Child protection group’s creep-catcher passes Turing Test

An international sting has trapped “international Webcam sex tourists” from 65 countries by using an avatar in place of a 10-year-old child to solicit viewers into asking for on-camera sex acts.

The avatar, dubbed “Sweetie”, was developed and operated by the Dutch arm of international group Terres Des Hommes, and was operated from The Netherlands. The group claims it identified more than 1,000 adults “willing to pay children in developing countries to perform sexual acts in front of the webcam” by using the avatar.

In all, the group claims that 20,000 people approached the “child”, and through those interactions, Terres Des Hommes researchers sought further information via social media to try and identify the individuals making the approaches. The group is using its research as the basis of a world-wide petition for governments to “adopt proactive investigation policies”, it says.

SOURCE: theregister.co.uk