News By James Plafke Jul. 8, 2014 11:44 am
Dogs are known for having a sophisticated sniffer, and are used to sniff out a variety of illegal items, from bombs to drugs. Though it’s difficult to find a hidden brick or drugs or a bag full of bombs, once a dog points officials in the right direction, those officials can actually see the physical objects.
If the illicit materials aren’t physical objects, though — such as digital files — officials won’t be able to actually see them. In Rhode Island, a task force is now using a golden Labrador named Thoreau to help sniff out hidden storage devices that might contain illicit files.
The team, Internet Crimes Against Children, is tasked with finding child pornography and bringing the creators and distributors to justice, as well as saving the victims. In modern times, there are storage devices wherever you go — walking through an office, the lobby at a gym, on everyone’s phones and laptops at a coffee shop, and so on. Though storage devices are everywhere, the ones containing illegal pornography are generally not kept out in the open. While the*phone or laptop that you use in public may harbor illegal materials like pirated music,*the task force has found that child pornographers don’t keep their illegal materials on storage devices left out in the open. Instead, the devices are kept hidden, and that’s where Thoreau comes in.
The pup went through 22 weeks of training to learn to sniff out hidden storage devices, which he will do in exchange for food. Obviously, the dog can’t sniff out the types of files hidden on a storage device — so if he’s running through your apartment and you hide a USB drive full of shameful poetry, he’ll find it, but not because he thinks it’s full of illegal materials. He was notably able to detect a USB drive hidden in a tin box kept inside a metal cabinet, as well as a hard drive sealed within a plastic bag and hidden in a desk.
So, not only are dogs helping to save abuse victims, but their noses are still some of the most sophisticated detection “technologies” we have today.
More...
If the illicit materials aren’t physical objects, though — such as digital files — officials won’t be able to actually see them. In Rhode Island, a task force is now using a golden Labrador named Thoreau to help sniff out hidden storage devices that might contain illicit files.
The team, Internet Crimes Against Children, is tasked with finding child pornography and bringing the creators and distributors to justice, as well as saving the victims. In modern times, there are storage devices wherever you go — walking through an office, the lobby at a gym, on everyone’s phones and laptops at a coffee shop, and so on. Though storage devices are everywhere, the ones containing illegal pornography are generally not kept out in the open. While the*phone or laptop that you use in public may harbor illegal materials like pirated music,*the task force has found that child pornographers don’t keep their illegal materials on storage devices left out in the open. Instead, the devices are kept hidden, and that’s where Thoreau comes in.
The pup went through 22 weeks of training to learn to sniff out hidden storage devices, which he will do in exchange for food. Obviously, the dog can’t sniff out the types of files hidden on a storage device — so if he’s running through your apartment and you hide a USB drive full of shameful poetry, he’ll find it, but not because he thinks it’s full of illegal materials. He was notably able to detect a USB drive hidden in a tin box kept inside a metal cabinet, as well as a hard drive sealed within a plastic bag and hidden in a desk.
So, not only are dogs helping to save abuse victims, but their noses are still some of the most sophisticated detection “technologies” we have today.
More...
