Wednesday, January 26, 2011
New phone app to identify potential paedophiles
Scientists have developed a new phone application to identify potential paedophiles. The software, called Child Defence, enables kids to scan webchat on their mobile phones to verify the age of people they are messaging.
Designed by Isis Forensics based in Lancaster University, the software uses the latest advances in technology to identify language quirks peculiar to different age groups, a Daily Mail report said.
It can also link in with websites such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing children to scan chat text from their site.
Although there are other child protection softwares in the market, Child Defence is said to be the first software children can use themselves.
But the charity National Society for Prevention of Cruetly to Children (NSPCC) said the application does not offer total protection from online paedophiles and warned parents not to be complacent.
Chris Cloke, head of child protection at NSPCC, said: "It can lull us into thinking that the child is safe and therefore we can move onto something else.
"I would certainly say that measures of this sort can be helpful but they need to be seen as one of the wider armoury we have for tackling child sexual abuse."
Last year paedophile Peter Chapman, 33, was jailed for a minimum of 35 years for the murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Young in County Durham.
He posed as a teenager, sending her a picture of a bare-chested handsome man instead of one of himself.
He then picked her up in a car and raped and killed her before dumping her body close to the Little Chef on the outskirts of Sedgefield.
Paedophiles are known to abuse social networks, assuming different identities to target vulnerable children and groom them for abuse.
Designed by Isis Forensics based in Lancaster University, the software uses the latest advances in technology to identify language quirks peculiar to different age groups, a Daily Mail report said.
It can also link in with websites such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing children to scan chat text from their site.
Although there are other child protection softwares in the market, Child Defence is said to be the first software children can use themselves.
But the charity National Society for Prevention of Cruetly to Children (NSPCC) said the application does not offer total protection from online paedophiles and warned parents not to be complacent.
Chris Cloke, head of child protection at NSPCC, said: "It can lull us into thinking that the child is safe and therefore we can move onto something else.
"I would certainly say that measures of this sort can be helpful but they need to be seen as one of the wider armoury we have for tackling child sexual abuse."
Last year paedophile Peter Chapman, 33, was jailed for a minimum of 35 years for the murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Young in County Durham.
He posed as a teenager, sending her a picture of a bare-chested handsome man instead of one of himself.
He then picked her up in a car and raped and killed her before dumping her body close to the Little Chef on the outskirts of Sedgefield.
Paedophiles are known to abuse social networks, assuming different identities to target vulnerable children and groom them for abuse.
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