https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. 
When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Mark with his son this month.Credit...Aaron Wojack for The New York Times
Skip to content
Skip to site index

A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him 
as a Criminal.

Google has an automated tool to detect abusive images of children. But the 
system can get it wrong, and the consequences are serious.

Mark with his son this month.Credit...Aaron Wojack for The New York Times

Kashmir Hill

By Kashmir Hill

    Published Aug. 21, 2022Updated June 21, 2023

Leer en español
Listen to This Article

Mark noticed something amiss with his toddler. His son’s penis looked 
swollen and was hurting him. Mark, a stay-at-home dad in San Francisco, 
grabbed his Android smartphone and took photos to document the problem so 
he could track its progression.

It was a Friday night in February 2021. His wife called an advice nurse at 
their health care provider to schedule an emergency consultation for the 
next morning, by video because it was a Saturday and there was a pandemic 
going on. The nurse said to send photos so the doctor could review them in 
advance.

Mark’s wife grabbed her husband’s phone and texted a few high-quality 
close-ups of their son’s groin area to her iPhone so she could upload 
them to the health care provider’s messaging system. In one, Mark’s 
hand was visible, helping to better display the swelling. Mark and his 
wife gave no thought to the tech giants that made this quick capture and 
exchange of digital data possible, or what those giants might think of the 
images.

With help from the photos, the doctor diagnosed the issue and prescribed 
antibiotics, which quickly cleared it up. But the episode left Mark with a 
much larger problem, one that would cost him more than a decade of 
contacts, emails and photos, and make him the target of a police 
investigation. Mark, who asked to be identified only by his first name for 
fear of potential reputational harm, had been caught in an algorithmic net 
designed to snare people exchanging child sexual abuse material.

Because technology companies routinely capture so much data, they have 
been pressured to act as sentinels, examining what passes through their 
servers to detect and prevent criminal behavior. Child advocates say the 
companies’ cooperation is essential to combat the rampant online spread 
of sexual abuse imagery. But it can entail peering into private archives, 
such as digital photo albums — an intrusion users may not expect — 
that has cast innocent behavior in a sinister light in at least two cases 
The Times has unearthed.

Jon Callas, a technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a 
digital civil liberties organization, called the cases canaries “in this 
particular coal mine.”

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader 
mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of 
The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Site Index
Site Information Navigation

    © 2025 The New York Times Company

    NYTCoContact UsAccessibilityWork with usAdvertiseT Brand StudioYour Ad 
ChoicesPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceTerms of SaleSite MapHelpSubscriptions

    Manage Privacy Preferences