Media Contact:
Megan Grenter - Lewis PR, +1 (202) 349-3775, megang@lewispr.com
LTU Contact:
P. Kevin Smith - LTU, +1 (202) 213-6255, ks@ltutech.com
LTU Technologies Joins International Law Enforcement Partners at 2nd Annual Meeting of the Virtual Global Taskforce
LTU to demonstrate computer image forensics technology used to Investigate child exploitation in Cyberspace
Washington, D.C. - February 21, 2007 - LTU Technologies, the global leader in image search and recognition solutions, announced today its participation at the second annual Virtual Global Taskforce Conference in Washington, D.C. on February 21 and February 22 at the Mayflower Hotel. LTU will be meeting with its law enforcement partners from around the world to talk about the global problem of online child sex abuse and demonstrating the very latest measures being taken to tackle this troubling phenomenon. LTU provides a key technology used to assist in the investigation and prevention of child exploitation on the Internet.
Some of the agencies attending include the Australian Federal Police, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center in the UK, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the US Department of Homeland Security and Interpol. Each is an existing or prospective user of LTU products.
Image-Seeker performs advanced image analysis by way of "image DNA", an exclusive descriptor that indexes images based on the pixel-content of the image. This technology can be used by investigators and by agents in the field. Leveraging LTU Image-Seeker for Encase (a computer forensics application introduced in November 2006); investigators easily analyze images on a suspect's seized hard drive for "significant similarity" to known illicit images house in a centralized Law Enforcement databases. Ultimately, investigators and analysts are able to not only identify exact "matches" of images in the database with queried images, but more importantly, investigators and analyst will be able to identify new images that may be "similar" in "key feature or characteristic" to known images
Image-Seeker for Encase (ISE) is delivered as a plug-in for the industry-standard Guidance Software EnCase platform. ISE boosts investigators ability to quickly analyze and index images while in the field and away from the lab. ISE speeds the image sorting process, enabling field officers to quickly identify, and compare known seized images, while enabling state, local, federal and even international law enforcement authorities to swiftly and securely share these materials. As a result, even first-responders to an investigation site can immediately determine whether a computer has been used to facilitate a crime.
At the conference, LTU will also be speaking with representatives from leading Web 2.0 (Social networking/User-generated content) organizations in attendance to discuss how this critical industry plans to help the prevention of online child exploitation. Organizations who leverage user-generated content as part of their online presences are another critically important group of users for LTU. More and more, these companies are coming under increased pressure to protect users from online predators. LTU is currently working with various entities in this space to tailor tools to address this challenge. LTU Image-Filter has shown compelling results to a number of organizations facing this issue.
"As law enforcement agencies and providers of user-generated content focus attention on protecting children from sexual exploitation, they should remember the significance of being able to monitor not only text, but also images and video. The amount of information contained in a photograph is much more telling than words," commented P. Kevin Smith; LTU - VP of Sales North America. "LTU Technologies has been working closely with organizations dedicated to this global problem and has developed compelling image recognition technology that can directly aid investigations. We are pleased to take part in the Virtual Global Taskforce conference and look forward to collaborating with other participants."
About LTU Technologies - Founded in 1999 by veteran scientists of MIT, Oxford and INRIA, LTU Technologies provides mission-critical software for search, retrieval and classification of images and videos. LTU's technology is patented. LTU's clients include government organizations such as the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as commercial organizations such as Meredith Corporation. The technology has also successfully been integrated in third party solutions for brand protection, enterprise search, digital asset management, and email monitoring. LTU Technologies has offices in Paris and Washington DC. For more information, visit www.ltutech.com
Trademark Notice - LTU Technologies and Image-Seeker are trademarks of LTU Technologies. Encase is a registered trademark of Guidance Software Inc. (Pasadena, California). Any other third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
