The company can look for way more than just vile child exploitation images - it can search for hate speech, any illegal porn, and anything that infringes on someone else’s privacy. Looking at its Terms of Service, Dropbox states that it can search through your files to see if they comply with its ToS and Acceptable Use Policy.

The Dropbox detail struck me as strange not because there’s something objectionable about companies trying to stop pedophiles exploiting children (I’m not a complete crazy arsehole), but because I wondered what else Dropbox could proactively search my files for: Could it look for pirated movies? Could it look for evidence of drug dealing, illegal sex work, illegal gambling? Short answer: Yep! The why of turning in people who share and hoard abusive images that exploit children is obvious, but I started wondering about how the company sniffed out the abusive images. Here’s what makes his story different from dozens of others: He’d been turned in by Dropbox.ĭropbox has a habit of turning in pedophiles, as it turns out. Recently a US Army reservist was arrested for sharing child pornography.

Bbc dropbox porn