E/CN.15/2014/CRP.1 investigators to automatically compare suspects’ image collections to databases of known representations of child sexual abuse was limited. This was due primarily to the fact that previous software was based on hash-value comparison technology, which only matched images that were exactly identical, so that even minimal alterations, such as stretching the dimensions, flipping the orientation of the image, changing the coloration, or even changing the file names, would render the image undetectable in automated search processes. In comparison, PhotoDNA, which is available to law enforcement free of charge, creates a unique signature for a digital image, something like a fingerprint, which can be compared with the signatures of other images to find copies of that image. 286 Other software developers have also deployed technical innovations to combat the proliferation of child sexual abuse material by working to enable ISPs to algorithmically find and remove child sexual abuse material from their servers. Such products are also employed by governments to conduct investigations, and private sector enterprises to eliminate child sexual abuse material from search results and communications.287 INTERPOL and the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) have further developed databases of abuse images that include information on identified and unidentified victims. These databases can help to reduce redundancy in investigative efforts, while serving the interests of victim-protection. They enable prioritization of work on unidentified victims and ensure that only investigators trained to handle child sexual abuse material may access them. In addition, image databases enable law enforcement agencies to triage their forensic investigations by comparing suspects’ digital materials to images in databases through using hash analysis or PhotoDNA.288 INTERPOL’s International Child Sexual Exploitation Image Database was recently launched with a view to identifying and rescuing previously unidentified victims. The Database makes use of sophisticated image comparison software to make connections between victims and places.289 Equipped with information about the nexus between images and locations, investigators can more easily work to identify offenders.290 By the end of 2013, more than 3,000 victims from more than 40 countries, and more than 1,500 offenders, had been identified and recorded in the database.291 An example of the impact of this technology in practice comes from a recent undercover operation that used the INTERPOL Database to target 55 suspects using social network sites for trading child pornography. The offenders came from 19 different countries, requiring close cooperation between law enforcement agents in those countries. Twelve children were rescued as a result of the operation.292 The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) also houses a database of victims who have been identified through previous cases. Such data is essential to support cases that require proof that the children depicted in child sexual abuse material are indeed real children and not the product of digital animation. To date, NCMEC has processed more than 15 million photos and videos. According to a 2009 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as of 2009, NCMEC had identified 592,044 out of a total of 681,275 sites as child sexual abuse material sites. Shared access to the NCMEC database has enabled law enforcement agents around the world to rescue more than 1600 children.293 The United Kingdom Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre is also in the process of rolling out a national image bank. This database is focused on cases that originate in the United Kingdom or that involve victims from that country. To date, it has helped to rescue 18 children.294 __________________ 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 Latonero M., 2011., Human Trafficking Online: The Role of Social Networking Sites and Online Classifieds (2011). Pp. 31-32. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2045851. See, for example, http://www.netclean.com/en/about-us/our-products/; see also Ungerleider, N., 2013. How Mobile Phones And The Internet Fight (And Help) Human Trafficking, 8 January 2013. Available at http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681155/how-mobile-phones-and-the-internet-fight-and-help-human trafficking. A/HRC/12/23. Paragraphs 78-80. http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Crimes-against-children/Crimes-against-children. A/HRC/12/23. Paragraphs 78-80. http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Crimes-against-children/Victim-identification.. CNN Wire Staff, “INTERPOL Targets 55 Suspects Using Social Networking Sites for Child Sex Abuse Images”, 22 March 2012. Retrieved from http://article.wn.com/view/2012/05/23/INTERPOL_targets_55_suspects_using_social_network_sites_for_/. A/HRC/12/23. Paragraph 80. Ibid. Paragraph 81. V.14-03040 45