Online gaming firm deploys anti-grooming technology to protect kids

Crisp, an online safety specialist, has signed a deal with Dubit to incorporate its anti-grooming technology within Dubit's interactive online games and communities.

Dubit, which has designed interactive games and online social communities for organisations such as Sky Sports, Cartoon Network and Motorola, is incorporating Crisp's technology in response to the growing threat from predators using online resources to gain access to children.

Crisp says it is estimated that more than one million UK children will be approached by an online groomer in the next few years.

In addition to using increasingly deceptive methods of conversation, abusers are looking outside of the chat room environment for opportunities to groom children.

Crisp's relationship analysis technology will become part of Dubit's moderation systems for its online games.

Designed to look between the lines of internet chat, Crisp's software analyses the content of online conversations to identify inappropriate relationships that are initiated by predators wanting to groom and potentially abuse children.

Crisp says its software has been tested by Cambridge University researchers, and has been found to be 98.4% effective in identifying inappropriate relationships. The technology detects grooming by recognising the ways abusers behave.

When Crisp detects a potential grooming conversation, it will alert a game's moderators, who can take the necessary action to inform the participants involved in the conversation.

Ian Douthwaite, managing director of Dubit, said, "Our clients can be confident that they are not only offering their website users a fun, interactive gaming experience, but can also demonstrate that they are taking the safety of their users extremely seriously."