Dad took pics of naked son for doc. Google flagged him as a criminal

A CATCH-22 SITUATION

Mark noticed that his toddler’s penis looked swollen and was hurting him. Mark, a stay-at-home dad in San Francisco, got his Android phone and took photos to document the problem so he could track its progression.

It was a Friday in February 2021. His wife called a nurse at their health care provider to schedule an emergency consultation for the next morning, by video because of the pandemic. The nurse said to send photos so the doctor could review them in advance.

The couple uploaded the pictures to the cloud and shared them with health care provider. With help from the photos, the doctor diagnosed the issue and prescribed antibiotics. But the episode left Mark with a much larger problem, one that made him the target of a police investigation. Mark, who asked to be identified only by his first name, had been caught in an algorithmic net designed to snare people exchanging child sexual abuse material.