Accidental Download Leading To Prison Sentence?
from the that's-a-problem dept
No one denies that child pornography is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. However, it often seems like the laws related to child pornography are targeted at the wrong thing. That's why we get laws requiring filters, rather than the shut down of whoever is producing the content, and laws against those who end up having any on their hard drive, even as that could make a felon out of someone just because they receive an email. Take, for example (as pointed out by Slashdot), this story of a man who was searching online for regular (legal) pornography, but accidentally downloaded some underage pictures -- which he immediately deleted. Though the FBI officials who eventually searched his hard drive admit that the images had been deleted and could not be accessed, he was still charged with child pornography and is pleading guilty to get a shorter sentence (3.5 years, 10 years probation, and a lifetime on the sex offenders list).Though this article serves as a warning of why you shouldn't go looking for porn online -- it would seem that the stronger argument is why the laws on possession should change. In cases like this, where the guy was clearly not out there seeking out or collecting such content, it seems ridiculous that he should be charged and feel the need to plead guilty. Anti-child porn efforts should really focus on those who produces and distributes such content. As for those who collect it, I would assume that mental health help would be a more appropriate response than jail time. And, for those who accidentally come across it... it seems fairly ridiculous to charge them as well.
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Filed Under: accidental downloading, criminal charges, prison
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Accidental WACKY advertising
kids getting prison time for listening to music
ALL this will cause a revolution one day
then add this new ad you have popping all over the place
please stop the madness
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Wait what?
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To be human
It happens often enough
That beauty ensnares with desire the wise
While the foolish remain unmoved.
-Havamal
I'm sorry, find a group of his peers and plead not guilty. Porn is as American as Apple Pie; Its why Sex Talk is on every night, Skinamax exist, and why "The internet is for Porn" song with World of Warcraft characters is so dam funny.
And a Creed lyric comes to mind here as well because of how about...
..Sex sales. yeah the hold world is buyin'.
Holy hell get an appeal. Life time in the the sex offenders city is no life. (have you seen the news lately)
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Re: To be human P.S.
95% of all court cases are plea bargains. Think on that.
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So in my state a guy was convicted of producing child porn merely because he backed up his collection for his own personal use.
To me someone who produces porn is the guy who takes the pictures of the boys and girls, or at least is the guy who sets up the photo shoot.
If merely burning content to a CD makes you a producer of that material, then I guess I'm the producer of the Beatles' White Album.
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I'd be interested in other charges he is facing, but neither the article nor a brief search reveal anything. Links, anyone?
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Well, here is a guy who will be in prison on the taxpayers dime and who will be on a sex offenders list for life for accidentally downloading files and then deleting them. Even the FBI couldn't find them at first and had to deep scan the hard drive. But hey don't worry about these laws.
I found this tidbit in the article interesting:
"The FBI could not comment on this specific case, but said if child pornography is ever downloaded accidentally, the user needs to call authorities immediately. They may confiscate your computer, but it's better than the alternative."
Why would they confiscate your computer? And do you really trust the FBI to not make an example of you, even if you cooperate?
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Easier..
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The guy should have fought it. It sounds like he had no intent so proving any intent would be hard. His intent was just to look at porn.
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Re: To be human
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Internet searches reveal a large number of complaints from people who say they've accidentally downloaded child pornography through Limewire.
Proof that you don't know what you are downnloading when you get stuff off of file sharing sites. I think there is another part to this story, that he wasn't visiting porn sites, but rather trying to download from P2P or similar.
Oops! Perhaps proof that you should use proven providers, not shady sharing systems?
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Setup?
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That's probably what it was. The linked article at CBS clearly states that Limewire was used, so he wouldn't have known what the file was until he opened it.
If the file used in the sting was badly named, it could have been found by any number of legitimate users (e.g. schoolgirl, cheerleader and other things that can be used in legal adult roleplay, or terms like teen regularly used to describe porn of legal age).
Just as there should be more proof of IP infringement than your IP address accessing as file called "2012.avi", so there should be a much higher bar for prosecuting these crimes. Not a single child was hurt, or potentially hurt, by this guy yet your taxes are going to pay for his prosecution, jail time and monitoring of his sex offender status, as well as picking up the pieces of his broken life afterwards.
I wonder how many children could actually be protected, counselled, treated and adopted for those tax dollars, let alone the actual perpetrators of these crimes caught and dealt with correctly...
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Re: Re:
I can't think of any sting scenario where the children involved would not be much better served without the sting.
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Re:
i messaged the admin of the forum where the link was found.
he told me they will take care of the poster but i should delete the file ASAP and suggested i do not report it to the police as merely having the file on my HD was enough to put me in prison.
PS that forum was a member of www.asacp.org
so i don't buy the he should have contacted us before instead those case are guilty until proven innocent
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Unsuccessful Sting Indeed
Yes, there is misleadingly named crap on file sharing services, but why would the FBI do that? There's no solid case there. They want to catch people who know exactly what they are looking for.
The last time I head something in the news about a sting, the FBI was running their own well-hidden bait site, and they knew exactly where they put links to it.
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I think this guy should have fought it though. Now we know though...if you accidentally download child porn, destroy the drive and get a new one!
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Re: Re:
That sucks.
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If you do get something that you don't want, don't delete it, that is a waste, delete only changes the first couple of symbols of the address and it is then marked as free space, it is still on your hard drive and will remain there till it is written over at least 20 times. If you are a down loader of any files that might be suspect, get a file shredder that will write that file back to zero at least 12 times, some will do it 100 time. Always practice safe down loading, wipe free space frequently with out regard for the time involved. Letting your computer run for a few hours when you are away from in order to wipe free space is much better than even a day in jail.
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Re:
You did something stupid to start with.
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Re: Unsuccessful Sting Indeed
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Music Copyright punishments do not fit the crime
I do agree, there are laws that need to be dealt with.. I am older, more responsible, and I buy my music. HOWEVER, to insinuate that these companies and artists are loosing millions of dollars on every single person who shares or downloads using file sharing sites/apps is ridiculous.
The truth is, we need a revamp in copyright laws that takes into account the digital age. You cannot lump every offender into the same category.
A college student who downloads 80 songs is not the same as the guy running a Kaazza server with 1.3 million songs for download lol.
We segregate drug "dealers" from people whom simply posses it, and I think the same concepts need to be applied to copyright laws to protect minor offenders from insurmountable amounts of debt for the rest of their entire lives.
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Accidental Download Leading To Prison Sentence?
I didn't like a judgment I received in a California Family Court, so I sued the Judge personally in Civil court on the grounds of bias towards men. I won a small settlement from him because he treasured his good name and didn't want the publicity.
Of course I have a small advantage as I am disabled and every state in the United States allows disabled people to file lawsuits for free, thus saving thousands of dollars in filing fees. Plus there are many agencies willing to provide disabled people legal help and in many cases actual attorneys for free. Their are hundreds of do gooder organizations out there to help poor displaced people and anyone can take advantage of their services. Just takes a little footwork.
Of course if it was in Europe or any other country. Who can say? I hear about some strange laws being passed with no regard to whom they harm. I have seen the largest take-away of civil rights ever in the last 3 years. Australia, Europe, Netherlands and too many others to name. As an American I think I will stay right here and not visit those freaks. I have no desire for their money and no desire to send them any of our work. I definitely have no desire to be stripped of my rights simply because I am in another country. Like I said I will stay here. It may not be perfect, but I still have the ability to fight back.
If this did happen in America and the person convicted is not fighting back then he's flat out an idiot and deserves what he gets.
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Still
but really, child porn is f'n sick, and I mean the correct definition, not the "I took a pic of my new-born and now I'm in prison for producing child porn" definition.
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He's done... regardless of proof.
Even if someone sent you an entire library of pictures of child porn into your email, just the fact that it's there means you're now guilty. How can you know what it is if you don't access it? And if you don't access it, it's only a matter of time before the Feds come to your door.
The only factor that could help this guy is whether or not he had any other child porn on his computer OR if he had a history of downloading it in the past. Obviously if it happened once, it can be defeated easily in court unless the judge is so corrupt or biased that he/she has already declared a guilty verdict before the defendent has even entered the courtroom for the first time, or if you have the world's worst incompetent lawyer that could defend an innocent man all the way to death row.
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Re: Accidental Download Leading To Prison Sentence?
"SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― A local man..."
Yep, your state.
Also, the guy's 22 so probably doesn't have the money required to guarantee justice in your court system. Calling him an "idiot" for not fighting back assumes that he's not going to be bankrupted by court bills and that it wouldn't jeapordise the plea bargain he's doubtless been talked into making.
Would the agencies you mention be willing to attack a public prosecutor for going after child porn on his behalf? I somehow doubt it, even if that is the correct thing to do (logically as opposed to politically).
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Do not try this at home....
I respectfully disagree with Elohssa's comment "The FBI doesn't have time or resources to chase pornhounds." When the reality is that they relish it.
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Re: Wait what?
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There is a lot more to this story than just an inadvertent download that was immediately erased. A copy of the criminal indictment would be very helpful to determine just what it was that the USG was asserting against the individual. I suspect it would present a much more thorough presentation of the facts pertinent to the case.
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Re: Still
I think what you mean to say is that most sexually abused children are abused by their parents.
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Re: He's done... regardless of proof.
Except that just isn't true.
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Re:
If you believe that, then you aren't familiar with the law.
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Re: Re:
Titles 18 and 47 would seem to be a good start.
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abuse
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usa and bigots
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usa and bigots
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Re: Reply
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Re: Wait what?
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I'm underage
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the same here
They came. They never found anything, except couple of temporary files in temporary folder that just had the same name as some child porn files (but as of their size, they were all 1kb, so nothing in there). They still prosecuted me. They still promised to give me 8 years, so i pleaded guilty for 4 years and 3 months. Got out with 3 years because of the Treaty Transfer (i was not a US citizen).
MOFOS! A*S H***S!
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Re:
well, i still was imprisoned...because who cares? and...besides they had to get the search and arrest warrant and they gave a lot of promises to the judge to get them so they just couldnt back off.
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