New tech helps detect child porn

The long-suffering image analysts at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children must have one of the hardest, most emotionally draining jobs there is. Fortunately, it just got a little easier with the help of image-detection technology developed by Google, ConnectSafely.com co-director Larry Magid reports at CBSNEWS.com. The software eases dependence on an analyst's memory by scanning and detecting patterns that the analyst highlights in a photo - "a calendar on the wall, a logo on a T-shirt, a prominent tattoo or perhaps the pattern of the carpet" - in a database of child-abuse images. What's so sophisticated about this technology, apparently, is its flexibility. It "will work even if the images are modified, if a photo has been changed from color to black and white, or if the pattern is at a different angle or position in the photo or video. It can also pick out a single pattern in a video, even if it's a compilation of many shorter videos."