Grading of Child Images

Hi Steve, I've only used PICA in the past to allow other non technical staff to categorise pictures. Its a good program, fast and simple to use, and effective; however extracting pictures from an image and using such a tool has some overheads (processor and ram), I suggest not pointing it at a folder containing huge amounts of pictures, as this will tie up even the most powerful machines. There are some security problems (pictures with malicious code - viruses/trojans, etc) that should be considered before extarcting files outside the safe environment something like EnCase, FTK, etc. Also being able to view only one picture at a time is also very limiting. The hashing feature is good, and there is a software tool available to convert the PICA hash sets into EnCase.

I have not used igrade, but I have heard its similar in concept to PICA.

I use EnCase to bookmark and quickly categorise pictures. Once you have your bookmarks setup, its easy to select the pictures you want, and this can be done in bulk but using the shift/ctrl keys. Also your files are safely kept in the EnCase environment and viewed as thumbnails, so there are few overheads (as its not the full sized picture being viewed), and no chance of your investigation machine being infected by malware.

Andy

Like Andy I use Encase to level images in exactly the same way as described. I have heared of another peice of software called C4P. I am aware that Gwent Police in Wales use it. I beleive that the user has to create databases (much like hash sets) of CAI, then run these over the case file and C4P will level the images. I havent used or seen this software.

I've never heard of PICA, where can I get it?

Do you categorise pictures following the COPINE/SAP (UK) guidelines?

In France, we don't use grading for CP. We only have to define that the person is underage and that the picture is pornographic. The problem is we don't have a legal definition of pornography, which can be a problem when we discover pictures of naked children, not involved in any sexual activity.

Where could I find these gradings which seem to be used in UK/US ?
What is the legal use of this grading ?

I think that such a grading could be used in french CP cases, even if it does not have any legal foundation.

Marc

Back from Skiing now no screens for a whole week, fantastic, so thanks for your responses, - There are some interesting ideas there. I haven't found Encase to be as efficient as Igrade (Or I can't use it efficiently!!). I don't wish to sound too dumb, but do you guys, who use Encase, grade the images via manually bookmarking each of the six grades individually (adult images counting as one of the grades) or is there a more automated way that I have not discovered yet. I can see that selection of images for charging is OK in Encase, but the final rolled up charge of the remaining 20,000 + or so images seems to be too slow with this software. We tend to export to another media and grade on a non-forensic machine. For those that asked about PICA I would suggest that you don't use it, it contains a few bugs, especially when dealing with more than twenty thousand images as The application was never developed to create a swap file.
Many thanks again
Steve

I have not used Igrade so I cannot comment on its ability over EnCase; however I noticed Sam Type from 'Geek' (vendors of Igrade) has recently joined the board so perhaps she will provide some input? (Hi Sam & welcome).

For the SAP guidelines and grading of images – adult pictures are not one of the levels (which count from 1 to 5). It’s not all that often I come across cases with 20,000 pictures. But with EnCase I have the ability to view many pictures in one screen. I also have the benefit of having two/three monitors pushed together to give me a huge amount of screen real estate.

I do come across lots of movie/video files, and exporting the EnCase report as a webpage (with my own front end start page) is superb for presentation of this media.

Once you get to grips with any of the COTS tools, ‘bookmarking’ should become second nature, and extremely fast.

Andy

P.S. Here is a picture of three monitors in use. EnCase is up & running in anger with file attributes right across the screens. Many pictures can be viewed at once like this -
http//www.url.fm/1nz

Thanks Andy

Very impressed with the real estate, we have only been running two. I like the idea of three screens, but I must get a bigger desk first!
We have been required to count adult images within the grading to demonstrate the proportions between adult and child (grade 1-5). Aren't you required to do the same?

Many thanks

Steve

No, but I understand where the presure to perform this task comes from, and can sympathise. Each CPS office have a different slant on this. We have resisted the request to count in entirity adult images, and perform a percentage calculation. Instead I include an explanation of the general or approximation of the amounts, for example "I found over 10,000 pictures stored in a folder titled "Blah", the majority of which are of adult pornography"…. Or visa versa.

My role wth indecent image offences is to find evidence of offences against the Protection of Children Act 1978, Criminal Justice Act, and The Sexual Offences Act 2003. Adult pornography doesn't fall into this remit.

If the defence wish to try to mitigate that their client is less of a deviant because he has 10,000 pictures and "only 5% are of children", then they can count the adult pictures in full and make the calculation.

5% of 10,000 is 500. Thats still 500 images that represent the picturial record of child abuse, and potentially 500 victims.

If the defendant has only 500 pictures and all of them are of children, does that make him more or less of a pervert?

I have never had any issues with performing an approximation of adult pictures in my counting, which is easy with most COTS products.

I'll get some pics of the big screens when they come, and post an update on performance.

Andy