A tip by Google led the authorities to the arrest of a 41-year-old man in Houston, Texas for child pornography.
Google was able to detect child pornography in the form of a young girl's explicit images in the e-mail of the suspect, John Henry Skillern. He was sending the image to a friend.
After the detection, Google reported the case to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"He was trying to get around getting caught, he was trying to keep it inside his email," said Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce's Detective David Nettles. "I can't see that information, I can't see that photo, but Google can."
Authorities obtained a search warrant against Skillern, which led to investigators discovering child pornography on the suspect's phone and tablet computer. The investigators found more evidence of Skillern's interest in children through several text messages and e-mails, along with videos on his mobile phone of children that ate with their families at the Denny's restaurant in Pasadena where he worked.
Charges filed against Skillern include one count of possession of child pornography and one count of promotion of child pornography. The suspect is currently being held in jail with a bond of $200,000.
Skillern has a record of being a sexual offender, as he was convicted in 1994 for the sexual assault of an 8-year-old boy. His entry in the sex offender registry shows a filed address of 2400 Lidstone in Houston, but it was reported that he spent most of his time at the home of his parents on Hickory Lane in Pasadena.
According to Google's Terms of Service, the automated systems of the company analyze the content for each user, including their e-mails.
"This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored," details the Terms of Service.
Google updated the document after a class-action lawsuit against the company's e-mail scanning practices failed in April, as the presiding judge, Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court, ruled that the importance of user content on the case means that the lawsuit must be filed by individuals, and not as a class action.
Google had first said that the purpose of the e-mail scanning was to provide relevant targeted advertisements to its users.
While there are privacy issues stemming from Google's scanning and analysis of e-mails, this case is just one example of how the service could be beneficial for society.
