- Apr032020NetClean
What happens to the consumption of child sexual abuse material when millions of people work from home?
Work computers are used to download, consume and share child sexual abuse material, and we know that this criminal behaviour increases when employees remove computers from the office. As the Coronavirus has restricted our daily life and many employees now work from home, we risk seeing an increase in this behaviour.
- Mar272020NetClean
Methods available to stop stop child sexual abuse material
To effectively fight the spread of child sexual abuse material, different technologies must be applied by all by all who use the internet and have an interest in making it a safe space for future generations, which includes viable business planning.
- Mar272020NetClean
Binary Hashing
Binary hashing is used to fingerprint and discover online child sexual abuse material on a content level, i.e. it identifies the actual images and videos depicting child sexual abuse. Hashing technology is a secure, fast and reliable technology that is used in various ways, e.g. in detection tools, digital investigation tools and crawlers.
- Mar252020Anna Borgström
COVID-19 presents an increased risk of child sexual exploitation
Due to the closing of schools as a result of the Corona virus, experts agree that children will have an increased online presence and will be at an inadvertent risk. This week the FBI warned parents, educators, caregivers, and children about the dangers of online sexual exploitation and signs of child abuse.
- Mar092020Guest Writer
By using technology to our advantage we can prevent crime and safeguard children
Digital development has enabled offenders to produce and share child sexual abuse material at a previously impossible scale. In addition, the last decade’s development of social media platforms and gaming platforms has enabled offenders to reach children directly, and abuse them over the internet without meeting them in person, adding a new dimension to this crime. Live-streaming services, examined closer in this report, has pushed this development further.
- Dec182019Anna Borgström
The Brighthood Conference 2019
This year NetClean presented a rebranded more international conference in Stockholm. And, with a mind to bring together experts and decision makers, the Brighthood conference (formerly skillnadpåriktigt) was a day full of insight and a much needed knowledge hub.
- Dec052019Anna Borgström
NetClean Report 2019
The NetClean Report 2019, the fifth of its kind is now available. This year the report is based on two different enquiries – one with law enforcement and one with businesses. The results, summarised in the report, help us understand the nature of child sexual abuse crime, how it is developing and what we must do to further ensure that we fight it as well as we can.
- Oct082019Anna Borgström
Children and the digital world – a meeting at the UN
Last week I was invited to speak at the UN Headquarters in New York, where the Working Group for Child Online Safety met for the launch of the new Broadband Commission report. The launch was hosted by Permanent Mission of Sweden, Childhood Foundation USA, Broadband Commission and End Violence Against Children.
- Aug132019Guest Writer
Cathal Delaney: Project “Trace an Object” – details help the police identify children
To aid the search for children Europol has set up project “Trace an Object”. It asks the public to view cropped parts of images to see if they recognise objects. This can help place the location of the abuse.
- Jul242019Guest Writer
John Shehan: There has been a significant increase in self-produced material
Self-produced material, whether voluntarily made or produced through grooming and extortion is on the rise. The images fall within a broad spectrum, from everyday holiday snaps to sexual extortion where victims are forced to take images of themselves.
- Jul092019Anna Borgström
The Interpol World Conference
Last week I attended the third edition of the Interpol World conference in Singapore. It’s an event that brings together private and public sectors to foster collaboration to counter future security and policing challenges.
- Jun262019NetClean
PhotoDNA – Robust hashing that finds online child sexual abuse material
In a previous blog we looked at binary hashes. Now we look at PhotoDNA, a different type of hashing technology that calculates hash values based on the visual content of an image.
- Jun052019Guest Writer
Cathal Delaney: Offender groups are becoming more organised and businesslike in their set-up
The Head of Team, Analysis Project Twins, EC3, at Europol comments on this development, based on Europol’s observations of online communication and organisation.
- May142019Christian Berg
Christian Berg: The main challenge is victim identification
in Business, TechnologyIn the NetClean Report 2018 we looked at a relatively new technology called Deepfakes; AI technology, which is used to swap one face for another in moving imagery. Here, Christian Berg, founder of NetClean, elaborates on challenges that this technology presents, and what might prevent it from being widely used in the production of child sexual abuse material.
- May032019Anna Borgström
Notes about the Broadband Commission Working Group
in Business, TechnologyLast week I was invited as a member of the Working Group for Child Online Safety, to attend the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development annual Spring meeting in Silicon Valley.
- May022019Guest Writer
We see limited use of cryptocurrencies as payment for child sexual abuse material
In our experience it is extremely rare that child sexual abuse material is sold on the internet. Offenders either search for the readily available free material, or they trade images and films with each other.
- Apr152019NetClean
Artificial Intelligence – the future of fighting child sexual abuse material
In this series of blogs, we discuss tools that aid investigators and online service providers, Unlike the tools we have previously covered, AI has the potential to identify new and previously unclassified child sexual abuse material.
- Mar222019Guest Writer
Michael Sheath: Lack of insight and empathy part of the problem
Michael Sheath from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a UK charity that runs a helpline for people with concerns about negative aspects of their sexuality, comments on findings from the NetClean Report.
- Mar042019Anna Borgström
A digital agenda for change – MWC Barcelona 2019
Last week I attended Mobile World Congress 2019. MWC Barcelona is the largest mobile event in the world, bringing together the latest innovations and cutting-edge technology from more than 2,400 leading companies.
- Mar012019NetClean
Only six countries comprehensively address online child sexual abuse
In a recent interview conducted at the #skillnadpåriktigt conference, Björn Sellström from INTERPOL mentioned that only six countries comprehensively address online child sexual abuse.
- Feb262019Guest Writer
Dr. Victoria Baines: “Technological developments have far outstripped our expectations”
Throughout the year we will be sharing insights from our NetClean Report 2018. First out is the introduction penned by Dr. Victoria Baines who reflects on the fight against child sexual abuse as it enters its third decade. Read about how technological development has far outstripped our expectations, and how collaboration and knowledge is setting the agenda in the fight against child sexual abuse.
- Feb112019NetClean
Using crawling and hashing technologies to find child sexual abuse material – The Internet Watch Foundation
In our series on technologies that are used to stop child sexual abuse, we have written about how they work and what they are used for. Following our blogs on web crawlers and hash matching, this post looks at how the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) uses these technologies.
- Jan232019NetClean
New index makes it possible to measure responses to SDG 16.2 – but detection of child sexual abuse material is missing
This new benchmarking index, developed by The Economist’s Intelligence Unit, scores 40 different countries across the world.
- Jan112019NetClean
Benchmarking Index on the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation
in BusinessNext week, Wednesday 16 January, a Benchmarking Index designed to identify best practices towards bringing child sexual abuse to an end will be launched. NetClean CEO Anna Borgström welcomed this initiative at the pre-launch at UN Headquarters…
- Dec052018Anna Borgström
The NetClean Report 2018 Indicates Two Different Groups of Offenders
Last week we launched the NetClean Report 2018, and I am very pleased with the attention that it got. Not only because of the hard work that goes into our surveys and analysis of the results, but more importantly, because the information that we produce together with leading experts, is vital in the fight against child sexual abuse.
