'Creative' Cuomo effort to keep child porn off Facebook, MySpace

The state of New York has launched a "creative" effort to push back against online child pornography, harnessing the digital data attached to each image, state attorney general Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday.

In an initiative designed to block such images from turning up on sites like Facebook and MySpace, Cuomo's office said it has built a database storing the "digital fingerprints" of 8,000 child pornography images that it ran across during safety investigations.

The office will sync this database with safety controls used by Facebook and MySpace so the companies can block the photographs from appearing on their sites. Cuomo's office and New York's Division of Criminal Justice Services will oversee the database. It will continue to grow as other law enforcement agencies add digital data, according to Cuomo's office.

“To stop the flow of child pornography online, we must be vigilant and we must be creative,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Hailing Facebook and MySpace as "industry leaders," Cuomo called on other companies to join the effort. He issued a letter to 13 sites with his entreaty: Black Planet, Buzznet, eSpin/eCrush, Flickr, Flixster, Fotolog, Friendster, hi5, Live Journal, MyLife (formerly Reunion.com), Orkut, Stickam, and Stardoll.

Cuomo announced last week that he plans to sue Tagged.com, a San Franscico company, over what he alleges have been slow responses to child pornography complaints from users. Tagged has previously defended its practices as similar to other sites. 

Facebook chief security officer Joe Sullivan said the database effort is among the "innovative systems" the site uses to protect kids.

Cuomo is the Democratic candidate for New York governor.