Google Becomes Snitch for Government After It Spots Child Porn Email

Business Insider reports:

A Houston man has been arrested after Google sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saying the man had explicit images of a child in his email, according to Houston police.

The man was a registered sex offender, convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1994, reports Tim Wetzel at KHOU Channel 11 News in Houston.

"He was keeping it inside of his email. I can't see that information, I can't see that photo, but Google can," Detective David Nettles of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce told Channel 11

Bussines Insider then comments:

On one hand, most people would certainly applaud the use of technology to scan email in a case like this.

On the other, debate rages about how much privacy users can expect when using Google's services like email. In a word: none.

Snooping and cooperation with the government logically would start with cases that are easy form a public relations stand point, at least easy on the surface, but it is a very, very dangerous slippery slope.

What types of activities will they report on to government next?

Google should really mind its own business.

-RW