Because of a photo of his son’s groin sent to a nurse, a father has had his Google account blocked. He was also investigated by the police for possessing content relating to child sexual abuse.
His son having developed a form of tumor in the groin, an American father thought he was living a real nightmare. Indeed, after a nurse asked him to take a picture of the region concerned, the father saw his Google account blocked and was the subject of a police investigation… for possession of content relating to the sexual abuse of minors .
Photo of son’s tumor sent to nurse
In February 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mark, a father, discovered a mysterious prominence in his son’s groin. Logically, he decides to make an appointment with the doctor, but some practices are closed, due to the pandemic, and only a video consultation is possible. Before this, a nurse asks him for a photo of the area concerned. Once the photo is sent, the appointment is made and a doctor ends up prescribing antibiotics to Mark’s son.
However, two days after taking the photo, the father of the family received a notification from Google warning him that his account was going to be blocked for possession of “harmful content”content that would constitute “a serious violation of Google policies”.
The suspension of his Google account and a police investigation later…
The father will eventually lose access to his emails, contacts, photos and even his phone number. His case is even reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Mark then decides to appeal the Web giant’s decision, but the latter rejects his request. The San Francisco police, where the father and his son live, will even open an investigation in December 2021 and thus get their hands on all of Mark’s information stored at Google.
Ultimately, the inquest will conclude that the incident “did not meet the elements of a crime and that no crime had been committed”. In its defense, Google says it uses hash matching with Microsoft’s PhotoDNA to analyze images stored on Google Photos for potential matches to child sexual abuse content. In addition, a spokesperson for the firm said that Google only scans users’ personal images when they take pictures. “positive measures”which would include backing up their images to Google Photos.
The criticisms are now well underway against Google. These argue that the practice of scanning and analyzing a user’s photos unreasonably intrudes on their privacy. Intrusiveness has therefore gone a step further with this affair, enough to remind you that the GAFAM have eyes everywhere, even in photos that you thought were well kept…