Google has recently announced plans to launch a new campaign that will be instrumental in eliminating child porn on the Internet. Google is planning to throw money at the problem, and while there are many agencies that have already tried and failed to stop child porn on the Internet in the past, including ones that also tried to throw money at the problem, Google seems to be the one company that stands a chance.

Google has a good chance of making a dent in online child pornography for a number of reasons. First is the fact that they have really deep pockets, to the point that they can throw around as much cash as they could until results start showing. Next is that they’re arguably one of the most influential entities on the Internet, capable of practically burying sites into obscurity. But what’s really groundbreaking about their campaign is the technology they plan on using: the search engine giant is going to implement an automatic filtering process that will identify images of children being physically or sexually abused and will prevent them from showing up in search results. The images can also be tracked in order to help law enforcement officials catch the people responsible for posting them in the first place.

The process is done via Google’s past efforts in helping remove or filter images identified as child porn. The images that are flagged are included into the database along with a bit of code that will help identify it and copies of it in the future, so that copies can be automatically blocked or reported in the future, without the need for human assistance or intervention.

Google is planning to share their existing database to other search engine companies, who could then use it to prune their own search listings, ensuring that no images that are flagged as child pornography will ever appear in any search engine. What’s even better is that Google is digging deep into their own pockets, in order to set up a $2 million fund that will reward the development of more effective tools for screening and blocking child porn. The monetary incentive will certainly attract the attention of people with talent and skill, even if they previously aren’t concerned with keeping child porn off the Internet. This is not really a new approach, as Google has already been successful with attracting hackers all over the world into discovering exploits in their services by offering monetary rewards (they then used the findings to patch said holes).