Internet Companies Fire Up Campaign To disrupt Online Porn

A coalition of Internet companies have launched a campaign against online pornography, fearing intrusive new federal laws. Companies including AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo!, will pledge $1 million in cash and offer technical assistance to develop technology that will detect pornographic material and prevent it from being distributed on the Internet. The national centre for missing and exploited children will aid the cause.

The announcement from the Internet companies comes just before a parliament meeting to discuss ‘data retention’, a method by which the government can keep a tab of what Americans are doing online. This will require Internet providers to keep records on what is being surfed, costing the providers millions of dollars out of their own pockets. With the launch of the new campaign which promises to tip off police about illegal images, the Internet companies are hoping that the laws will go easy on them.

While the technology to detect and block online pornographic content is not finalized, talks are on to use the ‘hash function’ which is already used by AOL. The companies are set to meet in July to discuss the details.