Carleton graduates John Maitland and Adeel Ahmad are hoping to unmask the Internet through their new project, PhotoVerified.
The website aims to allow anyone on the Internet to visually verify the user of an online account, be it an email account, messaging application, social networking, or dating profile, according to the PhotoVerified website.
PhotoVerifed is a website where users can sign on using an email account and take their photo using their webcam, Maitland said.
“We control the camera, so there’s no way to save the picture and manipulate it. It’s an authenticated image,” he said. “You could now look at the verified photo and compare it to other photos on the profile.”
Maitland works in the child sexual exploitation field of law enforcement, but said he was inspired to create the project in response to the death of Carleton student Nadia Kajouji in 2008.
Kajouji committed suicide after being encouraged to kill herself by William Melchert-Dinkel, an ex-nurse from Minnesota who chatted with her continuously online.
Melchert-Dinkel was later sentenced to 360 days in prison for his involvement in her death.
“These people are very good at grooming others, often kids, to do what they want,” Maitland said. “It’s the Wild West right now.”
As an example, Maitland said he once worked on a case where a man posed as a modelling scout, and convinced a 15-year-old girl to expose her breasts to a webcam, saying that it was to make sure she had no tattoos or piercings inappropriate for the job.
“It’s the Amanda Todd story all over again,” he said. “And for every young person that comes forward, there are thousands who don’t.”
The project aims not just to stop child sexual exploitation, but Internet scams in general.
“Catfishing is another big issue,” Maitland said. “People want so badly to believe it, and if we can get [PhotoVerified] out there, then we can give someone a tool.”
“People are very trusting, and in our selfie-obsessed culture, it is easy to get tons of pictures for a fake profile. The more pictures there are, the more real it looks,” he said.
Manon Lardet, a fourth-year law student, said she thinks PhotoVerified is a good idea.
“The Internet isn’t safe at all . . . I have a friend who works in Internet security and he explained to me how to hack another computer. He can go on my Facebook with just one click,” Lardet said. “I would definitely use it, but at the same time I would be a little worried about the company taking over my webcam. They have to be a trustworthy company.”
The website is currently crowdfunding for its launch.
