ComputerCop

Article summary

ComputerCop (stylized ComputerCOP) is content control software developed by the Bohemia, New York–based company ComputerCop Software. The software offers the ability for users to scan content on a computer (such as files, images, video, and web browser history) for objectionable content, along with a key logging component that allows parents to be notified if certain words are being typed. Upon its original release, the software was endorsed by NYPD detective Bo Dietl, and was originally branded as Bo Dietl's One Tough Computer Cop (in reference to his autobiographal film One Tough Cop). It initially only contained scanning software; later versions dropped Dietl's endorsement and branding, but also added a keylogger. The software, which is intended to promote children's internet safety, is not generally sold to the public, but is sold directly to local law enforcement agencies and police departments in bulk with custom branding and endorsements, and then distributed to the public at no charge as a form of outreach. The software gained infamy in October 2014 following the release of a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit digital rights group, which alleged that ComputerCop was privacy-invasive due to a number of security flaws, including the storage and transmission of key logging output in a non-encrypted format.…

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