Google block on child porn: At last! Internet giant axes links to vile sex-abuse websites in stunning victory for Mail campaign

World's biggest media firm has agreed to introduce changes to engine



Google will now prevent depraved images and videos from appearing

Company chairman Eric Schmidt says in today's Mail : 'We've listened'

Restrictions are designed to apply in English-speaking countries

But they'll be expanded to cover 158 other languages over six months

David Cameron said move represents 'a really significant step forward'

But the PM warns it was not enough – and more needs to be done

Internet search results linked to child abuse are to be blocked across the world in a stunning U-turn by Google.

The world's biggest media firm has agreed to introduce changes which will prevent depraved images and videos from appearing for more than 100,000 different searches.

The company's chairman Eric Schmidt, writing in today's Daily Mail ahead of a Downing Street summit on internet pornography, says: 'We've listened.

At last! Google has agreed to introduce changes which will prevent depraved images and videos from appearing for more than 100,000 different searches

'We've fine-tuned Google Search to prevent links to child sexual abuse material from appearing in our results.'

The restrictions, which have been designed to apply in English-speaking countries, will be expanded to cover the rest of the world and 158 other languages in the next six months.

Mr Schmidt also reveals that Google has developed breakthrough technology that will allow illegal videos to be 'tagged' so that all duplicate copies can be removed across the internet.

Microsoft, which operates search engines Bing and powers Yahoo, will confirm at the Downing Street talks that it is introducing similar restrictions. The dramatic developments follow the Daily Mail's concerted fight to force the industry to clean up the internet with its Block Online Porn campaign.

David Cameron, in an interview with this newspaper, said the move represented 'a really significant step forward' but was not enough – and threatened legislation if the firms refuse to do more.

'We learnt from cases like the murder of Tia Sharp and April Jones that people will often start accessing extreme material via a simple search in one of the mainstream search engines,' the Prime Minister said.



Summit: David Cameron today held talks in Downing Street with members of leading search engines, internet service providers, the National Crime Agency and the NSPCC

Michel Van Der Bel, managing director of Microsoft UK, (left) and Google boss Peter Barron were in Downing Street for the summit on internet safety today

Also attending the summit with David Cameron were Gavin Patterson from BT and Dido Harding from Talk Talk

Mr Cameron said a list of terms had been drawn up by child protection experts which they judged were 'unambiguous'.

'If you used these you were looking for child abuse images online,' he added. 'I challenged the search companies to block these terms, to make sure that no illegal content or pathways to illegal content were returned.

'At the time, Google and Microsoft – who cover 95 per cent of the market – said blocking search results couldn't be done, that it shouldn't be done.

'They argued that it was against the very principle of the internet and search engines to block material, even if there was no doubt that some of the search terms being used by paedophiles were abhorrent in a modern society.

'I did not accept that then and I do not accept that now.'

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt (left) said Google has developed breakthrough technology that will allow illegal videos to be 'tagged'. Prime Minister David Cameron (right) said the move represented 'a really significant step forward'



U-turn: Internet search results linked to child abuse are to be blocked across the world by Google

Mr Cameron said the moves being announced by Google and Microsoft represent 'significant progress'.

'The internet search engines will set out how they will take action to stop child abuse material from being available through a simple search online. They're going to be doing this not only in Britain but across the world,' he said.

'This will include the introduction of new algorithms [sets of instructions for software] that will block child abuse images, videos and pathways that lead to illegal content, covering 100,000 unique searches on Google worldwide. So the effort we have made in the UK is going to be a huge benefit across the world.'

Other measures agreed include stopping auto-complete features – which will prevent search engines from prompting child abuse search terms even if a person was not looking for them.

For the 13,000 terms most clearly linked to child abuse, Google will flash up warnings of illegality and provide links to charities offering help.

Google and Microsoft will also work with the National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation to bring forward a plan to tackle 'peer to peer networks' – file-sharing networks which paedophiles use to contact each other.

April Jones: Child porn addict Mark Bridger abducted and killed the five-year-old last year

Google's new technology, developed by 200 of their IT experts, will put a unique identification mark on illegal child abuse videos, meaning all copies are removed from the web once a single copy is identified. The firm is offering to share the technology, similar to existing 'photo DNA' used for still images, with rivals.

'Google and Microsoft have come a long way,' Mr Cameron added. 'A recent deterrence campaign from Google led to a 20 per cent drop off in people trying to find illegal content, so we know this sort of action will make a difference.

'Both companies have made clear to me that they share my commitment to stop child abuse content from being available not only in the UK but across the world.

'This must mean making sure that it is not possible for people to find child abuse content via search engines now or in the future.

'We will now work with the National Crime Agency and others to monitor the effectiveness of the new technology introduced by Google and Microsoft.

'It's imperative that they can show they are preventing imagery or pathways are returned against blacklisted search terms identified by the National Crime Agency.

'If the search engines are unable to deliver on their commitment to prevent child abuse material being returned from search terms used by paedophiles, I will bring forward legislation that will ensure it happens.

'There are some terms that are so shocking and unambiguous that I believe they should return nothing at all. It's not an infringement of free speech, it's responsible business practice.

'So the threat of legislation has not gone away. I believe we are heading in right direction but no-one should be in doubt that there is a red line: if more isn't done to stop illegal content or pathways being found when you use a child abuse search term, we will do what is necessary to protect our children.'

In today's article, Mr Schmidt insists his and other internet companies have been working for years to try to prevent paedophiles sharing illegal images and remove as many as possible from the web.

'But as David Cameron said in a speech this summer there's always more that can be done,' he says.

He adds that in the last three months his firm has 'put over two hundred people to work developing new, state of the art technology to tackle the problem'.

'While no algorithm is perfect – and Google cannot prevent paedophiles adding new images to the web I these changes have cleaned up the results for over 100,000 queries that might be related to the sexual abuse of kids.'

Crucially, the system is designed to identify new code words or terms paedophiles start to use and will block search results for these too.

Google spokesman Peter Barron said: 'The sexual abuse of children ruins young lives. It's why we proactively remove these awful images from our services – and report offenders to the authorities. But the Government is right that our industry can do more. So we' ve developed new technology to detect and remove videos of abuse, as well as fine-tuned our search engine to prevent this material from appearing in our results.

'We hope this will make a difference in the fight against the sexual exploitation of kids.'

Other measures being discussed at the Downing Street summit today include family-friendly filters to screen out all adult content. As revealed in Saturday's Mail all 20million households that are connected to the internet are being contacted by their service providers and given an 'unavoidable choice' about whether they want to be able to access porn.

The Government is taking other steps, including criminalising scenes of simulated rape.

GOOGLE SEARCHES FUELLED FANTASIES OF CHILD KILLERS Two shocking crimes last year involved child killers who had developed an obsession with depraved images they had found using simple Google searches:

MARK BRIDGER

The former slaughterman had watched a cartoon of a young girl being raped and also looked up child murders on his computer hours before murdering five-year-old April Jones.

Detectives found an incriminating library of vile images on the 48-year-old's laptop.

The searches included 'British girl murdered in France', '10-year-old girls naked' and 'pictures of naked virgin teens'.

The paedophile (right) had also downloaded sadistic cartoons representing 'extremely young girls' suffering sexual abuse.

And he used Facebook to access photographs of local girls, including April and her half-sisters aged 13 and 16. He also went online to save images of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, murdered by paedophile school caretaker Ian Huntley in 2002. After viewing child pornography and a rape scene on TV at home, Bridger decided to abduct April, kick-starting the biggest missing manhunt in police history.

The father-of-six snatched and murdered April on the Bryn-Y-Gog estate, in Machynlleth, Powys, on October 1 last year. Cross-dresser Bridger was convicted of murder in May after a five-week trial.

He has refused to reveal what he did with her body, but it is believed he burned her in his fire and dumped some of her remains in a nearby river.

The judge said Bridger had stored on his laptop 'not only images of pre-pubescent and pubescent girls but foul pornography of the gross sexual abuse of young children'.

STUART HAZELL

Habitual child porn user Stuart Hazell murdered 12-year-old Tia Sharp – his girlfriend's granddaughter – after months of trawling internet pornography.

He typed the phrase 'little girls in glasses' into search engines on his home computer and clicked through sordid images which popped up. Tia wore glasses.

Police also found Google searches including the terms 'naked little girlies' and 'schoolgirl abuse' on the computer.

He sought images of young girls who looked like Tia, with spectacles and ponytails.

Sentencing Hazell, 38, to life, with a minimum term of 38 years, the judge found it was access to porn which had fuelled his sick fantasies, leading him to sexually assault Tia and then suffocate her in August last year.

Cannabis smoker Hazell, who gained access to Tia after going out first with her mother and then her grandmother Christine Bicknell, murdered her on August 3.

The father-of-one had claimed she slipped and broken her neck while he was babysitting her at the home he shared with Miss Bicknell in Croydon, South London. But on the fifth day of his trial in May he admitted murder.





We've listened - and here's how we'll halt this depravity

By ERIC SCHMIDT , EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF GOOGLE

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said the search giant has developed breakthrough technology that will allow illegal videos to be 'tagged'

Last week 348 people were arrested in Canada – and 386 young kids rescued – in one of the largest child sex investigations ever seen. It defies belief that anyone would sexually abuse children, especially teachers and doctors entrusted with their care.



But this awful case highlights the depths to which humanity can sink.



And while society will never wholly eliminate such depravity, we should do everything in our power to protect children from harm.



That's why internet companies like Google and Microsoft have been working with law enforcement for years to stop paedophiles sharing illegal pictures on the web.



We actively remove child sexual abuse imagery from our services and immediately report abuse to the authorities. This evidence is regularly used to prosecute and convict criminals.

But as David Cameron said in a speech this summer, there's always more that can be done.

We've listened, and in the last three months put more than 200 people to work developing new, state-of-the-art technology to tackle the problem.

Cleaning up search: We've fine tuned Google Search to prevent links to child sexual abuse material from appearing in our results.



While no algorithm is perfect – and Google cannot prevent paedophiles adding new images to the web – these changes have cleaned up the results for over 100,000 queries that might be related to the sexual abuse of kids.



As important, we will soon roll out these changes in more than 150 languages, so the impact will be truly global.

Deterrence: We're now showing warnings – from both Google and charities – at the top of our search results for more than 13,000 queries. These alerts make clear that child sexual abuse is illegal and offer advice on where to get help.



Detection and removal: There's no quick technical fix when it comes to detecting child sexual abuse imagery.



This is because computers can't reliably distinguish between innocent pictures of kids at bathtime and genuine abuse. So we always need to have a person review the images.



Once that is done – and we know the pictures are illegal – each image is given a unique digital fingerprint.



This enables our computers to identify those pictures whenever they appear on our systems. And Microsoft deserves a lot of credit for developing and sharing its picture detection technology.



But paedophiles are increasingly filming their crimes. So our engineers at YouTube have created a new technology to identify these videos.



We're already testing it at Google, and in the new year we hope to make it available to other internet companies and child safety organisations.

Technical expertise: There are many organisations working to fight the sexual exploitation of kids online – and we want to ensure they have the best technical support.



So Google plans to second computer engineers to both the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) here in Britain and the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). We also plan to fund internships for other engineers at these organisations.



This will help the IWF and NCMEC stay one step ahead. The sexual abuse of children is a global challenge, and success depends on everyone working together – law enforcement, internet companies and charities.



We welcome the lead taken by the British Government, and hope that the technologies developed (and shared) by our industry will make a real difference in the fight against this terrible crime.





