Mar, 2009 : Web Host LeaseWeb Testing Child Porn Filter

📅 March 13, 2009 - European web hosting provider LeaseWeb (leaseweb.com 👉 Total Reviews: 24
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The filtering solution features MD5 hash technology, which adds digital finger prints, or hashes, to undesirable images.

A database with hashes subsequently checks whether there is a match and prevents these images from being posted online.

The web host has initiated a pilot at the website of one of its clients, where users upload and share some 40 million images online.

LeaseWeb, which started the initiative about six months ago, will further develop the filtering solution and offer it to other clients who have similar upload websites.

It will implement the filtering solution in consultation with Dutch Ministry of Justice and Dutch Child Porn Hotline, along with NetClean (netclean.com), a Swedish firm that runs the hash database of the Swedish police commercially.

When the hash technology turns out to be effective, the Dutch Ministry of Justice will give a follow-up to LeaseWebs initiative by offering the technology to the market on a broad scale in cooperation with LeaseWeb.

The company will then invite other web hosts in The Netherlands to follow its lead and join the initiative.

"To fight child porn more effectively we weighed the possibilities of several innovative technologies in the market," says Alex de Joode, security officer of LeaseWeb. "With the introduction of hash technology we now hope to have found an adequate solution. Hash technology to my knowledge has not been used within this context before. The positive feedback we got from Dutch Ministry of Justice also gives us a positive feeling about the project."

The move signals a proactive approach to fighting child porn by "preventing child porn sensitive websites from being abused by distributors of child porn," says De Joode.

De Joode says there has been a substantial number of reports regarding child porn images in LeaseWeb's network.

This is certainly not the first time a web hosting provider has gotten involved with anti-child pornography initiatives.

In October, Go Daddy helped to pass the "Protect Our Children Act of 2008" law, which prohibits sending live images of child abuse via the Internet and also authorizes money to hire FBI agents who work on child exploitation cases.

LeaseWeb provides a range of service, including virtualization, dedicated servers, colocation, web hosting, streaming, and domain name registration to the enterprise and SME market.

The company recently signed an agreement with virtualization software provider VMware to let its customers rent rather than buy VMware software for their web environments.