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Utah Bill Would Require IT Workers To Report Child Porn (ksl.com)
Mr.Intel writes: A Utah lawmaker wants computer technicians to face jail time if they don't immediately report child pornography they discover on someone's computer. The proposal would require computer technicians to report child pornography to law enforcement or a federal cyber tip line if they encounter the material, but they would not be required to go searching for it. If they find it and don't report it, they could be given up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. It would mirror laws already on the books in at least 12 other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
What percentage of IT people who discover child porn look the other way?
One person's family photos of children in the bathtub is another person's child pornography. How does a computer technician discern the subtle distinction?
I was doing a PC refresh project at a local hospital when my coworker transferred user data from the old PC to the network when he noticed some odd file names flashing on the status window. After the transfer got done, he checked the file names and discovered that the files contained child pornography. He informed the I.T. director, who informed security. That started a very uncomfortable process for everyone involved.
Security did a recorded interview with the coworker and I.T. director in the presence of the hospital legal counsel. Security then confiscated the hard drive from the old PC and the new PC from the desk without any notice to the employee. The employee freaked out for three days straight because he didn't have his computer with the incriminating content, couldn't do his job, and everyone from his management to I.T. to security couldn't tell him anything. Nothing screams like guilt than someone screaming, crying and running in the back hallways for hospital staff. He was quietly removed from his job as a tax accountant without the incident hitting the newspapers or landing in court.
The last thing the hospital wanted was a child pornography scandal just before the annual fundraiser.
Imagine you're an IT professional, and you report your client for having what turns out to be (after the court case) harmless pictures of his children, maybe get your ass fired. Or perhaps you don't report it because they seem like harmless pictures, then you end up spending half a year in jail with a nice, no-more-jobs-for-you criminal record.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
In some jurisdictions, you can go to jail for reporting it. Possession and viewing are offences.
Many child pornography prevention organizations have got into trouble for looking for child pornography. No good deed goes unpunished.
If a person finds a collection of child porn, they should of course do the right thing. Having said that, I would think about a couple of things before calling the cops.
I would think about the guy who spent a couple of months in jail amd nearly spent years in prison over a DVD with 19-year old Lupe Fuentes. Lupe was a popular porn star ten years ago, with a wikipedia page about her, etc. A doctor and a police investigator both testified that the model in the video was "definitely" under age, when a five-second Google search would have told them she was 19 when that video was made.
The model, flew out to Puerto Rico to show her driver's license amd passport to the court, yet the defendant still was not released right away. I would not want to initiate a situation like that. Remember the doctor thought she was definitely underage, so I could make the same mistake.
I might also respond differently to finding a large, organized collection pf 8-10 year olds than I would to one picture that appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen. I imagine there might be some situation in which I would simply remind the person that child porn is felony carrying a hefty prison sentence, so they shouldn't go anywhere near it, or anything that might look like possible child porn.
Yeah right. If someone goes around with pictures of child porn taped to their car, everyone who sees the car drive by is a criminal. If you think that is how it works you are a dumbass.
Unfortunately, in many places, this is indeed how it works. But fortunately, the car owner goes to jail too (and will get a higher penalty for being a distributor), discouraging any such "pranks".
But beware of cases where the owner of the metaphorical "car" cannot be easily determined. MAFIAA supporters has been know to booby trap music and movie files in peer-to-peer networks to contain child porn just in order to get downloaders into bigger trouble than mere copyright infringment...