gmail - and immediately reports abuse to the NCMEC,"reports skynews.com.
Google uses software to track the online behavior of its users for targeted advertising, is common knowledge. Google's online set of 'program policies' for its Gmail service, with more than 400 million users worldwide, includes 'a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse imagery'.
" Each child sexual abuse image is given a unique digital fingerprint which enables our systems to identify those pictures, including in Gmail," said a Google spokesperson, 'It is important to remember that we only use this technology to identify child sexual abuse imagery - not other email content that could be associated with criminal activity (for example using email to plot a burglary)," reports skynews.com.
Police raided the suspected convict's house, a registered sex offender and found child pornography on his phone and tablet. The mobile phone had videos of children who visited the restaurant he worked in. He has been charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of promotion of child pornography. He remains in custody on a $200,000 bond, reports KHOU .
