Fifteen years ago, the Technology Coalition was formed when industry leaders came together to fight online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). We believed then, as we do now, that working together can have a greater impact in combating these horrific crimes than working alone.

By The Technology Coalition | 10 June 2020

Fifteen years ago, the Technology Coalition was formed when industry leaders came together to fight online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). We believed then, as we do now, that working together can have a greater impact in combating these horrific crimes than working alone.

The Technology Coalition brings together companies across the technology industry. We support companies of all sizes, including those just establishing their child safety protocols and processes. Together we tackle risks to online child safety through sharing best practices, mentorship, and coordinated efforts to improve the detection and reporting of sexual abuse imagery and other exploitative practices that put children at risk.

In the last decade, member companies have made progress with the development and roll-out of innovative technology to combat online CSEA. For example, PhotoDNA, a collaboration between Microsoft and Dartmouth, is used by organizations worldwide to detect, disrupt, and report millions of child sexual exploitation images. Google’s Content Safety API dramatically improves the ability of NGOs and other tech companies to review CSEA content at scale. Facebook’s open-source photo- and video-matching technology is enabling companies to help keep their services safe and allowing hash-sharing systems to communicate with each other, making the systems more powerful.

However, the world has changed since we first came together in 2006. Technology is more advanced, and there has been an explosion of new internet services, including mobile and online video streaming. The number of people online – more than 4.5 billion in 2020 – has added to the challenge of keeping the internet a safe place. As a result, the technological tools for detecting and reporting CSEA content have become more sophisticated, but so too have the forms of abuse we seek to prevent and eradicate.

To ensure the next phase of our work addresses these new and emerging challenges most effectively, we have conducted an in-depth consultation with more than 40 experts on CSEA around the globe.

Following that consultation period, we are now announcing Project Protect: A plan to combat online child sexual abuse – a renewed investment and ongoing commitment to our work seeking to prevent and eradicate online CSEA…

READ AT TECHNOLOGYCOALITION.ORG