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Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

bbc.com

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Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#51

Post by Kadin »

BearsAreCool wrote: post #32
Snoozus wrote: post #8

Here the direct link to the picture database https://www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse

Kind of disappointed in how few images there are there, considering the scale of child abuse mentioned in the article it is odd how there is only a dozen or so images to look at and try to identify.

I think they are releasing a few at a time to try and get the most eyeballs concentrated on the images.

I don't know if that's the most effective strategy, but maybe there are other reasons why they can't just dump them all at once.

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#53

Post by Kadin »

bobowzki wrote: post #39
nothrabannosir wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/styles/eur... That card looks like a pokemon card with a Google Chrome logo. Frustratingly familiar.

That blue can looks like a Nivea 250ml can.

I thought that container looked very familiar. My first guess was going to be Jergens, but I can't find an exact match on Google Images. Nivea might be it; again I can't find a dead-ringer but it's close to some of their packaging designs.

Unfortunately it's a global brand so not much help.

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#54

Post by pvaldes »

luxpir wrote: post #52
Snoozus wrote: post #8

Here the direct link to the picture database https://www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuse

Image 18 should be simple enough if anyone here can read Chinese - the businesses across the road seem nearly clear enough to read.

Yup. I can see the pictograms for center 中 and strength/power 力. Maybe something related with healthcare or a gym.

The most interesting part are the palms, but they are damaged with the photoshop work. If they are what they seem, this particular kind of palms are picky and do not tolerate any frost. A city near the coast probably.

The blue trafic signal is also interesting.

(Could be this photo related with the coca-cola red seats?)

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#55

Post by quickthrower2 »

ekianjo wrote: post #4
LifeLiverTransp wrote: post #3

Should be solveable with a NN trained on Matching Google Streetview and the images..

Google Street View is limited to what you can see from the street. It would not work for several types of location.

Google earth was used to narrow down one of the locations (says so on the video) but required some serious sluething from an architect, so I presume beyond the means of current AI tech.

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#56

Post by cf498 »

yummypaint wrote: post #18
tyingq wrote: post #9

Some of the techniques a group on 4chan used are interesting: https://www.ign.com/boards/threads/remember-when-4chan-users...

I wonder if the posts suggesting the actual coordinates and messages were made by people connected to russian intelligence.. Just a thought

The people following the Syrian civil war are rather dedicated and the training camp was not the first or last time some videos got geolocated (though without any real life consequences in the other cases). I dont see a reason for a PR stunt as you describe it.

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#57

Post by botwriter »

botwriter wrote: post #49
bane wrote: post #36

I was able to see a presentation about this topic one time by ICE. It tragic in two senses: 1) The crimes themselves are absolutely intolerable to society. 2) The lack of serious resourcing the seriousness of this crime should warrant. Part of the presentation was specifically on identifying the location a sequence of photos was taken in the hopes that it would narrow down the search radius for the offender. The team…

Is there not a volunteer program people can help with in this situation. I'm a British citizen but looking at spending 2 or 3 months out in Cambodia working on coding projects an exploring a country I've never visited. Unfortunately, I know Cambodia has had problems with child abuse and child sex tourism in the past. Working on something like you've just described seems like a fantastic way to explore a country and a…

Just re-read that.

I don't mean to view actual child abuse images but similar to the europol thing ie the actual victims deleted from the images.

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#58

Post by Kadin »

Looking at the swingset photo (https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/styles/eur...)

That's an interesting design of swingset; not one I've seen before.

Unlike the bog-standard swingset in the US, which is typically all steel tube, that one looks like it has extruded (aluminum?) verticals and then a tubular horizontal weldment as the top piece. Further, the horizontal looks like it was hot-dip galvanized as a finished unit. The verticals were painted before assembly, not after, because of the bare-metal bolt heads. The fasteners are presumably stainless, since I don't see any rust marks below them. It's got an interesting bearing/bushing at the top of each chain, probably to make it not squeak; that strikes me as a fairly luxe feature.

I couldn't find any similar ones searching around online, although my Google searches don't turn up many European models at all (thanks, Google).

The photo doesn't go up enough to be sure, but it looks like the top bar is an unbroken one-piece section. That would make it pretty bulky and awkward to ship. (The vertical pieces look like they come apart into about 4 ft sections, which means they were likely palletized at one point. Maybe the extrusions are not done in the same place as the rest of the manufacturing..? That's certainly plausible.)

If someone recognized the design/model, I think that would probably be a significant clue towards the photo's location; at the very least, the manufacturer would probably have a fairly good idea of where they normally sell to.

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#59

Post by IntegrationDude »

Kadin wrote: post #58

Looking at the swingset photo ( https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/styles/eur... ) That's an interesting design of swingset; not one I've seen before. Unlike the bog-standard swingset in the US, which is typically all steel tube, that one looks like it has extruded (aluminum?) verticals and then a tubular horizontal weldment as the top piece. Further, the horizontal looks like it was hot-dip galvanized…

Is that an unusual swingset design? I'm pretty sure i've seen it in lots of places...

Re: Tracing child abusers: Where was this picture taken? [video]

#60

Post by toomuchtodo »

bane wrote: post #36

I was able to see a presentation about this topic one time by ICE. It tragic in two senses: 1) The crimes themselves are absolutely intolerable to society. 2) The lack of serious resourcing the seriousness of this crime should warrant. Part of the presentation was specifically on identifying the location a sequence of photos was taken in the hopes that it would narrow down the search radius for the offender. The team…

https://www.thorn.org/ (non-profit) is working hard to provide tooling to law enforcement to address the issues you mention, and posts on HN's Who's Hiring threads (front end engineers) [1].

I don't know if they accept volunteers for code contributions, but I hope they consider it if they already don't.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19281914

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