Delhi: 10 arrested for storing and sharing child abuse material
What's the story
Delhi Police recently arrested 10 people for allegedly storing and sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their mobile phones. The arrests came after a five-day operation from July 13 to July 18, based on information from the US-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The operation was aided by Google's advanced detection systems that flagged the illegal content.
Methodology
Accused used cloud storage, social media to share CSAM
The accused are said to have used cloud storage services, social media platforms, and apps on Android and iOS phones to download, store, and share CSAM.
Electronic devices seized during the operation have been sent for forensic examination.
The police are continuing their investigations under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology Act.
Detection technology
How Google detects CSAM on its platforms
Google employs hash matching and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect CSAM across its services.
Hash matching creates a unique digital fingerprint or hash of confirmed images/videos. When a file is uploaded to Google's servers, its hash is compared with known CSAM in a database.
If there's a match, the content is automatically flagged without manual intervention.
For unrecognized material, Google uses AI models trained to identify patterns associated with CSAM.
Privacy assurance
Is Google manually browsing users' files?
Google assures that its detection systems mainly rely on automated analysis, not manual browsing of users' personal files.
Human reviewers only step in after potential violations are flagged by these systems.
The company also conducts internal quality checks to minimize false positives before reports are escalated.
Once content is confirmed as violating its policies, Google removes it and files a report with NCMEC for further investigation by law enforcement agencies.