RoundUp Predictive Tool (RPT) Project: Final Report

• NCJ Number: 248596
• Author(s): Marc Liberatore; Brian N. Levine; Hanna Wallach; Janis Wolak; Thomas Kerle
• Date Published: September 2014
• Length: 4 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-MC-CX-0001
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: RoundUp Predictive Tool (RPT) Project

Annotation

This report summarizes the results of the Roundup Predictive Tool (RPT) project, which involves the deployment of a suite of software tools used by Internet Crime Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces in investigating p2p (peer-to-peer) web networks for trafficking in child pornography (CP).

Abstract

Current RoundUp tools enable investigators to search for specific terms of interest, to "browse" remote peers' shared files, and to download files from remote peers. Investigators choose their targets for investigation on the basis of these data, their experience and intuition, and whatever policies their agency dictates. The RPT project has characterized the trafficking of online CP across several p2p networks. The project has also distributed 17,567 surveys of complete CP cases, of which 12,621 (72 percent) have been completed; 3,532 (20 percent) refused; and 1,414 (8 percent) are pending. At least 9.7 percent of the cases in which RPT was used involved contact offenders (had sexual involvement with minors). The project has built and evaluated predictive models of contact offenders based on the evaluation of peers' (participants in p2p networks) shared content. The project has also developed and deployed these models in production to the ICAC website. First released in 2009, the RPTs are now standard in all 61 ICAC Task forces across the Nation. Two project product papers are summarized.