Like Tech Titans, Verizon Is Also Scanning Customer Accounts For Evidence Of Child Porn

Like Microsoft and Google, Verizon is also scanning its customer accounts for evidence of child pornography

As detailed in a U.S. District Court filing made last week by federal prosecutors, the telecommunications giant can identify illicit photos passing through its system via sophisticated software that relies on a “hash database of such images.”

A reference to Verizon’s scanning abilities is contained in court records related to the prosecution of a California man named last month in a six-count felony indictment accusing him of possessing and receiving child pornography.

According to federal prosecutors, Verizon last year detected a customer attempting to upload an illicit image using the firm’s V CAST service, which allows users to “store, manage, and access content from a remote storage server on their V CAST enabled devices.”

Upon identifying the file as “possibly containing illegal images of minors,” Verizon submitted a report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The organization, in turn, contacted law enforcement authorities.