The Guardian reports that Microsoft will be shortly be introducing a pop up warning system on its Search Engine, also known as Bing. The warning message will be designed to notify the users if they search for prohibited and illegal child abuse images on the internet. The company explained last week that the search engine will show a notification message should anyone uses the platform to search for any material related to child abuse. The algorithm used by Microsoft Bing will allow for direct investigation into users’ search for illegal content. Microsoft will also display a link to a counseling service, confirmed theguardian.com.
According to sources, the company made the move after David Cameron, UK’s Prime Minister, threatened to impose harsh regulations on search engines if they were unable to make changes to their algorithm for search terms directly related child abuse images before the end of year.
A Microsoft spokesman said: “If someone in the UK tries to use search terms on Bing which can only indicate they are looking for illegal child abuse content, they will activate the Bing notification platform, which will produce an on-screen notification telling them that child abuse content is illegal.
“The notification will also contain a link to Stopitnow.org who will be able to provide them with counselling.”
NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: “Vulnerable young people are now being coerced into sharing explicit images of themselves via mobile phone messages and apps. It’s worrying that the majority of social workers surveyed by BASW are struggling to understand how online child abuse happens.”
BASW professional officer Nushra Mansuri said: “The number of cases in which the internet plays a part in the grooming and abuse of children is rising, and social workers need to be equipped to recognise the warning signs.”
Microsoft insists the company has been working to remove links to illegal and abusive content and it will propose an improved searching procedure for search engine users as soon as possible. However, social workers still believe search engine companies such as Google and Microsoft Bing are unable to handle the online sexual abuse content. It will be interesting to see if the new formula derived by Microsoft Bing can solve the problem.
“The study by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and children’s charity the NSPCC showed that almost half the 327 staff surved did not know how to recognise the signs of online sexual abuse of children, while more than two-thirds felt they needed more support in tackling online abuse cases”, reported theguardian.com
Source: The Guardian
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