ALUMNI GAZETTE Denying Extremists a Powerful Tool Hany Farid ’88 has developed a means to root out terrorist propaganda online. But will companies like Google and Facebook use it? By David Silverberg be a “no-brainer” for social media outlets. Farid is not alone in his criticism of so- But so far, the project has faced resistance cial media companies. Last August, a pan- Hany Farid ’88 wants to clean up the In- from the leaders of Facebook, Twitter, and el in the British Parliament issued a report ternet. The chair of Dartmouth’s comput- other outlets who argue that identifying ex- charging that Facebook, Twitter, and er science department, he’s a leader in the tremist content is more difficult, presenting Google are not doing enough to prevent field of digital forensics. In the past several more gray areas, than child pornography. their networks from becoming recruitment years, he has played a lead role in creating In a February 2016 blog post, Twitter laid tools for extremist groups. programs to identify and root out two of out its official position: “As many experts Steve Burgess, president of the digital fo- the worst online scourges: child pornogra- and other companies have noted, there is rensics firm Burgess Consulting and Foren- phy and extremist political content. no ‘magic algorithm’ for identifying terror- sics, admires Farid’s dedication to projects “Digital forensics is an exciting field, es- ist content on the Internet, so global online that, according to Burgess, aren’t common pecially since you can have an impact on platforms are forced to make challenging in the field. “It’s great that such a tool has the real world,” says Farid, “When you look judgment calls based on very limited infor- come into existence,” he says of Farid’s an- around, you see how wide the net is spread- mation and guidance.” titerrorism technology. ing. But with that comes new challenges Farid disputes that argument. “Com- After studying computer science and and problems.” panies should take responsibility for the applied mathematics at Rochester, Farid His hallmark project is PhotoDNA, a misuse of their platforms, from trafficking earned a PhD in computer science from program he created in partnership with Microsoft Research in 2008. PhotoDNA detects child pornography as the images are posted online. It works by matching new content posted on social media out- lets to millions of pornographic images of children collected and maintained by the National Center for Missing and Exploit- ed Children. Now Farid is taking the same mod- el of PhotoDNA and doubling down: he wants to find and root out extremist con- tent that supports real-world violence and terrorism. “If we want to really prevent extrem- ist content from getting online in the first place, we need to develop a technology to process billions of images and videos dai- ly,” he says. Farid has created such a technology. It works by establishing a central database of extremist content and distributing unique fingerprints of each photo, video, and au- DIGITAL DETECTIVE: Farid and a Dartmouth the University of Pennsylvania and was a dio file to the platforms that want to filter student compare photographic and computer- postdoctoral fellow at MIT. These days, he this content. If a Twitter user, for example, generated images. In addition to his work stays busy even beyond his commitment uploads a video showing an execution of a combatting online child pornography and to teaching and research. In 2014, he co- soldier, this system would recognize that political extremists, Farid is founder and chief founded the photo authentication service technology officer of a photo authentication content as violating the outlet’s terms of Fourandsix Technologies, where he re- service, Fourandsix Technologies. service and the account would be automat- mains as chief technology officer. ically quarantined. An investigation would Enmeshed in the seedy underground of determine whether the quarantine was ap- of underage prostitutes, to selling illegal extremist online propaganda, Farid says he propriate or a “false positive.” Law enforce- weapons, to promoting and radicalizing ex- appreciates the chance to get away from it ment could be called in, when necessary, tremists who then commit heinous crimes,” all. He lives with his wife, Emily, on several to further investigate the user’s account. he says. acres of land in Vermont. He takes his mind Farid has partnered with the Counter Media outlets including the Wall Street off technology by cutting wood to prepare Extremism Project, a nonprofit organiza- Journal, Atlantic magazine, and the PBS for harsh winters and, he adds, “bumbling tion led by former officials from the De- NewsHour have called on Farid in pieces or through the woods on my tractor. partment of State and Homeland Security. segments exploring the debate. Although “At the end of the day, I’m definitely He says the technology’s adoption should concerns about privacy are widespread, away from screens.”r

ELI BURAKIAN/DARTMOUTH COLLEGE November–December 2016 ROCHESTER REVIEW 47

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