Gmail Image Scanner Helps Apprehend Sex Offender

A Houston man was arrested for possession of child pornography, after Google Mail detected images of child porn in his personal email correspondence. After Google notified Houston police, a search warrant was obtained in order to find more alarming evidence. The user was a registered sex offender with a collection of child pornography on his phone and computer. He also recorded videos onto his phone of children at Denny’s, where he was employed.

Gmail was able to detect a marked image of illegal pornography inside Gmail sent between private users by tagging images of known child sexual abuse images.