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Google and Microsoft join Cameron on kiddie porn purge

by on18 November 2013



Looks like they will censor the net after all

Search engine outfits Google and Microsoft are apparently going to join British Prime Minister’s David Cameron’s campaign to censor the internet. Google's chairman Eric Schmidt has penned an editorial in the Daily Mail newspaper in which he said that Google, with help from Microsoft, will purge the net of online pornography. Schmidt mostly talked about removing images of child abuse, saying that such material "highlights the depths to which humanity can sink".

However it might also mean that it will make it harder for people to post pictures of their kids online. This is because computer code can't reliably distinguish between innocent pictures of kids at bathtime and genuine abuse. This means that Google will need to have a person review the images which are banned. Google is apparently hiring 200 more people to this.

However in throwing his weight behind Cameron’s campaign Schmidt might have actually endorsed a scheme of Internet filtering which included subjects which Cameron did not want talked about. Cameron angered a lot of witches and occultists when it appeared his filter would block their websites. Needless to say Cameron was happy to hear Google’s and yesterday on Twitter he hinted at the Google announcement.

Today he said that it is a step in the right direction. "The battle isn't over," he said, "but search engines are showing responsibility by accepting my challenge to do more to stop child abuse imagery online,” Cameron said. Of course rallying everyone under the banner of “protecting the world from child abuse and terrorist” is a popular weapon of those who want to censor the net.

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