The ‘non-profit start-up’ Thorn, founded by actor Ashton Kutcher, is a driving force behind the EU’s campaign to scan the net for child abuse material. Newly public documents and financial information obtained by Follow the Money reveal the blurred boundaries between Thorn’s do-good public face and the powerful business behind it.

How Ashton Kutcher’s ‘non-profit start-up’ makes millions from the EU’s fight against child abuse on the net::The ‘non-profit start-up’ Thorn, founded by actor Ashton Kutcher, is a driving force behind the EU’s campaign to scan the net for child abuse material. Newly public documents and financial information obtained by Follow the Money reveal the blurred boundaries between Thorn’s do-good public face and the powerful business behind it.

  • Bernie Ecclestoned@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Safer, Thorn’s flagship software product, was launched in 2018. Backed by Microsoft’s PhotoDNA technology and with technical support from Amazon Web Services, Safer is designed to detect child abuse by matching hash values of pictures or videos uploaded by users with a database of millions of known CSAM images.

    I don’t really understand how this works. Are the hash values like meta data? Is there a way to maintain privacy but also check for illegal material?