IWF/Santander Online Child Safety Hackathon 2019

In 2018, IWF took action to ensure the takedown of 105,047 URLs displaying child sexual abuse imagery. In our Annual Report, we also revealed how we are harnessing cutting edge technologies - like video hashing and AI systems - to protect children from the “repeat victimisation” of having the images of their suffering being shared or sold online. As more and more offenders use technical methods to disguise or facilitate online child sexual abuse, we need to fight back with technology too.

We are calling all engineers, developers, cyber security experts and individuals with awesome skills to come together and work on innovative projects to stop distribution of child sexual abuse imagery online.

The Hackathon is a one-day event in central London and you are invited to join us to help find and create “tech for good” solutions to make a genuine difference to the victims of online child sexual abuse.

Projects will include data harvesting, catalogue/hashing, NLP and AI, and OSINT/SOCMINT. Details of the challenges to be tackled on the day will be made available to confirmed attendees via Slack a week before the event.

FAQs

What kind of skills do I need?

We need people who can write tools to help scrape websites, organise files (images + video), have experience of ML/AI and NLP, and can perform OSINT (OpenSource Intelligence)/SOCMINT (Social Media Intelligence). Aside from development/engineering skills, we welcome anyone who can help technically.

What should I bring?

Something to work on - tablet, laptop etc.

What will be provided?

Internet access, a comfy place to hack and encouragement!

Drinks and food will also be provided - but please be aware that though we'll ensure vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options are available, if you have any complex dietary needs you may prefer to BYO.

All IP developed will be donated to the IWF Hotline for the investigation and removal of child sexual abuse only.

Spaces for the event are limited and RSVP does not guarantee participation, you will receive a confirmation email two weeks in advance.