2024-04-23 04:14:27
A child abuse charity has warned of the possibility of pedophiles using artificial intelligence techniques to generate images of naked young people, in a bid to blackmail them into supplying abusers more extreme pornographic content, according to one newspaper. The Guardian.
The Internet Monitoring Foundation said it found a guide on the Dark Web that includes a section directing criminals to use “stripping” programs to remove clothing from photos sent to them by children wearing only underwear . The manipulated image can be used to blackmail the child into sending more dangerous pornographic material, the institution said.
The charity, which works to find and remove child sexual abuse material online, said last year: “This is the first evidence we have seen of perpetrators advising and encouraging each other to use artificial intelligence technologies for these purposes. »
Last year, the charity IWF warned of a rise in cases of sexual blackmail, in which victims are manipulated into sending sexual images of themselves and are then threatened into publishing those images if they don’t pay money.
The organization also highlighted early examples of artificial intelligence being used to create “surprisingly realistic” abusive content.
The author of the nearly 200-page guide boasts of having “succeeded in blackmailing” 13-year-old girls into sending nude photos online.
The organization said it had sent the evidence it found to the UK’s National Crime Agency.
Last month, The Guardian revealed that the Labor Party was considering banning tech tools that allow users to create images of people without clothes.
The charity said in its report that 2023 was “the most extreme year ever”.
She revealed that she found more than 275,000 web pages containing content containing child sexual abuse last year, which is the highest number she has recorded, noting that a record amount of Material belonging to “Category A” has been identified, which can include the most brutal images, including rape and sex with animals.
The organization reported that more than 62,000 pages contain “Grade A” content, up from 51,000 the previous year, 2022.
The IWF revealed it found 2,401 images of self-produced child sexual abuse material, in which victims are exploited or threatened to film sexual violations against themselves. These images were produced by children aged 3 to 6 years old. Analysts said they have observed these attacks occurring in domestic environments such as bedrooms and kitchens.
The foundation’s chief executive, Susie Hargreaves, said opportunistic criminals trying to manipulate children were “not a remote threat”.
“If children under six are being targeted in this way, we need to have age-appropriate conversations now to ensure they know how to spot risks,” she added.
Hargreaves added that the Internet Safety Act, passed last year and which imposes a duty of care on social media companies to protect children, “must be effective”.
Tom Tugendhat, Britain’s Secretary of State for Security, said parents should talk to their children about using social media.
“Platforms that assume they are safe can pose a risk,” he said, adding that tech companies need to provide stronger safeguards to prevent abuse, according to the Guardian.
According to a study published last week by the British communications regulator Ofcom, a quarter of children aged 3 to 4 own a mobile phone and half of children under 13 have a social media account.
The government is preparing to launch a consultation in the coming weeks which will include proposals to ban the sale of smartphones to children under 16 and raise the minimum age for accessing social media sites from 13 to 16 years.
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