Facebook, MySpace join NY effort to use technology against child porn

New York's attorney general has teamed with social networking giants Facebook and MySpace to work on removing illegal child pornography images using advanced digital technology.

The effort, which also includes Friendster, hi5 and Canada-based isoHunt, involves digitally comparing photos found on their sites with an Internet library of more than 8,000 pornographic photos compiled by the New York AG's office. Using "hash values" -- digital fingerprints that tag each image with a unique code -- the database captures user-generated photos that match those in its inventory, then removes them or blocks their uploading.