Google helps track down child porn offenders in New Zealand

Representational picture

Auckland: Internet search giant Google has helped convict two men on charges of possessing child pornography, New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs said on Thursday.

Google detected the two men separately uploading objectionable images and reported them to New Zealand authorities, Xinhua news agency cited from a statement.

The men, aged 46 and 52 year old, were sentenced to a period of home detention in a court earlier this week.

Censorship compliance inspector Jon Peacock said the department was part of a worldwide network of law enforcement agencies committed to helping prevent child abuse.

"We have the expertise to track down offenders who may think, quite wrongly, that they're safe in the confines of their own homes," Peacock said.

The announcement came as the government said it would be establishing the country's first child sex offender register.

"Children deserve to be kept safe from harm, which is why we are going to be more proactive in managing the risk of reoffending from child sex offenders," Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said in a statement on Thursday.

Offenders would be required to be on the register for a term of life, 15 years or eight years depending on their offence and the sentence imposed.

The register would also include offenders who moved to New Zealand after being sentenced to imprisonment for a corresponding offence or subject to registration requirements for a corresponding offence in another country.

Police estimated the register would initially list about 1,750 persons in total.